The crypto-zoological agency Monarch faces off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah.
The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient superspecies, thought to be mere myths, rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity's very existence hanging in the balance.
Researchers Nathaniel Dominy and Ryan Calsbeek investigated why the already massive Godzilla has doubled in size since he first stomped Tokyo. There isn't one easy answer to why he shot up to a height of 164 feet. Turns out the dinosaur with atomic breath is more complicated than we thought. "[Godzilla] represents a sensational example of evolutionary stasis, second only to coelacanths among vertebrates," the authors said in a study recently published in Science. "Yet, the creature's recent morphological change has been dramatic." Say Godzilla was an actual dinosaur. Dominy and Calsbeek believe he would have been a ceratosaurid and a Lazarus taxon, or a supposedly extinct species that surfaces later (another thing he has in common with the coelacanth). There is no known dinosaur as immense as the latest iteration of the most famous kaiju ever in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. He could have only gotten that big in the wild if he underwent natural selection 30 times greater than usual. That means he grew 30 times faster than any creature that ever existed. That monster needs tons of food, which means...you know. Such a boom in size would have been just about impossible -- even over a hundred million years ago. As a product of our human imaginations, however, Godzilla probably blew up for entirely different reasons. We crave disaster films. All you have to do is look at box office stats any given week to prove that. Behind that is an epidemic of anxiety brought on by both natural and political forces. "Godzilla is evolving in response to a spike in humanity's collective anxiety," they said. "Whether reacting to geopolitical instability, a perceived threat from terrorists, or simply fear of "the other," many democracies are electing nationalist leaders, strengthening borders, and bolstering their military presence around the world." See more »
Goofs
The idea that radiation can generate new growth in barren landscapes or lead to a resurgence in the populations of endangered species. While it is true that radiation can spur the evolutionary process by increasing DNA mutation rates, this is only feasible at fairly low rates of continuous exposure (such as a small percentage increase in UV rays due to ozone depletion). The kind of radiation that Godzilla and the other Titans pump out would only serve to give most ecosystems harmful acute radiation exposure, given that biological processes that run on radiation is dubious at best, it makes more sense, as the Titans absorbing "bad" radiation, processing it in their systems and excreting it as "helpful" waste radiation.
It's also specifically stated that their radiation helps the growth of prehistoric vegetation, so maybe these happen to be flora species that were adapted to the activities and radiation of the Titans. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Mark Russell:
[SAN FRANCISCO 2014; calling out for his son]
An-drew! An-drew! An-drew! An-drewww!
See more »
Crazy Credits
SPOILER: Part of the closing credits are a montage of Monarch records alongside news records covering the aftermath of the Titans' rising. Near the end of the credits, there are various records focusing on Skull Island, Kong's home; this leads into Godzilla vs. Kong (2021). See more »
Crazy review title right? Well you might agree after watching this movie.
You'll probably hear a lot of opinions from people who aren't homegrown Godzilla fans - and they will have their own thoughts on this.
I, on the other hand, am a big fan of the monster going years back. Finding a Godzilla movie in the TV guide, or a DVD for one of the Toho movies to rent was like winning the lottery when my brother and I were young.
Here are my thoughts plainly stated: Yes, this is a better Godzilla film than the 2014 movie. There are *aspects* of the latter that some might say make it superior, but that would only make it a better movie in general - as a *Godzilla movie* this new one is quite a bit better.
Don't listen to the people on RottenTomatoes talking about how "the special effects are overly relied on and can't make up for the bad characters and plot."
No. Those CG monsters are the best part, and they almost singlehandedly save this movie. The solution is not to focus less on special effects and develop the characters better. The solution is to have every human character stepped on in the second act and have the last 45 min center the story solely on the monsters - which I guess would mostly be fighting.
The problem is this does not happen. Every moment you see the monsters battle, you enter a brief moment of bliss before you are ripped away to deal with people you don't care about doing things you hope they fail at. The first "clash" occurs in Antarctica, and that scene was actually quite good despite the focus on the humans. You're just now being exposed to these titans duking it out, so having people there witnessing the madness and trying to escape help play into how incredible this event truly is.
By the 3rd act, however, this tolerance has dried up. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a movie titled "Godzilla" imply that he is the main character? Because he doesn't feel like one. Without a doubt, THE biggest problem that Godzilla (2014) and this film have is they place waaayyyy too much value on human beings. Everyone in the audience is waiting for them to shut up and go away, but the movie has its head up its ass and thinks what they're doing is somehow important and worth focusing on. It would be like two warriors facing off, and having most of the climax focusing on ants running around on the ground trying to save each other.
The only "characters" here that need development are the Kaijus. Have them be your stars. Have them be the focus. It doesn't just have to be mindless action like how snobby people will pretend that's all we want to see. Go ahead and tell a story, but NOT with people. They are not the reason we're watching this, and we don't care about them.
One exception to what I said in the previous paragraph: Ken Watanabe
His big character moment was incredible. If you must have human beings involved, do them like this. He was amazing.
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Crazy review title right? Well you might agree after watching this movie.
You'll probably hear a lot of opinions from people who aren't homegrown Godzilla fans - and they will have their own thoughts on this. I, on the other hand, am a big fan of the monster going years back. Finding a Godzilla movie in the TV guide, or a DVD for one of the Toho movies to rent was like winning the lottery when my brother and I were young.
Here are my thoughts plainly stated: Yes, this is a better Godzilla film than the 2014 movie. There are *aspects* of the latter that some might say make it superior, but that would only make it a better movie in general - as a *Godzilla movie* this new one is quite a bit better.
Don't listen to the people on RottenTomatoes talking about how "the special effects are overly relied on and can't make up for the bad characters and plot." No. Those CG monsters are the best part, and they almost singlehandedly save this movie. The solution is not to focus less on special effects and develop the characters better. The solution is to have every human character stepped on in the second act and have the last 45 min center the story solely on the monsters - which I guess would mostly be fighting.
The problem is this does not happen. Every moment you see the monsters battle, you enter a brief moment of bliss before you are ripped away to deal with people you don't care about doing things you hope they fail at. The first "clash" occurs in Antarctica, and that scene was actually quite good despite the focus on the humans. You're just now being exposed to these titans duking it out, so having people there witnessing the madness and trying to escape help play into how incredible this event truly is.
By the 3rd act, however, this tolerance has dried up. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a movie titled "Godzilla" imply that he is the main character? Because he doesn't feel like one. Without a doubt, THE biggest problem that Godzilla (2014) and this film have is they place waaayyyy too much value on human beings. Everyone in the audience is waiting for them to shut up and go away, but the movie has its head up its ass and thinks what they're doing is somehow important and worth focusing on. It would be like two warriors facing off, and having most of the climax focusing on ants running around on the ground trying to save each other.
The only "characters" here that need development are the Kaijus. Have them be your stars. Have them be the focus. It doesn't just have to be mindless action like how snobby people will pretend that's all we want to see. Go ahead and tell a story, but NOT with people. They are not the reason we're watching this, and we don't care about them.
One exception to what I said in the previous paragraph: Ken Watanabe His big character moment was incredible. If you must have human beings involved, do them like this. He was amazing.