Movie Review: Godzilla

Godzilla Stumbles on Clumsy Plot

By Ryan Brunt

Courtesy of Flickr: AntMan3001

Some movie franchises I go to for their nuanced storytelling or their ability to excel in a wide variety of areas.  Godzilla- particularly the American version- is not one of those franchises. While I certainly understand and appreciate the anti-war and anti-imperialist messages that are inherent in the Godzilla mythos, when I see a new installment, I’m really there for one thing and one thing only.  I want to see a really big lizard blow stuff up. What can I say? When I see Godzilla my inner eight-year-old jumps out. The latest installment, King of the Monsters, is no exception; I went to the theater to see some giant monsters beat each other up and beat each other up they did.  It’s just a bit of a slog to get there.
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King of the Monsters suffers from the same problems as the last few Godzilla movies.  They refuse to get out of their own way- the first hour or so of this movie is bogged down with awkward dialogue and clumsy exposition.  It’s a movie that’s clearly trying very hard to make a statement, but the message never quite lands.  The cast- for the most part- does what they can with the material they’re given, though; Millie Bobby Brown is the clear standout, but Vera Farmiga also brought her A-game.  They do a good enough job of making the movie watchable. But, and I say this with no malice in my heart, if Kyle Chandler never gets cast as a rough-and-tumble everyman again I can’t say I’ll complain.

I wasn’t here to see great acting, though.  I wanted to see Godzilla put hands on all kinds of weird monsters.  And in that respect, this movie more than delivered- eventually. Once all the clunky set-up was out of the way, the last act kicked things into high gear.  There’s an entire movie’s worth of destruction packed into forty minutes; the special effects department didn’t pull any punches either. It’s a visually impressive series of fights that definitely makes the preceding nonsense all worth it.  

​One of these days we’ll see a Godzilla movie that does everything right- there’ll be thoughtful social commentary, believable relationships between fully-fleshed out characters, and, of course, awe-inspiring destruction.  But since the first two things seem unlikely, we have to take what we can get. And King of the Monsters is certainly good enough; Godzilla and the other monsters all look great, and they level a city or two in a memorable fashion.  It's just a shame the movie couldn’t do more. ​