Monster Hunter

We've done it. The Year of the Kaiju, 2022, has come to an end. And today we're concluding this blog with one of the most recent kaiju movies made, this one directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. Monster Hunter stars his wife, Milla Jovovich, and Thai superstar Tony Jaa. This is the second film we've covered on this blog inspired by/based on a video game, so apparently giant monsters and video game films go together like lamb and tuna fish.

Paul W.S. Anderson apparently developed an interest in making this film after being introduced to the series in 2008. This one was a long time coming, with rumors for development happening as far back as 2012. Amusingly, when the video game Monster Hunter: World was a major success, some studios poked around to get the rights to make a film but were surprised to learn that Anderson had already done it long before. That's about as far as it goes for background info: this movie is the culmination of a man living his dreams and that's cool.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- In a reality called The New World, a ship sails across the desert, and the sailors onboard are attacked by some unseen beast. In our world where we don't have ships that move on sand, Natalie Artemis and her UN security team are consumed by a giant sandstorm and transported into the other world.

- Shortly after arriving in The New World, the team is attacked by the giant Diablos and barely escape with (some of) their lives.

- Regrouping in a nearby cave, the remaining team is attacked by giant spider-like creatures called Nerscylla which capture Artemis and kill the remainder of the team.

- Waking up in the Nerscylla nest, Artemis mounts a daring escape and finds her last remaining squad member before realizing he's infested with Nerscylla eggs and they hatch out of his body.

- Barely making it out alive and now braving the barren desert by herself, Artemis is confronted by The Hunter, a local from the area who is willing to teach her how to survive this New World. After several exchanges where they attempt to kill and also save each other, they make peace and form a fragile alliance.

- Hunter's plan is to use Nerscylla venom to poison the Diablos, allowing them to make it across the desert to the obelisk which seems to be the key to returning Artemis home.

- After a dramatic battle, Hunter is badly injured but Artemis stands victorious. With the path to the obelisk (The Sky Tower) wide open, she instead chooses to carry Hunter back across the desert and resuscitates him.

- Making it to an oasis, Artemis and Hunter manage to relax for a bit before a Rathalos arrives and scares the local animals enough to cause a stampede which endangers them. Hunter's crew from the first scene arrive to help, rescuing them both before taking Artemis captive.

- Making a plea for her case, Hunter is able to convince his captain (The Admiral, who can speak Artemis' language) to free Artemis. He explains that the Sky Tower allows her people to come into the New World, and he believes Artemis' people pose a real danger to his own. If he gets her through the gate again, he can destroy the tower behind her and protect his world from hers.

- They all team up to get Artemis to the Sky Tower, the bad news is they'll have to endure the giant Rathalos to do so.

- Once at the tower, the Rathalos predictably attacks. Everyone puts up a valiant effort and Artemis is thrown from a cliff as the Sky Tower activates and she finds herself back in her homeworld.

- Just after arriving, a rescue team discovers her and brings her back to safety. Just as they take off in a helicopter, the Sky Tower activates once more and the Rathalos flies through and crashes their helicopter.

- The collected military units retaliate, but the Rathalos wreaks havoc upon them. Artemis, remembering the one weakness she was told they have, regroups and collects weapons.

- Confronting the Rathalos, Artemis does a fine job until she's ultimately outclassed by the giant dragon. As it prepares to finish her off, the Rathalos is finished off first by Hunter using explosive arrows.

- The Admiral has followed Hunter (and the Rathalos) into the portal, and explains that the Sky Tower is now wide open and monsters from The New World are coming into Artemis'. 

- They make a plan to shut down the Sky Tower for good, but first they have to fight their way through all the monsters now coming through. The movie ends on a cliffhanger as the 3 attack another dragon looking monster.

Kaiju Notes 

- Diablos is an intimidating beast, some sort of combination of dragon and demon with black coloration in all the right places. It breathes fire, impales with its horns, and has a tail which is useful for whipping any fool who gets in the way. It's basically being a walking disaster for any who cross their path, especially because the guns that the military unit were using against it seemed entirely ineffective, meaning that without using the (largely melee) weapons of the homeland it basically couldn't be harmed.

- The Nerscylla are pretty boring giant spider monsters, but the scene where the eggs hatch out of one of the soldiers is pretty effectively gruesome. They're still spooky because spiders are spooky, but their apparently horrific lifecycle is what really makes 'em gnarly.

- Rathalos is really just a dragon, even down to breathing fire. Dragons are super cool, so it's not like Rathalos lacks coolness, but it's not the most exciting final boss (even if it is the most logical).

There is one notable element of this movie that I wanted to address first: the two main characters can only barely communicate. I actually really like this aspect of the film and it should really be utilized more in mainstream stories. Artemis and Hunter being functionally unable to speak makes the story much leaner than most would be, not spending whole scenes on exposition and nonsense while also building a relationship between two people naturally. In a movie with a distressingly thin plot already, it's an interesting touch that could be used to much greater effect if people filmmakers would just embrace it.

Monster Hunter, is... fine. This movie almost certainly did not change anyone's life and everything about it is pretty standard for the genre. There's very little "meat" on these bones, but everything is competent. As someone not especially familiar with the game series it's based on, I really can't speak on the film from a fan perspective. But like Rampage, which we covered on this blog, it is a relief that we are finally past the point where every video game-based film is total shit. This isn't as fun as Rampage (or even Sonic the Hedgehog, which is also far from amazing), but it's not the nightmare that many video game movies are.

The weapons used in the film are obviously based on the game weapons, but I do appreciate the way that the film embraces the game's "keep what you kill, build on it" concepts. The machine guns that the military characters bring into The New World are basically completely ineffective, outside of the (obviously rare) grenades. But since the weapons and armor of The New World are made from the creatures within it, they're also the most effective manner of fighting back against them. As far as a reason why traditional weapons don't work against the kaiju of the movie, it's a fairly good one. Artemis doesn't learn how to use the weapons and wear the armor because she's in a strange place and decides to assimilate into the culture but because not doing so will get her literally nothing but killed. It is also a relatively graceful way to avoid the "wise native" trope of so many films before it, something that would have been extremely easy to fall into with a plot like this.

That's about it. As far as the final film covered for this blog about The Year of Kaiju (2022), I'd hope that it would be more polarizing, but here we are. The monsters are all quite monster-y and some of the more brutal elements are very effective. Nerscylla actually add an interesting horrific element to the movie in contrast to the "giant, angry, dangerous" vibes that the Diablos and Rathalos give off. If they made a second, I probably wouldn't watch it, but if someone turned it on at a social gathering I'd stick around.

Next: 2023!

Godzilla vs. Kong

The MonsterVerse continues, its most recent entry as of publishing. The previous films in the series have all built up to this point, having established both Godzilla and Kong in their own separate but connected films. Now it's time for the showdown, Godzilla vs. Kong. It's not the most creative name, but it follows the pattern of many of the Toho films so who can really blame them. This one is directed by Adam Wingard, and Millie Bobby Brown returns to her major role from the previous films in the series. Alongside her, we've got starring roles for Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall, and Brian Tyree Henry

There's really nothing to write about as far as production or behind the scenes stuff goes: the movie was planned out in advance and was produced. It's about a giant lizard creature fighting a giant monkey creature. Let's check it out.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- We see Kong waking up in his jungle paradise. He seems peaceful and happy, and a small girl named Jua comes to him with an offering: a cute little Kong doll. He greets her before launching a tree into the barrier surrounding him, revealing the idyllic setting to be an illusion.

- Dr. Ilene Andrews reveals that Kong is being kept here against his will to keep him safe from Godzilla, as both are Alpha Titans and There Can Be Only One. Sorry, wrong series. That'll be the next blog.

- In Florida, Godzilla attacks the headquarters of the company Apex Cybernetics. This is strange considering that Godzilla's whole deal seems to be living in relative harmony with humankind.

- Conspiracy podcaster Bernie Hayes is tracked down by Madison from the previous film as someone who clearly has some insight into what's making Godzilla so pissed off at Apex. He works there (as a mole, essentially), so has some reach.

- A scientist convinces Ilene to let him use Kong to prove his Hollow Earth theory correct once and for all, shipping him to Antarctica to use a wormhole into the Hollow Earth with Kong as a key/guide/protector.

- On the journey, Ilene is proven correct when Godzilla attacks Kong and there's an awesome fight sequence that ends in a stalemate when depth charges are dropped on them while they fight in the ocean.

- After arriving in Antarctica, the Hollow Earth theory is proven right for the 2nd time in this series and Kong and his human friends journey to the center of the Earth where they are attacked by horrible creatures. Kong does, in fact, protect them and does battle with many strange beasts.

- Inside Apex Cybernetics, Madison and Bernie discover the secret Apex is hiding: a giant robot modeled after Godzilla: a MechaGodzilla designed to kill Godzilla (and potentially Kong and any other Titans).

- Kong finds an ancient axe weapon apparently used by his species in their battles, and the Apex executive on the mission to the Hollow Earth takes a sample of the energy as a much needed power source for their MechaGodzilla project. She threatens Kong's friend in the process and makes an enemy of Kong just as more creatures invade.

- As the humans try to escape the situation, Godzilla launches his Atomic Breath into the portal where Kong is located as a challenge. The Apex executive orders her people to shoot at Kong to try to escape. This goes exceptionally poorly, as Kong simply crushes them inside their vehicle before heading to Hong Kong to fight Godzilla with his newfound axe.

- The battle in Hong Kong has two primary rounds, the first ending with a Kong victory before Godzilla rallies and nearly kills Kong. MechaGodzilla appears before Godzilla can finish Kong off for good, now powered by the power source found in the Hollow Earth which is sufficient to bring it to 100% for the first time in its existence.

- With Godzilla being beaten badly by MechaGodzilla, Kong's human allies decide to help him (and Godzilla, and themselves) by reviving him. The plan ultimately works, allowing Kong to join the fight against MechaGodzilla.

- With Kong and Godzilla teaming up, MechaGodzilla is eventually defeated. The two remaining Alphas make peace, Kong going to rule the Hollow Earth while Godzilla remains on the surface world. End film.

Kaiju Notes 

- Kong is bigger than he was in his previous appearance, apparently being sized up to match size with Godzilla. THIS IS STUPID AND UNNECESSARY. It's too late now, but Kong being smaller than Godzilla just makes his scrappy underdog-ness more appealing. We all knew he wasn't really going to win anyway, so it would be more impressive if he got the small victories he did while remaining much smaller than his opponent. It's so lame to try to make them the same size when Kong's unique advantage should be intelligence and ingenuity, not bigger muscles. They do utilize some of the same elements I would in making Kong able to stand against Godzilla: the ability to make/use weapons and opposable thumbs, for instance, but making him the same size as Godzilla makes his ultimate defeat more disappointing because he was never fighting from a point of any real disadvantage,

- Kong's characterization is kind of funny as hell. He is very loyal and friendly to his friends. He does not give a fuck about anyone else. When he kills the Apex woman, he looks inside the vehicle for his friends and upon finding none of them just crushes the entire thing like he was throwing away rotten fruit. It's brutal, but effective. Godzilla doesn't have much human interaction in this film, but comparing his King of the Monsters personality to Kong's in this film makes Godzilla seem like a fluffy bunny who loves snuggling by contrast. And he is definitively not friendly.

- MechaGodzilla is... mecha. It's a design that is very 21st century, making the robot a lattice-work of mechanical parts rather than the sleek but boxy designs of robots in the mid-20th century. It's not a bad design and likely more accurate to what a real life MechaGodzilla would look like, but it lacks the character of the older MechaG designs and looks a bit overdone. MechaGodzilla's characterization, however, helps set the tone. MechaGodzilla is a monster among monsters, being almost completely brutal and lacking the boastfulness of either of the organic kaiju. It focuses on murder first and foremost and is a delight to watch (even if you want it to lose).  MechaGodzilla acts almost exactly how some audiences want every fighter in fiction to: completely focused on the win and wasting minimal time with anything other than doing bigger and more damage. Exactly how a robot should fight, I think.

Okay, so full disclosure: I spent a long time trying to figure out what to say about this one. I just... couldn't think of much. Unlike the previous and absolutely awesome Godzilla: King of the Monsters, this one lacks any real metaphor or ideas behind it besides the clash of titans. This isn't an inherently bad thing, but I can  only say that so many times before I run out of ways to say it.

The fights are pretty badass in this one. The first confrontation between Godzilla and Kong, on the battleship in the middle of ocean, is my personal favorite because it's the perfect combination of spectacular and spectacle. It also does a fine job in beginning to establish the two creatures' strengths and weaknesses: Godzilla's advantage at the sea but Kong's resourcefulness. As a setup to a longer confrontation later in the movie, it's an excellent start. The bad news is: as touched on above, the movie doesn't really deliver on that. Besides their first battle, every other match between the two ultimately narrows down to who hits harder or can take a larger beating. The battles are still entertaining, but they don't really deliver on the potential of either the two kaiju involved or the promise of the first encounter.

One last thing I do want to touch on is a similar point to the one made in the most recent post: Godzilla is actually kind of a cuddly bunny. Kong gives absolutely no fucks about anyone who's not explicitly his friend and murders several people (and creatures) with zero hesitation. MechaGodzilla does as well, though it is at least an unfeeling robot whereas Kong is shown to have very deep emotions. Godzilla, on the other hand, kills nothing at all in this entire movie. He does attack Kong first, this can't be denied, and it's not as though he doesn't try to drown him in their first conflict, but he genuinely seems way more chill and passive outside of wanting Kong and everyone else to stay of his way as the Alpha Titan. Though Kong does nearly die/is left dying in their final battle, Godzilla still doesn't finish him off when he easily could. He asserts dominance and then walks away. It's just extremely funny to me that the most inhuman of all the kaiju (Kong is an ape and MechaGodzilla was made by humans) seems to be the most human, if genteelness and mercy are considered human traits.

Godzilla vs. Kong is an entertaining time, but lacks meat on the its bones. It has a lot to show, but very little to say. If you are looking for a show, you could certainly do a lot worse than this one. The fights are entertaining, Kong is an endearing main character, and Godzilla stays looking like a boss. But if you need a film with something on its mind besides seeing big monkee and big leezard, this isn't the one. It does, however, deliver exactly what it says on the tin: Godzilla fights Kong.

Next (and final): Monster Hunter!

Also, as a bonus Christmas spirit addition: check out this shirt that I really received as a pre-Christmas gift!

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island apparently did well enough to warrant a sequel, so we return to the MonsterVerse once more for Godzilla: King of the Monsters. With this film we finally see an American rendition of King Ghidorah, alongside Mothra and Rodan. Former Godzilla director Gareth Edwards was unavailable for this film, focusing on smaller projects. With Edwards not available and a new script being co-written by Michael Dougherty, he was also tapped to direct. Millie Bobby Brown debuts as one of the most important characters and Ken Watanabe returns as the one and only Dr. Serizawa. The production on this one isn't terribly dramatic or interested except that Legendary managed to get rights to Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah for this film and so insisted they be in the film. The film also features what are essentially cameos from about a dozen other Titans, some of which seem to be version of classic Toho creatures while others are brand new to the mythos. But enough preamble, I have a lot to say about this one so let's get to saying it.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- Godzilla hasn't been seen in 5 years and the world is in flux following the most recent Godzilla incident (in 2014's Godzilla). Environmental disasters and civil unrest have followed.

- We meet the central family of mom Emma, dad Mark, and daughter Madison. Madison's brother died in the 2014 incident, which has caused a significant rift through the family.

- Living on a Monarch base, Emma and Madison witness the birth of Mothra. Emma uses her new device called the ORCA to harness bioacoustics to calm Mothra before she kills too many people. Just as she is calmed, terrorists attack the Monarch base and capture Emma and Madison as Mothra takes off.

- Monarch, and Dr. Serizawa, argue with the government about why Monarch should not fall under military jurisdiction and why the Titans should not be exterminated. Essentially, the argument is that the rise of the Titans is our fault and destroying them will cause more harm than good.

- Recruiting Mark to find his wife and child (and most importantly to Monarch, the ORCA), they find themselves headed to Antarctica where the ancient creature Monster Zero has been frozen in ice for thousands of years.

- Using explosives and finally the ORCA, Emma and the terrorists wake up Monster Zero/King Ghidorah just as Godzilla arrives looking for a fight. Mark witnesses this and is able to conclude that Emma is actually working with the terrorists rather than just being a simply hostage.

- Godzilla and Ghidorah are rival Alpha Titans, both hoping to assert dominance not only over each other but over most other (non-alpha) Titans so that their will can be done on Earth.

- Before the next phase of the plan, Emma reveals her motivations: saving the world. Humans have had their chance with the planet and they've fucked it up. So unleashing all of the Titans will allow the Earth's "immune system" to shake off the infection that is humanity.

- Ghidorah heads to Mexico where he awakens Rodan (called the Fire Demon by locals) to serve him. Godzilla arrives again to resume their fight in Antarctica and ends up destroying one of Ghidorah's heads before he is hit with the massive missile The Oxygen Destroyer by the US military. This stops Godzilla's heart but doesn't affect Ghidorah, who regenerates its missing head and establishes his reign over Earth.

- With Ghidorah the new King of the Titans (King Ghidorah), he summons all of the Titans of the Earth and they all wake up simultaneously. Unlike before, with Ghidorah having woken them up, they all go on a rampage rather than seeking any particular goal. Ghidorah (and the other Titans doing his bidding) now aim to exterminate humanity, not restore the planet.

- Mothra emerges from a cocoon in her proper Moth-ra form and attempts to heal Godzilla. Monarch comes up with a plan to explode a nuclear bomb on Godzilla in order to power him up and make him able to fight again as his healing process will take literal years on its own. Serizawa sacrifices himself to set off the nuke as the remote trigger was damaged in the process.

- Madison steals the ORCA from her mother and the terrorists to lure Ghidorah to Boston for a final chance at stopping the three-headed tyrant. After activating it, the attacks from all of the Titans across the world cease but Ghidorah comes to destroy the threat to his rule. 

- With Madison's parents headed to Boston to rescue her, Monarch, Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan also arrive for a final battle royale for control of the planet.

- Godzilla saves Madison's life as Monrach and their military might support his efforts by distracting Ghidorah and trying to evacuate Madison and retrive the ORCA.

- Literally burning with nuclear power, Godzilla is empowered in a manner that's not been seen before but also about 10 minutes away from total nuclear meltdown. This gives us a ticking clock to evacuate all of the human characters before everyone dies when Godzilla explodes.

- Mothra and Rodan get involved in the battle, ultimately facing off against each other as the sidekicks of their respective Alpha Titans. Godzilla begins to lose the battle and is badly wounded by Ghidorah after being dropped to the Earth from the stratosphere. 

- At this point Mothra has taken down Rodan but at great cost to herself and now sacrifices herself to both protect Godzilla and transfer her healing energy to him in one final desperate play.

- Emma ultimately sacrifices herself to save Madison and Mark and manages to distract Ghidorah long enough for Godzilla to rally. He unleashes his nuclear energy in powerful waves which devastate Ghidorah (and everything else nearby), allowing him to finally rip each head off Ghidorah and ensure the alien finally stays dead.

- With Godzilla once again the King of the Monsters, the other Titans arrive in Boston and bow to him, marking the beginning of a new paradigm on Earth.

Kaiju Notes 

- Larval Mothra is definitely the most intimidating version we've ever seen, really harnessing the ugliness of insects in a way Mothra is rarely allowed. She's also, like many of the Titans in this series, almost entirely uninterested in humans, so larval Mothra is also deadly in a way we've rarely seen. It's a brief sequence but sets a fine tone for the rest of the film. Imago Mothra also embraces the insectoid nature of the creature and is probably the only redesign that I don't like as much as the original. Legendary Mothra lacks the distinct colors and beauty of Toho Mothra, still having striking colors in a pretty (literally) dark and muted film but bright blues and greens are nothing compared to the sparkles and oranges of Toho Mothra.

- King Ghidorah is on his king shit in this movie, looking honestly great. While I will likely never be an advocate for CGI over practical effects in all instances, Ghidorah is a creature which is benefited by being created by computers. His three heads actually fit on his body and don't have the same "fattening up" effect that it often did when Ghidorah was a physical suit worn by an actor. The three heads are also given personalities, something we didn't see much in older films. The left head seems to be the dumb one, the middle one the leader, and the right the most vicious. It's a trait of Ghidorah that should definitely be used more often. Lastly, Ghidorah's gravity beams have taken a level in badass. While the literal ability to manipulate gravity is extremely cool as we've seen in other films, these seem to simply atomize their victims. A very different effect, yes, but visually striking to be sure.

- Godzilla continues to be the chunky baby he was in Godzilla, though this time seeming just a touch more empathetic and understanding. He kills fewer humans than even Mothra, coming out looking more as a protector than punisher. Godzilla is physically smaller than Ghidorah in raw size, but is much stockier and powerfully built which allows the size differential to be intimidating without being a foregone conclusion of who will win.

- Rodan is, for the very first time in its history, cool. Adding an element of lava/fire to everything that is Rodan, it's been evolved from a giant bird dinosaur to a pissed off fireball in the sky. The whirlwinds it generates as it flies past folks are effective in demonstrating its raw power (and Rodan is supposed to be one of the weaker Titans!) and setting up stakes in the world. Rodan is awesome in this movie and no others, and the scene where it awakens is one of the coolest goddamn things I've ever seen. We love the Fire Demon Rodan on this blog and in my life. If Rodan was like this all the time he'd be a household name because who could resist such a genuine badass.

First let's talk about themes and start with the obvious: this film has a very clear environmental message. Like some Japanese Godzilla films, especially in recent years, Godzilla serves as a metaphor for the entire environment. This is no exception, but it expands the metaphor to essentially all Titans. Early in the film it is mentioned that huge numbers of fish are dying off and this seems to be a result of searching for the absent Godzilla, and Serizawa mentions that the Titans were only awoken in 2014 as a result of nuclear testing, strip mining, and other environmentally disastrous human actions. The Titans are functionally stand-ins for climate change, being unstoppable forces caused by the actions of humankind. Emma's plan to awaken the Titans is an extension of this: allowing the Titans (the Earth) to supplant humans as the dominant species of Earth and therefore save the planet. Many humans will die, sure, but the Earth and who remains will thrive under the new rule of Titans.

Extending the metaphor further, in this particular film Ghidorah and Godzilla seem to represent two extremes: cooperation and acceptance of Titans as natural elements of the world like hurricanes and earthquakes or conflict and the total destruction of human life. This is, of course, the Titans as representatives of our options to deal with climate change. Ignoring or exacerbating it seems to be the Ghidorah option, resulting in devastation for humanity. Trying to halt or even reverse the issue is the Godzilla choice, perhaps too late to turn back but at least we can continue to live in relative peace. The Godzilla hurricane may destroy a city here or there but at least it'll let everyone else live. When one thinks about it, it's honestly a pretty morbid outlook. On the other hand, any basic understanding of climate change leaves you basically only morbid outlooks (to various degrees). Unlike real life, at least this film seems to have (some) American cities suffering the steepest consequences alongside the rest of the globe.

Now that the metaphor is out of the way, let's talk about this movie. It rocks. This is one of my favorite films, period, period, period. As far as kaiju movies goes this is basically the movie all others should be modeled on. The human elements don't overwhelm the monster ones and tie in effectively, the monsters are all given independence and agency, and the action isn't relegated to just a few minutes near the end. When children play with their toys and bash all the various characters together, this is the movie they've created in their mind and it's spectacular. I have seen this movie no less than 10 times in the few years since it's been out and I love it every time. It's rad. Completely rad. If you have even the remotest interest in seeing a dope movie with giant monsters, this is the one because it's awesome.

The only weakness I would say this movie has is that a familiarity with the various monsters featured improves the movie and helps explain some of the weirder elements of it. Mothra being born a larva and then immediately cocooning herself until she emerges in her Imago form is an example of this, as without the knowledge/context of knowing that this is Mothra's life cycle one would likely be confused about these developments, especially as they mostly happen off-screen. As another example, Ghidorah's literal alien nature is touched on but never explored or properly acknowledged. It might be good to not focus on that in a movie which at least attempts to seem semi-realistic, but it also then becomes quite strange to mention at all without everyone in the audience knowing that Ghidorah has (almost) always been a violent alien creature so the reference to it being an alien is an homage to that legacy. As a kaiju movie fan I think it all works, but I have the context of all the previous films in the history of kaiju flicks to help me make sense of the stranger elements. Mileage will vary on whether any particular viewer would prefer more hand holding or appreciates the "world-building" of not being extremely specific.

To close, I reiterate my previous point. This movie rocks and you should see it. Full stop.

Next: Godzilla vs. Kong!

Rampage

Video game adaptations are almost universally bad. Not just bad, terrible. Today's film, Rampage, is an adaptation of a video games. One with which I have a personal connection, as Rampage: World Tour was one of the games I played the most for my Nintendo 64. It was great. Knowing the game (there were others before World Tour), I'm either the target audience of this one or most likely to hate it since I'd know at least some of what's been changed. Guess it's time to find out!

Rampage stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the main character Davis Okoye, while Naomie Harris and Malin Åkerman round out the human cast. Jason Liles portrays the main kaiju of the film, George the albino gorilla. A director who's worked with Dywane Johnson several times, Brad Peyton, is the director on this one. There's very little interesting background on this, as Warner Brothers acquired the rights to the video games and decided to make the movie as a cash grab (as most Hollywood productions are). These intro paragraphs aren't going to shed a lot of light on why these films were made, it's an obvious reason. But the important thing is whether the film is any good despite the history of video game adaptations working against it, so let's skip to that.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- In 1993 (real life), CRISPR was invented/developed as a potential treatment for various genetic disorders. In present day aboard a space station, laboratory mice begin to mutate and eventually destroy the entire station as a result of their mania.

- The debris of the exploding station lands across the US, affecting a crocodile, wolf, and gorilla.

- The gorilla in question is George, friend of former special forces and primatologist Davis Okoye.

- As George grows larger and more aggressive every moment, we discover that the mutation is caused by CRISPR technology which has been modified into a bio-weapon by the Energyne corporation.

- A private military unit is sent to retrieve the wolf affected by the bio-weapon and find themselves eaten by a gigantic wolf instead. George is captured by the government and put on a plane against Davis' advice.

- The evil sibling duo leading Energyne try to attract their experiments gone wrong by using a giant antenna to bring them all to the same location in the hopes of collecting the data from their bodies for development of the CRISPR bio-weapon.

- Predictably, George crashes the plane he's on when the antenna gets his attention. Ralph the Wolf and Lizzie the giant Crocodile also head the same direction.

- When Ralph arrives in Chicago, George and Ralph go on a Rampage as they destroy the city in an attempt to stop the infernal antenna. To make matters worse, Lizzie arrives so now there are 3 giant animals wreaking havoc on the city.

- Davis and his new scientist friend attempt to steal an antidote from Energyne, but find out that it really only reduces aggressiveness and none of the other effects of the CRISPR weapon. They manage to get this antidote into George.

- With George back to his normal personality, Davis and George decide to take down the other monsters before the entire city is hit with a military strike that will likely kill everyone left in the city. Now we've got a kaiju battle baybee!

- The Energyne twins (they may not be twins, who cares) are victims of their own hubris and are alternately eaten and crushed to death by the havoc they've caused.

- George barely manages to stop Ralph, using Lizzie's giant croco-jaws to take his head off. He is impaled in the battle against Lizzie, managing to take her out but only after doing great damage to himself.

- George survives (though perhaps barely), and begins to help clean up the city he destroyed. Davis is now besties with a giant gorilla instead just a normal bigass one. End film.

Kaiju Notes 

- George is a giant ape. Albino, so at least he has some unique coloring.

- Ralph is a giant wolf. He also sprouts bat wings sometimes!

- Lizzie is a giant crocodile who also looks like a dinosaur sometimes.

- It's all pretty easy to understand. Giant animals.

Rampage is an audacious film with very little on its mind besides the spectacle of giant animals fighting each other, sometimes with the help of Dwayne. It's extremely hard to think of anything to really focus on with this one. It's fun and I enjoyed it. Bioweapons are bad! That's... about the extent of it. The movie doesn't seem to have a message or a point besides being an entertaining adaptation of a series of video games that began in the 80's, and it succeeded at that. Dwayne Johnson remains charismatic (if not a bit one note because he plays the same character in almost every movie). George is cute and fun. Ralph and Lizzie have no personalities besides being rage monsters. The movie is popcorn entertainment, but succeeds on that front. Let's not belabor the point. Not all video game adaptations have to be terrible, as it turns out.

Next: Godzilla: King of the Monsters!

Kong: Skull Island

Because this blog is in mostly chronological order, we're now only covering American films through the rest of the year. To start this new streak, we're talking about Kong: Skull Island, the 2nd in the MonsterVerse films. A follow-up (but not sequel) to 2014's Godzilla, we're reimagining what I would argue is the original kaiju: Kong. The titular Kong is portrayed by Terry Notary and Toby Kebbell, with the human cast being rounded out by Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John C. Reilly, Brie Larson, and Toby Kebbell. That's a big cast, but that's my honest attempt at shortening it as much as possible to just the important players. I guess when you're bringing King freaking Kong back to the big screen you can sign on lots of big names, because most of that cast couldn't have come cheap at all.

The writer seemed to have a little tension with the studio. Initially wanting a film that took place during the Vietnam War era and then jumping forward, that was rejected and the Vogt-Roberts wanted a story that took place before the original 1930's based story which was also rejected. Despite all of this back and forth, eventually the director Jordan Vogt-Roberts was hired and they ultimately settled on an immediate post-Vietnam War setting. Skull Island is, like Godzilla before it, a reboot. No other Kong or Godzilla movies have taken place not within this continuity, so everything is "brand new" despite being a retread of old concepts. That's enough background, now let's investigate whether this reboot was as solid as the first MonsterVerse film.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- To open our film, 2 pilots in WWII era planes crash/land and attempt to kill each other using guns, fists, and swords. When coming to a conclusion, they are interrupted by the arrival of the giant ape (King) Kong.

- Cut to the 1970s and Monarch representatives go to Washington DC to try to save their funding with a mission to Skull Island to find something mysterious. They get approval, but this is the last favor they are getting before Monarch is completely shut down.

- A crew of scientists, specialists, and soldiers is assembled to go on this expedition to Skull Island. This includes tracker Conrad, journalist Weaver, and US Army Lieutenant Colonel Packard.

- After arriving on the island through a hurricane, bombs are dropped on the island in an attempt to prove the Hollow Earth theory of the lead geologist. While this initially goes well, a tree is launched at one of the helicopters and Kong is revealed to be the culprit.

-After being attacked by the soldiers, Kong kills almost every soldier and does destroy every helicopter.

- The survivors are split into two groups, a small contingent comprised primarily of soldiers with Packard leading them and Conrad leading the others to join the soldiers and make it to the extraction point.

- Packard's group is on a quest for revenge against Kong and comes across one of the horrors of the island in the form of a giant spider. Conrad's team is taken in by the native people of the island, where one of the surviving pilots from the first scene helps explain things.

- Conrad's group is warned that Kong is the king/god of this island who just wants to live in peace and to be wary of underground-dwelling lizard creatures called skull-crawlers which are incredibly dangerous. They are also told that if something were to happen to Kong the "big one" would appear next, as he keeps the skull-crawlers in check.

- Successfully meeting with Packard's squad, everyone heads to find the one missing soldier who we the audience already know to be dead. They are attacked the skull-crawler that killed that man and barely survive. 

- A schism forms between the two groups as Packard insists upon retrieving the weapons this last soldiers was guarding and killing Kong. Conrad's group heads in their own direction since that is a terrible plan.

- Packard's soldiers take Kong down, weakening him before planning to kill with with explosions.

- Conrad's group decides to actually interfere with Packard's, defending Kong from their plan to kill him. If for no other reason than to keep the skull-crawlers from being able to take over the island. 

- With Kong weakened and down, the "big" skull-crawler arrives to take advantage. Everyone except Packard flees to have a chance to make it off Skull Island, Packard remaining to try to kill Kong but being smashed by him before he gets a chance.

- While all the humans try to escape, the big skull-crawler and Kong have their epic duel to the death. Getting tangled in chains from a shipwreck, the skull-crawler nearly wins but is interrupted by the humans firing at it with a gatling gun. It doesn't do any significant damage but manages to distract it long enough for Kong to extract himself from the chains.

- The chains having been attached to the propeller of the ship, Kong now actually has a weapon which he uses to take down the skull-crawler once and for all.

- The humans manage to be rescued minus the last few casualties, and an after credits scene hints at what comes next.

Kaiju Notes 

- Kong looks very cool and good, but there's only so much description that can go into "big monkee." Kong is a big ape. Like most primates, he's got very expressive eyes!

- Most of the creatures of the island are similar to Kong: giant version of regular ass animals. We see a giant spider, giant buffalo, and giant insects. There are, of course, regular sized animals as well.

- Skullcrawlers, however, are effectively horrific. Lizard-like but appearing as though they're wearing the skulls of their enemies, they have strangely limber, narrow bodies that they use to swarm and move unpredictably. They have freaky long tails and freaky long tongues and are just horrible.

- Kong is played with a deep sense of both compassion and rage. He's quick to violence and incredibly powerful, but when given the chance is very relaxed and even relatively friendly. Not once does he attack without provocation, clearly wanting to just be left alone. When Weaver falls into the sea during the final battle as a result of helping him out, Kong works to save her rather than just leave her to drown as collateral damage. Kong is as human as kaiju come, and a decent one at that.

Skull Island is a movie about entertainment, first and foremost. And on that front it very much succeeds, bringing us a version of Kong which never falls into some weird love story between a woman and a giant ape. But that's not to imply that it doesn't have other things on its mind, the most obvious of which being the folly of vengeance. Packard is this movie's Ahab, hunting Kong at the cost of everything else. While he does initially force his people to accompany him on his quest, he is ultimately left to face his beast alone and dies as a result. Fortunately for most of the characters, unlike Ahab Packard only gets himself killed in the end. But his thirst for revenge is the driving human motivation of the film, causing most of the problems that Kong is left to clean up.

Important to point out, as I mentioned above, Kong never once starts a fight. He finishes them brutally and quickly when he can, but there are zero incidents of Kong being the aggressor at any point. The closest one could get would be destroying the helicopters as they bomb the island, but as they point out in the dialogue, I think it'd be hard to argue that blowing up parts of someone's home are not an act of aggression. As soon as he's able, Kong always returns back to a life of relative peace and quiet: killing skull-crawlers when they appear but otherwise being a pretty chill ape who just likes looking out into the sea. This is relevant when it comes to Packard in particular, as his obsession begins largely as a consequence of his own actions.

Packard is not the only one, however, as Monarch bears a large amount of culpability in everything that happens including Packard's obsession. While no one would believe them if the officials admitted they were here to test their Hollow Earth theory and also find a giant monster, not telling the various people coming to Skull Island with them that this is a possibility is an absolute betrayal. It makes Monarch seem particularly wicked in this film, counter to how they seemed largely systemically, dispassionately goal-oriented in the previous film. While it's easy to understand why no one was told about Kong, the deaths of almost every person as they entered the island ultimately lies on the shoulders of Monarch. Packard's rage would really be more useful pointed in their direction, and near the end of the movie he does mention this but still seems fixated on Kong.

Kong is, for the most part, reactive in this film in a way that the various kaiju rarely are. Even in this MonsterVerse, for instance, Godzilla is actively territorial, attacks other kaiju, and feeds off of nuclear power. Kong, however, pretty much just chills out until someone comes for him. It's counter to pretty much every other kaiju we've seen to date, even the older versions of Kong. Even the most reactive prominent kaiju I can think of, Gamera, often spends time or effort hunting his enemies once he knows they exist, flying toward creatures even if they aren't actively being a danger to humankind. If it's not happening in Kong's immediate vicinity, he largely doesn't seem to notice or care. It's not a necessarily negative character trait, but it's certainly unique and makes Kong a little bit harder to get a read on.

In the end, Kong: Skull Island is a pretty enjoyable ride. It's a very solid start to the story of Kong in this relatively new MonsterVerse and manages to make him interesting but mysterious. While he lacks much agency, he's an effective example of a kaiju/Titan being a true force of nature: difficult to kill and dangerous to cross while seemingly oblivious to you if you're not bothering him. It's solid characterization and we stan this big monkee. And this movie!

Next: Rampage!

Godzilla Trilogy (Netflix)

We're talking anime now, baybee. While Attack on Titan was an adaptation of manga/anime, it was a live action film. So the first time we're talking about anime. In fact, this is our first animated film covered on this entire blog. This one is a bit complex as it is actually a trilogy of films rather than just one, but these are so closely connected that it felt weird giving a different post to each. When learning this existed I found myself confused about why it had never been done before: animation seems like the perfect medium for Godzilla (and all kaiju, really). So we're here to see if animation is indeed a good fit for the main man Big G, with a series of films directed by Kōbun Shizuno and Hiroyuki Seshita. This is going to be an extremely long synopsis since it is 3 films, so let's get to it!

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- Humanity has been away from planet Earth after being chased away by Godzilla, all of humankind living on a space colony alongside the alien races the Bilusaludo and Exif.

- The Exif are a religious species which worship an unnamed God and have advanced technology which allows them to glimpse the future, while the Bilusaludo are a hyper-logical and pragmatic species who have given up most of their culture and material comfort for the sake of accomplishing their goals.

- Main character Haruo Sakaki (human) desires nothing more than to return to Earth and kill Godzilla.

- With no viable options for another habitable planet, the Coalition decides to return to Earth but know they will have to contend with Godzilla. Upon arriving back on Earth, they discover they've been gone for 10,000 years due to relativity.

- Sakaki has developed a plan to kill Godzilla using EMPs, and it actually appears to work when they kill Godzilla shortly after making it back to Earth. They then realize that the Godzilla they've killed is basically Baby Godzilla, and the real one has no awakened again and kills nearly everyone on the planet.

- Sakaki swears revenge and is rescued by a group of humanoids who now live on Earth: the Houtua. The Houtua worship Mothra, and Sakaki's get involved with the Shobijin twins.

- The Houtua introduce the Coalition to nanometal, an incredibly advanced material created while developing MechaGodzilla and that can be shaped into functionally anything and they believe can be used to kill Godzilla once and for all.

- Despite being warned by the Houtua that the city is poison, the Coalition embraces the nanometal that has consumed a segment of the planet and dub this area MechaGodzilla City. They use the resources of the city to prepare to finish Godzilla.

- With the showdown with Godzilla impending, the Coalition is running out of time to finish their preparations and Sakaki learns that the Bilusaludo are fusing their bodies with the nanometal to serve as neural processors to increase the speed, efficienct, and power of the living city.

- Despite being told by the Bilusaludon commander that the process was strictly voluntary, when Godzilla wipes out most of their weaponry the commander orders the nanometal to forcibly absorb their remaining troops to make one final offensive and is guaranteed to work.

- Sakaki, having had his injuries treated by the Houtua and therefore immune to the nanometal (if he wants to be), makes the hard decision to destroy MechaGodzilla City rather than kill Godzilla, as the city itself would continue to absorb the rest of the planet after finishing the current task.

- While Sakaki's fate is being considered by his superiors, he is being treated as both hero and villain by the Coalition while he has taken refuge with a group of Exif led by the priest Mephties. 

- The remaining Bilusaludo functionally force the Coalition's hand, and remove their resources from the greater unit to demand that Sakaki is punished or even executed for destroying MechaGodzilla City.

- The Houtua have a philosophy that making life is "winning" and dying or disappearing is "losing," so the Shobijin twins offer to mate with Sakaki (on separate occasions, don't be weird) to ensure that he "wins" by continuing into the future. He eventually accepts one of their offers.

- The God of the Exif is revealed to be Ghidorah, who consumes almost all of the Exif as he manifests through an amulet in Mephties' eye.

- Unbound by the rules of physical reality, Ghidorah lays waste to Godzilla while remaining completely invulnerable to all weapons either human or kaiju.

- Sakaki is told he is key to the Exif's plan, who worship Ghidorah because of his unbridled and unstoppable power: Sakaki's hatred of Godzilla will be an anchor for Ghidorah to take permanent hold in this universe, allowing his destruction to be unimpending and no longer requiring summoning rituals.

- WIth the help of the Shobijin and some others, Sakaki decides to fight back and shatters the amulet in Mephties' eye, now binding Ghidorah to the physics of this universe and allowing Godzilla to fight back.

- Godzilla kills Ghidorah relatively easily and Sakaki, told that Ghidorah would be watching him as long as he lives, decides to provoke Godzilla into killing him so that Ghidorah will not be able to take hold in the world using Sakaki ever again, as he cannot give up his hatred of Godzilla.

- With both the Bilusaludo and Exif now extinct as a result of Ghidorah's actions, Humans and the Houtua live together happily on Earth, with Sakaki's descendants being among them. The difference is that they treat Godzilla as a natural unstoppable force rather than an enemy to be overcome.

Kaiju Notes 

- The baby Godzilla from part one is a chunky monkey in this one. Mah boi has big legs, big thighs, big chest, and big eyes. It looks much like Legendary Godzilla, being a little chonkier than most of the other versions.

- Godzilla's abilities have taken several levels in badass, including sending shockwaves with a flick of his tail and Atomic Breath which has evolved into something more akin to a sound cannon.

- Ghidorah being some sort of out-of-phase-of-time-and-space entity is a very great concept for the creature. Ghidorah has always been established as an alien and powerful entity, but the version we get here takes that aspect to 11 and it really works. The necks are also much longer than they've ever been, which is really only doable when the monster is not made using a suit, but am glad they decided to embrace what they could do.

So, the first thing to be said about this trilogy is that above all else they are truly sci-fi movies. We open in space, with aliens and advanced technology, and the kaiju are honestly minor elements in films that are primarily about exploring science fiction themes. The mystical religion of the Exif counterbalanced against the extreme logic of the Bilusaludo gives us "the two sides," and then we see the dangers in religion and technology in Ghidorah and MechaGodzilla, respectively. Combined with the other themes of nature's advance, the meaning of humanity, legacy, et cetera, this Planet Godzilla trilogy is really more a Future Planet featuring Godzilla trilogy. This isn't inherently a bad thing, but it does make it less interesting as a kaiju movie.

Let's talk about the kaiju in the sci-fi movie. Godzilla (and Ghidorah) is quite honestly just barely a character. Granted, this series is clearly going for the "force of nature" aspect of the character, especially when taking the ending into consideration, but it does become harder to really engage with any of the monsters in a series of movies that is named after one of those same monsters. In truth, MechaGodzilla doesn't even have a face and appears in one movie but is as much a character as Godzilla was throughout all three. Ghidorah gets an entire 5 minutes of screentime, so he too gets represented more as a force of nature. That, combined with how pretty much ever humanoid character dies, means that Sakaki is basically our only chance for emotional connection throughout. It's a bold choice, but honestly doesn't pay off in the end.

Sakaki is not a compelling main character. It really hurts the overall ability to enjoy these, because basically nothing that Sakaki does or says is interesting. He's like Forrest Gump in that every major event seems to revolve around him by some fluke of history, but he lacks the personality of Gump. Once we hit the third film and all of the other humanoid characters except Mephties and Sakaki are around, we basically lose any ability to really connect with anything going on. If one is super invested in Sakaki's genetic lineage, maybe it would work for them but I don't give a shit.

And that's really the conclusion of this series. While some elements are interesting and even fun, at the end of the day I found it really hard to get invested in this trilogy. I just can't really give a shit. I do appreciate some of the choices made (Ghidorah is pretty badass in this) and really embracing the sci-fi aspects of Godzilla movies, but the sci-fi movies they made around the kaiju just aren't awfully good. The 2nd one, City on the Edge of Battle, is the best one, by the way.

Next: Kong: Skull Island!

Colossal

Kaiju movies can be funny. Death Kappa tried it, Shin Godzilla had some undeniable intentional comedic themes, and now we have Colossal. A dark comedy directed by Nacho Vigalondo, Colossal is a "lite-kaiju" movie for reasons you'll understand as you read on. The stars of this one are not really kaiju actors (especially not in suits), but instead the very famous Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis. Originally billing itself as "the cheapest Godzilla movie ever made" when it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, Colossal is a story about a lot of things: the kaiju being more metaphor than character in a manner we have not ever seen in any movie we've covered yet.

This film does have some interesting drama behind the scenes... That promo line, "the cheapest Godzilla movie ever made," alongside using some unauthorized images of Godzilla to bring in potential investors actually got the film in a bit of trouble. Toho, the copyright owners/creators of Godzilla, did not take kindly to the producers using Godzilla to finance their upcoming film and filed a lawsuit before the film even began filming. The resutling settlement that took place before the movie was widely released which caused the film's setting (for the kaiju elements) to move from Tokyo to Seoul and a promise that no Godzilla derivatives would appear. The greatest irony of all? Colossal had a budget of $15 million dollars, which is tiny for an American studio release but obviously quite a bit to most people. The original Gojira had a budget of 100 million yen, the equivalent of about $3 million today. Even Shin Godzilla, released the same year as Colossal's film festival premiere, had a budget equivalent to $15 million, making the fact that Colossal got in trouble for using Godzilla's image in its early stages and the "cheapest" tagline completely unnecessary because it wasn't even true! Hilarious. That all said, let's talk about this dark comedy.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- In Seoul, South Korea, we see a giant monster appear. 25 years later, we meet Gloria as she comes home after yet another night drinking. Her boyfriend breaks up with her and packs her things, so Gloria has little choice but to return to her hometown alone.

- Once back in town she coincidentally comes across old acquaintance Oscar. He owns a bar (perfect!) and offers her a job.

- Oscar shows signs of who he really is right away when Gloria almost smooches one of his friends and Oscar reacts very strongly but frames it as concern for her sake.

- Waking up to the news of a giant monster randomly materializing in Seoul, stomping through the city, and then simply disappearing into thin air, Gloria is shocked. She drinks to cope, predictably.

- Waking up to Oscar showing up at her house to offer her a TV they apparently discussed last night but that she doesn't remember, there's been another monster attack. 

- This attack being less severe with the monster mostly standing around looking confused, Gloria notices that the creature shares a particular gesture with her. It seems crazy, but maybe they're connected?

- Gloria conducts a test that confirms she is in fact the monster. While hanging with her drinking buddies (including Oscar) she drunkenly reveals her new secret.

- After accidentally crashing a helicopter into her head (in her defense, it did shoot her first) Gloria gets overwhelmed and ends up falling down. She wakes up panicked to find out how many people she killed when she crashed, but this news comes secondary to the reveal that when Oscar enters the park he also emerges in Seoul as a giant robot.

- Gloria decides to make an attempt at amends by having someone translate some Korean characters and writes an apology in the ground at her next opportunity. She stops drinking, trying to be better given everything.

- Gloria makes a move on the cute guy in her friend group and wakes up in the morning with him to find that the Oscar-Robot is taunting Seoul with threats of destruction. She confronts him in the playground and even slaps him in the face to the cheers of everyone who thinks it's just two monsters fighting.

- Oscar begins to finally act out more obviously, using his power over Gloria as her boss and a threat to the people of Seoul to control her, constantly vacillating between apologetic/kind and abusive.

- During one of Oscar's episodes, Gloria remembers the incident that caused the kaiju connection, when they were hit by lightning inside the playground while carrying toys that look like their respective creatures. She realizes he's always been this way and confronts him just as the air raid warnings go off indicating the time to destroy or save Seoul is nearly upon us.

- The two have a fight in Gloria's house where she breaks all of her furniture trying to stop him, but he escapes and heads toward the park. They square up to fight in the park, but Oscar is bigger and stronger than her so takes her down easily. While she tries to get up, Oscar intentionally steps on several buildings while she begs him to stop.

- Saying he will do this every morning if she leaves, Gloria seems despondent until she comes up with a plan for the next morning. She flies to Seoul.

- When the air raid sirens go off, both parties prepare to confront the other. Gloria uses her human body in Seoul to manifest her monster body in the park, now able to handle Oscar quite easily since now she's bigger and stronger. She throws him into the horizon, finally bringing an end to his robotic reign of terror.

Kaiju Notes 

- Monster-Gloria is a pretty generic looking beast, resembling a goblin as much as it does any animal or human. Considering it's now really the point of the movie, it's difficult to really fault it for not being a complex design. It does have a relatively scary countenance, but it shows a degree of expressiveness that really helps Gloria's thoughts and intentions come across.

- Robot-Oscar is a little more intentionally designed, having a square head and a singular red eye surrounded by little robot horns. The singular red eye (and perhaps automaton-ness) help make it seem a bit menacing.

If it's not entirely obvious, and it should be, this is a metaphor about abusive relationships. Gloria really just goes from one to another, as her boyfriend in the beginning of the movie is clearly fed up with her alcoholism and antics but displays that same "fed-up-ness" even when she's in recovery and in a better position. Oscar, of course, isn't her boyfriend (and could only barely be called a friend by the time he starts acting out) but is the most obvious case of the abusive men Gloria has to deal with. Oscar is an abusive relationship that's primarily empowered by the kaiju connection he and Gloria share with the people of Seoul as his pawns. And it's not just Gloria caught in his tangled web of abuse, as his friends seem unable to do anything against him when either he acts out or turns against them directly.

Joel, the cute guy Gloria starts a little fling with, is the worst. He knows how Oscar behaves and the consequences of it and leaves Gloria to do all of the work in trying to prevent it. I have to assume there's some sort of reason behind why he does nothing and watches Gloria get beat up instead of just punching his so-called friend Oscar in the dick, but it definitely makes me hate him. He does watch happily the television when Gloria confronts him from Seoul, but he was the person most able to actually do something about the situation and it just infuriates me that he didn't.

Both of the lead actors are great. Gloria's growing confidence and subtle recovery comes across quite well, and Sudeikis is quite good at unpeeling the onion of Oscar's rage as we go, first seeming fairly normal before becoming more and more noticeably unhinged. Anne Hathaway in particular is putting in a lot of work by focusing her performance on her body language and expressions, not getting the chance to make the same monologues as Sudeikis but manages to show Gloria's raveling at the same time as Oscar's unraveling.

Colossal is not a complex film. Even this review (is that what I do here? Reviews?) is relatively short because there aren't GIANT COMPLEX IDEAS to be explored. Abusive relationships, metaphor, kaiju, go. Great performances. But Colossal doesn't need to be complicated: it's great. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Next: Godzilla Trilogy (Netflix)!