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!

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 (2014)

I mentioned in the previous post that we're doing mostly American movies for a while now, and here comes the second one: the first time in this semi-chronological blog that we've done two movies in a row from a country that is not Japan. The Godzilla film from 1998 was, for a time, the only American made Godzilla movie, but this changed in 2014 when director Gareth Edwards brought us Godzilla (2014). It's a proper remake, essentially creating a completely new timeline for the character, without even any real reference to the original Gojira. Origin stories can be tough, often because they can feel so unnecessary, so this will be a fun exploration of whether Godzilla even needs origin stories at this point.

We're dealing with CGI kaiju these days, so the stars of this show are primarily Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Ford and Ken Watanabe as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa. There's not a whole lot of background info to explore about this one except that it apparently took nearly 10 years to make and began as a short film. The producers, directors, and other creative minds on the film also apparently intended to replicate (but not copy) the look and feel of original Toho-created Godzilla. Rather than go for a "unique and new" American version of Godzilla (see Zilla), they intentionally built a Godzilla designed to resemble and blend into the Toho universe. I respect that. Last note: this MonsterVerse series, like Pacific Rim before it, is produced by Legendary Pictures.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- It's 1999, in the Phillipines, and main character Dr. Serizawa is investigating a collapsed cavern. Inside, they find the skeleton of some giant creature. Two parasitic spores are attached, one of which has already hatched.

- In Janjira, Japan, a nuclear reactor begins to meltdown. The family of dad Joe, mom Sandra, and child Ford are affected by this, primarily by Joe having to seal his wife inside the exploding reactor and watching her die (on his birthday!).

- 15 years later, Ford is a soldier who is called back to his former hometown of Janjira when his father is arrested after violating the permanent quarantine set up in Janjira.

- Ford and Joe are caught inside Janjira and arrested by Monarch, the organization Dr. Serizawa works for and apparently in charge of the quarantined area. Joe is ultimately proved correct when the cause of the nuclear reactor meltdown turns out to be the hatched spore from the first scene that has been feeding on the reactor for 15 years and now transforms into a giant monster they dub MUTO.

- As the MUTO destroys the facility in its escape, Joe is injured in the whole mess and dies. Ford is now left alone in Japan with his family in San Francisco. 

- The plot is explained to Ford: giant monsters including Godzilla exist in the world and the MUTO is just one such example. The MUTO was talking to something, which Monarch wants to find out and stop. If all goes particularly poorly, Godzilla will return to "restore order to nature."

- Spoilers: Godzilla comes back. After the MUTO makes a scene in Honolulu, Godzilla rises from the ocean and causes a tsunami. The two beasts argue very briefly before both leaving the area.

- Monarch tracks the monsters, Godzilla chasing after the MUTO after hearing its mating call. It turns out it is headed to Nevada after the other spore that was found in the original cavern. Despite being vivisected, analysed, and experimented on it appears that the other spore also survived and there is a second MUTO.

- Monarch is too late to do anything about it, and the second (larger, female) MUTO also hatches from her chrysalis and destroys Las Vegas as it heads toward its mate.

- After a plan by the military to destroy the 3 monsters off the western coast of the US fails (and only makes the MUTOs stronger), the 3 kaiju converge in San Francisco.

- With the warhead that was intended to kill the monsters being activated and now in San Francisco, Ford is sent in to help deactivate it before it destroys the entirety of the city his family is in.

- Ford attempts to get to and deactivate the warhead while Godzilla and the 2 MUTOs have a battle of the century. This is when the movie really gets online because we're here for motherfucking kaiju fights boi.

- While Godzilla is fighting both MUTOs and having a hard time of it, they are distracted when Ford and his team destroy the MUTO nest (and all of their eggs). This gives Godzilla an opening to finally unleash his Atomic Breath which briefly turns the tide before they unite against him again. 

- Godzilla smashes the male MUTO into a skyscraper, which kills the MUTO but also drops the entire building on top of himself, taking Godilla out alongside the smaller MUTO.

- With Godzilla downed, the female MUTO shifts her attention to the military, which she may or may not realize destroyed their nest. Ford and his team futilely attempt to fight back but almost everyone is killed when Ford finds himself face to face with the MUTO with nothing but a sidearm to defend himself.

- Fortunately for Ford, Godzilla rallies and sneak attacks, biting the MUTO on the neck before Atomic Breathing down its throat until its head detaches from its body. It's a badass move that is unique to this New American Godzilla.

- The next morning, Ford is rescued and Godzilla appears to have returned to land and died. As cleanup happens around him, Godzilla wakes up as Ford is reunited with his family. People are shocked Godzilla lives, but celebrate as he is given credit for saving the city.

- Godzilla roars in triumph as he heads back to the sea.

Kaiju Notes 

- Legendary Godzilla is a chunky little monkey and I love it. His feet are beautifully tender but thick as tree trunks, and he just looks somehow pissed off all the time but huggable. Most Godzillas in the past have had vaguely human proportions but this guy is built like a brick shithouse, all muscle and volume with no mind given to mobility. Lastly: Godzilla's roar is... awesome. It's not mimicry of anything Toho has used while also being something that seems respectful to it but unique to this version of the Big G. I am a very big fan of this Godzilla roar.

- The MUTO(s) is insect-like. It's not a particularly terrible design, but a bit uninteresting. With its sleek design, muted colors, and red visor-like eyes, it could also just be a robot and would look pretty much the same and give the same vibes. On the other hand, it is always nice to see a creature with an "unusual" number of appendages, whether that's Ghidorah's 3 heads or the MUTO's 8 limbs.

- The male MUTO is also much smaller than the female, being sleeker, smaller, and using the smaller size to have the ability to fly. He also has a very useful weapon in his EMP blast which he seems to have developed after absorbing nuclear radiation for 15 years. The female MUTO has a similar weapon, but more of a shield than a blast. It also appears to weaken Godzilla's Atomic Breath, somewhat crippling the Big G's greatest weapon.

- The female MUTO is big as hell, being nearly Godzilla's chunky size. She tremendous, like twice the size of the male, but lacks the wings (and therefore mobility) of her male counterpart. She also has an egg sac with dozens of prominent glowing eggs, so there's also the idea that far more than 2 MUTOs can be in the world if they're allowed to continue.

Godzilla is a somewhat complicated case. First things first: it's actually a solid movie. Downsides, however: it's pretty boring for the first 30-40 minutes. Until the first MUTO appears and especially once Godzilla appears, this is a movie weighed down by all of the exposition that has to be done to get it moving. I think this ultimately pays off, but mileage is definitely going to vary. Once the various kaiju appear things do pick up quite a bit and their scenes are all very cool, but before we see a big monster a part of me was thinking "can we do this already"?

But once the movie picks up? I think it's quite good. It's an excellent mesh of the human and monster stories, a balance which is always difficult to successfully navigate. Ford's journey to get home paralleled by Godzilla and the MUTOs battles is an effective storytelling choice that actually makes the human element a part of the story without being a complete distraction that pulls us away from what we actually care about. The last 40-50 minutes is fairly spectacular... spectacle, now focusing on the Godzilla vs MUTO action now that all the pieces are in place. There's no arbitrary wins or random coincidences that turn the tide of battle, and both Godzilla and the MUTOs appear dangerous to each other without having to make the other look weak. If kaiju battle is professional wrestling (and it is), this is a 4 star match easy. According to the director this is an intentional slow burn, and I believe it because it absolutely works for me, a true connoisseur of film.

One thing I appreciate about this movie is that the various monsters are forces of nature. No trying to understand the mind or humanity of Godzilla the Giant Lizard, or the MUTOs being remotely concerned about the impact their nest might have on San Francisco. MUTOs want to mate and possibly take over the world, Godzilla wants to stop and kill them. Easy to explain, easy to understand, easy to convey. When Godzilla first appears on land he literally floods an entire city, but this is entirely an accident or natural consequence of this big mofo coming out of the ocean. Even when the female MUTO wakes up and destroys all of Las Vegas, she doesn't actually target anything that's not immediately in her way. The wake of destruction behind her is a straight line: the monsters don't care about causing wanton destruction in either direction. This makes the monsters more like volcanoes than "characters," which is a characterization that I have always enjoyed and is typically lost more and more as the various kaiju series continue. Gojira Godzilla was this, but by Son of Godzilla he was somehow a loving father who just wanted to get along with humanity before shifting between his heroic and villainous personas as needed for the script. I love a giant monster that's just a giant monster.

I also enjoy that by the end of this movie the humans seem to understand the same thing as above. When Godzilla wakes up in the middle of a destroyed San Francisco he is actually cheered on by the people whose homes and businesses he helped destroy. It's not that they wanted him alive, most people would probably prefer that Godzilla died alongside the MUTOs he killed - it's better for property values at least. But he wasn't being malicious and he stopped the creatures that were more of an obvious threat: a tsunami that washed away the raging inferno. Both events are dreaded and horrible, but one is at least "helping" a situation it didn't cause. When Godzilla next appears on land people will flee, as they should, but at least they seem to realize that Godzilla is on their side, as much as a creature which doesn't run by the morality of humankind can be.

Godzilla is good. Which is good news, because this film is the beginning of the American MonsterVerse, with several connected films and sequels to come. If for some reason you can't bring yourself to watch foreign monster films, this would be an great place to begin a kaiju movie journey.

Next: Attack on Titan!

Pacific Rim

After the end of the Millennium series of Godzilla we have only had a few extra Japanese kaiju movies made. Around this time, American producers seemed to pick up some interest in giant monsters. So the next several movies we cover are primarily going to be American releases! Finally, the Americans have gotten on board with how awesome kaiju are. The first of these films we're going through is Pacific Rim, directed by the legendary Guillermo del Toro. It is also the 21st century, so the era of suit actors for the monsters is functionally completely over. Our monsters (and robots, in this case) are now CGI. We will talk about suit actors in more detail in a later post. But it is something I will miss.

Pacific Rim is a movie about robots fighting Kaiju, so we in lieu of suit actors for the creatures we now have lots of human characters as the pilots of the robots. The most prominent stars of this one are Charlie Hunnam as Raleigh Becket, Rinko Kikuchi is Mako Mori, Idris Elba as Stacker Pentecost, and Charlie Day as Dr. Newt Geiszler.

There's no significant background drama to this one. It's a movie that was made by an American studio helmed by a Mexican director taking place primarily in China. Del Toro has claimed that the theme of the movie is empathy and/or togetherness, so if that's not a perfect example of that I don't know what is. Let's go!

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- Some years ago, giant monsters (called Kaiju in the movie) came out of the ocean and destroyed several cities and killed many people before humanity built giant robots called Jaegers that could fight back.

- Main character Raleigh pilots Gipsy Danger with his brother, as all Jaegers are piloted by 2+ pilots. On a fateful mission fighting a Kaiju, his brother is killed when he's ripped out of the cockpit, but Raleigh somehow manages to survive and even finish off their foe.

- Retired from Kaiju fighting life, Raleigh is brought back to the ranks with the promise of one last mission which will end the Kaiju threat for good.

- The plan is to go to the source of the Breach, the interdimensional portal allowing Kaiju to come to Earth, and blow it up with a giant bomb. This is time critical as the Kaiju attacks are coming faster and faster each time and they are expecting a double event (multiple Kaiju in one day) within a week.

- Still needing a 2nd pilot, Raleigh holds tryouts with everyone before finding a bond with Mako Mori, the adopted daughter of the boss Stacker Pentecost.

- In a training exercise, Mako loses control and nearly destroys the control center with the plasma cannon. Proving Stacker's initial hesitance to let her pilot correct, she and Raleigh are grounded.

- Shortly thereafter, a Kaiju emerges from near Hong Kong. All of the remaining 3 Jaegers are deployed, with Gipsy Danger left behind.

- 2 of the remaining 3 Jaegers (and their pilots) are killed when the Kaiju surprises everyone with an ambush partner (a double event), which also lures the 3rd robot Striker Eureka into the battle, only to be completely disabled with an EMP weapon one of the kaiju has.

- Gipsy Danger, being the last option and completely analog (nuclear), finally joins the battle since no one else is available to stop the 2 remaining kaiju. It pretty handily fucks them up, though does get taken into (and falls out of) the stratosphere in the process.

- Back on the ground, one of the pilots of Striker Eureka has been injured and is unable to continue the fight. But Marshal Stacker Pentecost is going to be the 2nd pilot of Striker Eureka despite knowing that piloting another Jaeger is going to kill him (after a past incident).

- Once under the ocean and approaching the Breach, Gipsy Danger quickly loses an arm and Striker Eureka is almost completely disabled because now there are 3 Kaiju with which to do battle.

- Revising the plan to have Gispy Danger explode it's nuclear core inside the Breach, Striker Eureka lures the monsters in before setting off their own bomb (and, of course, dying) in an explosion so powerful that it literally displaces the ocean.

- Heading into the Breach, Raleigh evacuates Mako before riding Gipsy Danger through the entire wormhole and making it face to face with their alien invaders. He sets Gipsy Danger to explode before riding his own evac pod back to the surface. Gispy Danger explodes in a fancy light show.

- Barely surviving, and the only Jaeger pilots to survive this entire endeavor, Raleigh and Mako simply touch heads with no words necessary as they have now been in each other's brains for quite some time.

Kaiju Notes 

- The focus in this film is definitely the Jaegers over the Kaiju, quite different from most movies we cover on this blog. That said, the Jaegers are pretty cool. The Kaiju have clear design elements as well, but they tend to be grayish amalgamations of animals. Still clearly well-loved, but the focus is on the robots.

- (Almost) All of the Jaegers have cool shit in their design. Gipsy Danger has a sweetass turbine in its chest, Crimson Typhoon has three arms and is piloted by three brothers with spinning blades on each hand, Cherno Alpha is just a giant hulking beast, and Striker Eureka is... a pretty generic robot, but does have missile launchers hidden beneath it's chest plate.

- The Kaiju on the other hand, are pretty much just amalgamations of animals. There's a shark one, a gorilla looking guy, a fishy one, a crab-ish one. It's hard to make any particular assessments when the Kaiju are not the star of the show. They're more interesting in their abilities than in their appearance, and even those are pretty generic outside of the scene in Hong Kong where the Kaiju brought some interesting weapons to the table.

- The Jaegers, on the other hand, truly seem to use their robotic nature to its full advantage: hidden weapons and design elements that would never be "natural" all in the same creature. Gipsy Danger, for instance, has a rocket in the elbows to extra punching power, a plasma cannon built into each hand, and a kickass sword which can function as either solid blades or whips. It would make zero sense as part of a natural creature, but in robots it's the perfect combination of ingenuity and utility.

I love this movie. You'd think with a focus on robots rather than monsters that that might hurt my interest in the movie because I'm here for monsters not robots. Here's the dirty secret of this blog, don't tell anybody: robots are cooler than monsters. Who's my favorite kaiju? Gigan, a robot. If they made more films about robots (especially giant ones), this would be a blog about robot movies. So, Pacific Rim is great. It's not the most thematically dense or rich film, there's few important themes, it's not complex or leave you questioning. It's a movie about giant robots punching giant monsters in their giant faces, with the directorial excellence of Guillermo del Toro behind it. What more do you really need? It's not going to change the world, and it doesn't need to: it's baller.

That said, there's not a whole lot else to be said about it. I like it, it's nice. What else? ROBOTS COOL. What else?

Okay but I do have two things - the first is the film's biggest weakness. I feel like a we know enough about the pilots of Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka to follow a general character arc for them. And the movie itself is relatively bleak, with only a few people surviving to the end. It seems that part of the message of this movie is truly "war is hell," and we do see that on a resource level but we don't feel it on an emotional one. When 2 of the 4 remaining Jaegers (and their crews) die in Hong Kong, we understand this is bad but we know nothing about the characters so it's difficult if not impossible to sympathize with them. I have seen this movie no less than 5 times in my life and could not even tell you the name of the pilots in either Cherno Alpha or the Crimson Typhoon. I know the Crimson Typhoon pilots are triplet brothers and I think the Cherno Alpha team are father and daughter, but they get absolutely no attention so when they die it really seems more like "aw damn that robot died' and not "aw damn those people died". Some sort of characterization or even knowing their names would potentially go a long way in making their deaths and the loss of more people on this mission to literally save the world hold more weight. Raleigh and Mako could have been avenging their lost compatriots rather than beating up big monsters because Kaiju are dangerous. Just a bit of wasted potential on the character front. It's not as though the robots themselves have any personality outside of the pilots, so it wasn't like there wasn't space for a few more personalities.

The only other significant thing I can think to mention is that Pacific Rim is a great example of subtlety in movie-making. The characters have thoughts and hope and dreams which are implied but largely left untouched, as things might happen in real life. Mako and Stacker being adopted family is basically never officially acknowledged, the grudging respect that the younger of the Striker Eureka pilots develops for Raleigh and Mako goes unmentioned, and Mako and Raleigh's apparent romance is left at apparent. These are just three examples, but all point to the same thing I'm going for here. It's impossible to do a movie like this without exposition, but if anything ever tried to pull it off it's Pacific Rim. This is something I really appreciate because 1) exposition and explaining every thought and feeling your characters have it boring and 2) it leaves room for interpretation. Does drifting with someone really show you every memory someone has? That seems... intense. Does Mako now have the memories of both Raleigh and his dead brother? How does Hercules feel about sending his son on a suicide mission? Why is everyone's name so damn strange? Lack of explanation, but I dig it!

Pacific Rim is dope and it does dope shit. End of. Watch it if you have literally any interest in either kaiju or robots (or both)!

Next: Godzilla (2014 film)!