Godzilla- The King Reclaims his Throne

Finally, they listened!

Apologies ahead of time to people who wait for me on superhero films, because if I manage to find time to go to the movies again soon, I won’t be seeing Dark Phoenix, I’ll be catching Godzilla: King of the Monsters on the big screen again in all of its awesomeness!!!

After seeing the American misfires and mostly solo series beginnings, I can finally understand how cool it was when my mom saw Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster in a theatrical release!

YAY!!!!

This is what an American Godzilla film should be.

Throw the money at it to excel in the areas this country’s film industry can, but respect the history that has worked in the franchise for sixty-five years.

There is a myth and magic to these Kaiju.  Not only that, but this film expanded the myth by providing an explanation for the royal titles many of the creatures have.

There are original Toho creature noises mixed in with the high tech sound effects.

And there are cues from Japanese master composer Akira Ifukube (and Mothra componser
Yuji Koseki) blended in with the new full orchestral score.

The Kaiju are teased in giant, fully visibly chunks, building to massively awesome photorealistic monster battles.

They show angles and details the specific (yet gorgeous) handcrafted look of the Toho miniatures couldn’t pull off.

There were Easter eggs and call backs to the Toho classics of all eras, and multiple moments where it all jelled together and my daughter and I, along with the rest of the opening night Godzilla fan crowd cheered out loud. 

She and I may have danced a bit more in our seats than average to the Ifukube tunes, but we're more hardcore fans than most.

Or crazier.

Or both.

SKREEEEEE-OOOOOOOONK!!!!!!

There were some new creatures, but they took a back seat to the wonderfully highlighted classic “Big Four” of Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah.  If any of the new ones catch the audience’s interest, they can be built up in later installments instead of taking time away from the key ones in their new debut.

The humans were interesting enough to carry the audience between the monster mayhem scenes, and both heroes and villains had motivations that drove and added to the story.

In one cultural conversion, instead of aliens sonically controlling the creature, the American film has Eco Terrorists.

And “My Dear Brother Numsie” played what is the greatest version of Bat-Villain Ra’s Al Ghul we are likely to ever see on the big screen.

This film is truly worthy of inclusion in “The Litany of Godzilla” and once I see it a few more times to fully digest the storyline, I shall add it to the summaries.

In parting, I would like to offer a reminder to all the critics who complained that the human story was lacking in this one.

This reminder comes in the form of a quote from a reviewer who has been called “Our Godzilla Expert” by the Director of Marketing for Japan of a major medical device company.

The reminder is this:

“When we go see a movie with GODZILLA in the title…

WE DON’T GIVE A CRAP ABOUT THE PEOPLE!”

Thank you.

And I can’t wait to watch this one multiple times as we look forward to the new Godzilla meeting Kong next spring!

CLick for this film in the litany

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