Godzilla: King of the Monsters Review
by Crystal Yakel-Kuntz
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a creature feature meant to be seen on the big screen! From the opening scene, the film and its characters are in full action, as Dr. Emma Russell (Oscar award winning Vera Farmiga) sets to make right the tragic events set into motion by Godzilla in 2014. With new technology and motivated by the death of her son in 2014, Dr. Russell, along with her daughter Madison Russell (Millie Bobbie Brown, in her cinematic debut), have been working with Monarch, an agency dedicated to monitoring Godzilla and his monster friends. But as is the nature with creature features, something is amiss and true motivations are unveiled to reveal a slightly more complicated plot.
Is the aim to defeat Godzilla and his monster friends? Or are there potential allies among these creatures? The team of Monarch, including Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe), Dr. Graham (Sally Hawkins), and Dr. Stanton (Bradley Whitford), and invested party member, ex-husband and father to the rogue Emma and Madson, Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler), must work to first understand who these monsters are and how they function before they can determine their safety or threat to humankind.
The monsters waste no time engaging in battle with the inhabitants of Earth and each other, as they are quickly awakened by Dr. Russell and a nefarious team of eco-terrorists (led by Tywin Lannister himself, Charles Dance). We spend much of our time in the film determining where the loyalties of characters and creatures lay, while battles ravage cities in North and South America. However, King Ghidorah, or Monster Zero, has no loyalties, other than to the service of himself, as he commands his fellow monsters to lay waste to infection that has plagued the Earth: humans. If Monarch wishes to save the humans of Earth, a new king must prevail.
Although the film proves to be a unevenly woven tapestry of dialogue and direction, the decisions made to engage the action of the film with the mythology of the monsters made for an engaging cinematic tableau of Godzilla’s fight to potentially become the King of the Monsters.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is in theaters this Friday May 31st. Check out the trailer here!
Godzilla: King of the Monsters Quotes
Dr. Serizawa: “Sometimes to heal our wounds, we must confront the demons that created them.”
Mark Russell: “Open the shields.”
Dr. Stanton: “Oh yeah! Bring him in for a beer. Are you out of your mind, man!?”
Mark Russell: “He is going for one of three things: food, fight, or…something more intimate.”
Dr. Emma Russell: “They are the fever to fight human infection.”
Hannah L.M Alexander says
I like it.