Movie Review: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

In 2014, Legendary Pictures released Godzilla, the 30th film in the long-running Japanese kaiju franchise. The film was a reboot of the franchise, but also meant to kick off Legendary Pictures' own MonsterVerse (A cinematic universe of films that also included 2017's Kong: Skull Island.). The film was a major critical and box office success, making over $500 million worldwide. It was praised for Gareth Edwards' direction, musical score, visual effects, cinematography, and the performance of Bryan Cranston. It was given criticism for its characters and Godzilla's low screen time. Personally, I loved this movie.

For the sequel, Legendary decided to go bigger. We weren't getting just one monster in this movie, we were going to get new takes on some of Toho's most iconic monsters, like Rodan, Mothra,...and King Ghidorah. So, was this movie worthy of the King of the Monsters? Let's find out!

The film starred Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown as the Russell Family: Dr. Mark Russell, Dr. Emma Russell, and Madison Russell. Dr. Mark Russell was a scientist who once worked for Monarch, the MonsterVerse's resident government organization that deals with the giant monsters. After a tragedy caused by Godzilla's battle against the MUTOs in San Francisco, the family has fallen apart, but the rise of a new group of monsters bring them into an epic adventure.

One of the big issues I had with this movie was Charles Dance's character of Alan Jonah. He didn't really seem to do a lot in the movie. There wasn't a whole lot of reason for him there. Hopefully, a future movie will give his bioterrorist group some more spotlight and deepen his character a bit.

I also personally did wish that we got to see Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Ford Brody again. I would have liked to see what Brody had been up to since the events of the last movie. It would have helped strengthen the connection between the two movies.

The human characters are a bit underdeveloped, and the story is a bit cliché, but it didn't bother me that much. I don't think anybody watches these movies for the human characters much, anyway. It's all about the monster fights, and the film does deliver well on that.

The big thing I loved about this movie was of course, the monster battles. We get plenty of them in this movie. I did with some of the monsters that cameoed in the movie did get to appear in the final battle, though. I get that they're establishing that there are quite a few monsters out there, but it felt a little unsatisfying.

Another positive was Bradley Whitford as Dr. Rick Stanton. He was a great character. I really liked him. Also, there was a scene that nearly made me shed a tear. I will not spoil it. Another thing I will not spoil is a link to another movie.

Do I recommend this movie? I personally enjoyed it. The monster battles were fun, and there were a couple shout-outs I found to some classic Godzilla films, including the original. If you like seeing giant monsters beat the holy macaroni out of each other, this is for you.

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