4.5/5
Reviewed June 1, 2019
Better than 2014’s Godzilla but not as good as Kong: Skull Island. Basically, all the foreshadowing from the last movies leads to an epic confrontation between Godzilla and King Ghidorah, with humans in the middle. It’s big, dumb, blockbuster fun.
The Bad:
- Would have liked to see more than like 7 monsters, most of which do nothing but get shown in clips. Only four really do anything, and those four do have fun moments.
- Convoluted plot which you’ve seen before: bad guy thinks humans are virus, some thing is planet’s cure, sets off to destroy humanity but it goes worse than they planned. Oh wait, that’s the plot of Kingsman…
- RIP Serizawa. Was supposed to be a feels moment, but honestly it didn’t do much for me.
The Good:
- Godzilla was many levels of badass, and the kaiju fights were brief, but fun. Loved the designs of Zilla, Ghidorah, Mothra, and Rodan. The others were…less great, but they weren’t featured either.
- Mothra getting to actually whoop some ass. In the old Toho flicks it rarely got to do anything fun
- I actually enjoyed most of the acting in this flick. Millie Bobby Brown continues to show incredible skill, Ken Watanabe is always fantastic, and the rest of the cast held their own (special mention to Aisha Hinds as the Colonel in charge of operations).
- Atlantis, sure, why not?
- Teasing a Kong vs Zilla fight for the next film…should be interesting
- So Madison lures Ghidorah to Fenway Park (RIP Red Sox). She avoids getting killed, somehow. But it corners her and smashes the Orca. Rears back, roars at her as it prepares to kill her. And what does she do? She ROARS RIGHT THE HELL BACK AT IT. Really badass moment.
- Special mention to the visual effects team. They nailed it with the carnage and destruction, especially the storms Ghidorah created. Never felt super cheesy IMO. The background scenery and use of color was outstanding.
- Ghidorah posing on the volcano and roaring with the cross in the foreground. No symbolism there, nope.
- Dr. Serizawa got to say goodbye to Zilla. It didn’t hit me like it was probably meant to, but it was still a good moment for the character.
- Mothra’s sacrifice as the “queen” of the monsters, enabling super molten Zilla
- That post-credits scene though
Getting Reel with Mr. Sunshine 