The Gist:
Godzilla, now Earth’s protector, is called into action once again when terrorists discover a way to awaken and control the rest of the ‘Titans’.
The Review:
If you watched the trailers, and Kong Skull Island, then anyone who was slightly disappointed at the lack of Godzilla action in Gareth Evans’ 2014 reboot will think they’d be in for a treat this time around. Right? There are 17 (or 15 depending on which trailer you saw) monsters, or ‘Titans’ are gearing up for a fight with the big guy. So, do we get a payoff this time?
It’s a resounding no.
We have Kyle Chandler and Vera Farmiga as ex-hubby and wife who lost a child during the previous film. He takes pictures of wildlife, she’s a scientist attempting to build a MacGuffin that will communicate with the Titans. They have a daughter, Millie Bobby Brown. On for the ride are Ken Watanabe, Ziyi Zhang, Sally Hawkins who all work for Monarch – the Shield of this Cinematic Universe.
On the villain’s side, there’s Charles Dance who was either there for the paycheque or realised halfway through that his eco-terrorist-warrior is only there to deliver exposition. Not sure why we needed a human villain for this film, but anyway.
So what about Godzilla, who was absent for most of the previous film? He’s in this one for sure, now working as a guardian of sorts. Occasionally creeping up out of nowhere despite being over 300 feet tall. He is given more screen time since there are far more Titans this time around, but that’s where this film falls flat amongst many other things.
I left out much of the cast in this review which is something the movie itself should have done.
Godzilla: KOTM’s biggest downfall is how many human characters both good and bad are included for no good reason. Attempted humour falls flat, character personalities and beliefs switch in an instant, and do we need all this human drama when there’s 17 of these Titans lurking about?
No doubt the cast itself is impressive but this is definitely not the film for them. When serious moments and bad dialogue remind me of Jason Statham’s The Meg, you know things aren’t good.
What about the action? Well, there’s a lot of it although stretched in-between useless and pointless scenes of people talking about their feelings. One major complaint many had with 2014’s Godzilla is that the action was usually cut right at the point. All build up and no climax.
Here, the action scenes aren’t cut but the camera does have a tendency to cut away to our heroes telling us what is happening and who is winning, you know, instead of showing us. Seriously there are times the characters purposely put themselves in harm’s way which becomes annoying at some point.
As for when the camera is focusing on the action, the term focus should be taken lightly. Director Michael Dougherty here comes off as the lovechild of Michael Bay and Paul Greengrass. Swinging and jolting the camera around like Wonder Woman and her lasso, giving the audience only glimpses of what could be.
However, in all this chaos, there are a few moments that offer some glimmering marvels. Mothra’s introduction and design is ethereal and eye-opening, King Gihdora is terrifying, each of his 3 heads displaying different personalities.
Rodan would be a personal favourite, his short screen time made me want this whole movie to be solely about these creatures and the destruction that follows, even if they were just chilling, their sheer size causes enough trouble for us tiny people.
Oh well.
The Verdict:
Wasted potential on every level. Had every opportunity in fixing the errors of its predecessor but instead gave us a bloated, incoherent, hard to watch, mess.
No Comments