Analysis of "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" (SPOILER WARNING!)
(WARNING. THIS ANALYSIS CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS!! IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SEEING THIS MOVIE, DON'T READ IT UNTIL YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE!)
So, this year I became a very big fan of Godzilla. For a while I never really liked monster movies or understood them. My mind changed when I saw Jurassic World in theaters a few years back, which was the first monster movie I really enjoyed. Some of the people I've talked to online who liked Jurassic World also liked Godzilla. And after seeing the kinds of monsters that were in the Godzilla franchise, I got really interested. A few years back I watched a couple Godzilla movies at a friend's house, which were the original Godzilla film and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II. They were pretty cool. Then it wasn't until this year that I decided to get my hands on some more Godzilla films to try to catch up. I have watched every film in the second series of films except for The Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs Biollante, and I have seen every film in the millennium series of Godzilla films. I have also seen two films from the first series which are Godzilla vs Hedorah and Godzilla vs Gigan. After watching these movies, I began to see why some people really praised this franchise. It had a lot of great monsters in it and lots of great human drama as well. If you understand the art form of these kinds of movies, they're really well done and not to mention fun to watch.
Just around the corner was a brand new Godzilla film, called "Godzilla: King of the Monsters". I was really excited for this movie upon seeing all the previews for it. Because for the first time in a long time, we got to see other famous monsters from the series appear on the big screen. Such as Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. Needless to say, I got super stoked and I was just geeking out. I was so excited, I could not WAIT to see this movie! And when it finally came out, I really liked it upon my first viewing. So much that I went to see it a second time.
So, now it's time for my analysis. The thing I liked the most about this movie was all the cool monster designs and the exciting monster battles. I really loved the way the classic monsters looked in this movie. They did a really good job of doing them justice. The monster battles were also really huge and exciting. They were probably the biggest and most intense monster battles to ever be seen on the big screen in a very long time. The first time I saw the film was in IMAX, and the IMAX was worth it. It kept me glued to my seat. So much so that I wouldn't get up to go to the bathroom. It was that good and it was very satisfying.
I also thought this movie had a good Christian message and overtone to it. In the movie, there is a monster called Monster Zero, which is the nickname for King Ghidorah, who is a three headed hydra that breathes lightning. What we know about Ghidorah is that he came from outer space. What makes the fact that he's an alien even more clear is that the other titans have just one head, but Ghidorah has three. At one point in the film, Ghidorah becomes an alpha to all the Titans, and he sends them out to destroy the earth. Then along comes Godzilla, who comes to destroy Ghidorah once and for all to take his rightful place as the king of the monsters as a force for good. The Christian messages that could be applied here is that Ghidorah represents the devil or the antichrist, a false king, and Godzilla represents the true Messiah, a true king. That being said, I wouldn't want kids watching this movie even with that. This film has several instances of cussing throughout the film and brief strong language. And the very big action scenes would probably be too intense and scary for them. This is a film that's definitely rated PG-13 for a reason.
Now to talk about the part of every Godzilla movie that moves the story along, the human drama. The human drama was a pretty mixed bag. Another thing I liked about this movie is that I never felt like the monsters had all the attention. I felt like it was always the humans that moved the story along, and the characters interacted with all the chaotic environments they were in, even when a big monster battle was going on. However, I don't really think the human characters had the best chemistry with each other. I also questioned the motivations of certain characters. Like the family who had a child die during the events of the Godzilla film released back in 2014. What I really hated was that we saw nothing of the mother's son's death. Not even flashbacks. And I just can't figure out where it fits into the 2014 movie at all. So it felt just shallow. Her motivations were questionable because it was like, "my son died because of the monster attacks in San Francisco! I am going to fix the earth by releasing a whole bunch of monsters so that there can be peace and order in the world again!". Or some crud like that. I could be wrong. So, in the end, I think that the human drama carrying the story along could have been so much better.
One last complaint I had about this movie was the marketing for it. When I finally did see the movie after seeing all of the previews, I realized that all of the best scenes in the movie were scenes that I had already seen a dozen times in the previews. And that was really annoying. Because it was like, after waiting months to see this movie, I had pretty much seen a condensed version of the movie already.
Now for my overall feelings. Critics were giving this movie bad review after bad review. Probably because of the problems I stated. However, audiences loved this movie, the audience being big fans of Godzilla and these kinds of movies in general. So, as a Godzilla movie, I thought it was very good. But in order to appreciate this movie, you really have to understand the whole Kaiju genre of cinema, which originated in Japan. So if you are a big fan of Japanese monster movies like Godzilla, or if you just really enjoy good creature features, then this movie is right up your alley. I give this film an A- for effort. At the end of the day, it's a good popcorn flick and probably one of the best Godzilla films to be released on the big screen in a long while. So if monster flicks catch your interest, then go ahead and check it out to see if you like it. At the end of the day, it's just a fun movie to entertain yourself with for a couple hours. God bless, everyone!
So, this year I became a very big fan of Godzilla. For a while I never really liked monster movies or understood them. My mind changed when I saw Jurassic World in theaters a few years back, which was the first monster movie I really enjoyed. Some of the people I've talked to online who liked Jurassic World also liked Godzilla. And after seeing the kinds of monsters that were in the Godzilla franchise, I got really interested. A few years back I watched a couple Godzilla movies at a friend's house, which were the original Godzilla film and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II. They were pretty cool. Then it wasn't until this year that I decided to get my hands on some more Godzilla films to try to catch up. I have watched every film in the second series of films except for The Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs Biollante, and I have seen every film in the millennium series of Godzilla films. I have also seen two films from the first series which are Godzilla vs Hedorah and Godzilla vs Gigan. After watching these movies, I began to see why some people really praised this franchise. It had a lot of great monsters in it and lots of great human drama as well. If you understand the art form of these kinds of movies, they're really well done and not to mention fun to watch.
Just around the corner was a brand new Godzilla film, called "Godzilla: King of the Monsters". I was really excited for this movie upon seeing all the previews for it. Because for the first time in a long time, we got to see other famous monsters from the series appear on the big screen. Such as Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. Needless to say, I got super stoked and I was just geeking out. I was so excited, I could not WAIT to see this movie! And when it finally came out, I really liked it upon my first viewing. So much that I went to see it a second time.
So, now it's time for my analysis. The thing I liked the most about this movie was all the cool monster designs and the exciting monster battles. I really loved the way the classic monsters looked in this movie. They did a really good job of doing them justice. The monster battles were also really huge and exciting. They were probably the biggest and most intense monster battles to ever be seen on the big screen in a very long time. The first time I saw the film was in IMAX, and the IMAX was worth it. It kept me glued to my seat. So much so that I wouldn't get up to go to the bathroom. It was that good and it was very satisfying.
I also thought this movie had a good Christian message and overtone to it. In the movie, there is a monster called Monster Zero, which is the nickname for King Ghidorah, who is a three headed hydra that breathes lightning. What we know about Ghidorah is that he came from outer space. What makes the fact that he's an alien even more clear is that the other titans have just one head, but Ghidorah has three. At one point in the film, Ghidorah becomes an alpha to all the Titans, and he sends them out to destroy the earth. Then along comes Godzilla, who comes to destroy Ghidorah once and for all to take his rightful place as the king of the monsters as a force for good. The Christian messages that could be applied here is that Ghidorah represents the devil or the antichrist, a false king, and Godzilla represents the true Messiah, a true king. That being said, I wouldn't want kids watching this movie even with that. This film has several instances of cussing throughout the film and brief strong language. And the very big action scenes would probably be too intense and scary for them. This is a film that's definitely rated PG-13 for a reason.
Now to talk about the part of every Godzilla movie that moves the story along, the human drama. The human drama was a pretty mixed bag. Another thing I liked about this movie is that I never felt like the monsters had all the attention. I felt like it was always the humans that moved the story along, and the characters interacted with all the chaotic environments they were in, even when a big monster battle was going on. However, I don't really think the human characters had the best chemistry with each other. I also questioned the motivations of certain characters. Like the family who had a child die during the events of the Godzilla film released back in 2014. What I really hated was that we saw nothing of the mother's son's death. Not even flashbacks. And I just can't figure out where it fits into the 2014 movie at all. So it felt just shallow. Her motivations were questionable because it was like, "my son died because of the monster attacks in San Francisco! I am going to fix the earth by releasing a whole bunch of monsters so that there can be peace and order in the world again!". Or some crud like that. I could be wrong. So, in the end, I think that the human drama carrying the story along could have been so much better.
One last complaint I had about this movie was the marketing for it. When I finally did see the movie after seeing all of the previews, I realized that all of the best scenes in the movie were scenes that I had already seen a dozen times in the previews. And that was really annoying. Because it was like, after waiting months to see this movie, I had pretty much seen a condensed version of the movie already.
Now for my overall feelings. Critics were giving this movie bad review after bad review. Probably because of the problems I stated. However, audiences loved this movie, the audience being big fans of Godzilla and these kinds of movies in general. So, as a Godzilla movie, I thought it was very good. But in order to appreciate this movie, you really have to understand the whole Kaiju genre of cinema, which originated in Japan. So if you are a big fan of Japanese monster movies like Godzilla, or if you just really enjoy good creature features, then this movie is right up your alley. I give this film an A- for effort. At the end of the day, it's a good popcorn flick and probably one of the best Godzilla films to be released on the big screen in a long while. So if monster flicks catch your interest, then go ahead and check it out to see if you like it. At the end of the day, it's just a fun movie to entertain yourself with for a couple hours. God bless, everyone!
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