Review - Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

           Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, we're only a few days away from the release of Godzilla vs. Kong, and I already have my ticket to see it on the big screen for opening day. So, for now, let's take a look at the third entry in the MonsterVerse series: Godzilla: King of the Monsters. 

         We open in San Francisco during Godzilla's battle with the MUTOs, but from the perspective of Mark and Emma Russell, two scientists who worked with Monarch previously, and are looking for their son Andrew in the rubble. Five years later, and we see Emma, along with the Russells' daughter Madison, living at a Monarch outpost in China, where Emma is working on a device called the ORCA, which can emit a signal to communicate with the monsters, or Titans as they're officially known to n this franchise going forward. One such Titan that is being studied in China is none other than Mothra. Unfortunately, the facility is attacked by a group of eco-terrorists led by Alan Jonah, who takes Emma, Madison, and the ORCA, while Mothra escapes and cocoons herself behind a nearby waterfall. 

          Meanwhile, Dr. Serizawa and Dr. Graham, along with Monarch's director of technology and liaison to the U.S. government Sam Coleman, are at a Senate hear it ng trying to convince the U.S. Senate not to destroy the Titans, as the Titans represent the natural balance, and humanity should instead live with the Titans. Unfortunately, the incident in China prompts Serizawa, Coleman, and Graham to leave. The three then head to the hime of Mark, who has been studying the behavior of wolves since the death of Andrew, and both Emma and Madison left. Serizawa and Graham tell Mark of what's happened to Emma and Madison, and he joins them in trying to find his wife and daughter. 

           We also learn that Monarch has a new base of operations that is primarily underwater, where they can study Godzilla properly. It seems that Monarch has a lot of bases operating around the world, in the U.S, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and even at Skull Island. Yep, Skull Island gets referenced a few times in this movie, as does Kong. Anyway, so the Monarch team, after seeing an intimidation display by Godzilla, who was sending a threat in the distance, learns of Alan's team, along with Emma and Madison, entering the Monarch facility in Antarctica, where a three-headed creature listed only as Monster Zero is held in the ice. Alan's team uses explosives to break the ice and free Monster Zero, while Mark, Serizawa, Graham, and a military unit called "G-Team" arrive to retrieve the ORCA and rescue Emma and Madison. Only it turns out that Emma is working with Alan and his team, and she unleashes Monster Zero herself. Monster Zero then attacks, killing a number of people, including Dr. Graham, but Godzilla shows up and fights Monster Zero, who dodges Godzilla's atomic breath, and blasts Godzilla with it's own Gravity Beams. Monster Zero flies off and flees, while Godzilla goes back into the ocean. 

          Back at the main Monarch base, Mark and Serizawa, along with Dr. Rick Stanton and Dr. Ilene Chen, try to figure out what's going on, and why Emma turned on Monarch. Emma then video calls Monarch, explaining her intentions. In her belief, humanity will destroy the Earth's delicate ecosystem if left unchecked, but releasing the Titans would cause a natural regrowth, restoring the ecosystem. Monarch is able to track her signal to a small town in Mexico, near a volcano that is the site of another Monarch outpost, as well as home of another Titan: the airborne fire demon Rodan. Rodan is unleashed, and Monarch tries to lure Rodan away from the city and towards the inbound Monster Zero, who is looking for a fight. The two flying monsters fight, and Godzilla shows up to drag Monster Zero into the water to defeat it, even tearing off one of its three heads. The U.S. Navy, meanwhile, uses a new type of weapon, the Oxygen Destroyer, to stop all three Titans, but only Godzilla (and a bunch of fish) feels the effects. Monster Zero is unaffected, and regrows its third head to send out a call to all of the other Titans around the globe. Rodan swears loyalty to Monster Zero, as do many of the other Titans. 

        Back in China, Dr. Houston Brooks and Dr. Ling are learning of what's happening, and the two of them, with other Monarch agents, witness Mothra breaking from her cocoon, and flying off to face the threat from Monster Zero. Back at the main Monarch base, Mark and Chen talk about the behavior of the other Titans being extremely erratic due to the influence of Monster Zero, and Chen reveals some new information. According to legends,  Monster Zero came from another world, and was referred to in legend as Ghidorah. There was once an intense rivalry between Ghidorah and Godzilla, and unfortunately Godzilla is the only one who can defeat Ghidorah. 

        Mothra arrives and helps the Monarch team to find Godzilla, who is alive but very weak after the fight in Mexico. Monarch then takes a submarine to Godzilla's location, and they find an ancient temple that is Godzilla's home. Unfortunately, it is extremely hot and radioactive, making it near impossible to launch a nuke and help heal Godzilla faster. Serizawa decides to sacrifice himself and takes the nuke to Godzilla personally, dying of the heat and radiation after saying farewell to Godzilla. Now fully restored, Godzilla is ready for round three. 

        Madison, meanwhile, takes the ORCA to Fenway Park in Boston. Yeah, it turns out that Emma and Alan, along with Alan's team, were at an abandoned Monarch base in Massachusetts, and Emma realizes that she was wrong about Ghidorah. Madison activates the ORCA in the middle of Fenway, which causes the Titans' rampage around the world to stop, and draws the attention of Ghidorah and Godzilla, who begin to slug it out once again. It also leads both Mark and Emma to the ballpark, both of whom are looking for Madison. After a clue from one of the G-Team soldiers, they head back to the family home in Boston, but arrive to find it destroyed, with Madison in the bathtub. Alive, luckily, with only minor injuries. As they all make their way to leave, Emma stays behind to buy the others time to escape. 

       Godzilla, meanwhile, is growing more and more radioactive due to Serizawa's nuke. His fight with Ghidorah rages, with Mothra joining the fight going up against Rodan. Mothra defeats Rodan and then sacrifices herself to help Godzilla, causing him to enter a new state and completely obliterating Ghidorah. Soon, Godzilla is surrounded by the other Titans, who bow to him and accept him as the true King of the Monsters. During the closing credits, we learn a few things. One thing we learn is that ecosystems are being restored due to the presence of the Titans. We also learn that a second Mothra egg has been found, and Rodan has settled in a volcano in Fiji. Finally, we learn that Titan activity, as well as Monarch activity, is increasing around Skull Island. A post-credits scene shoes Alan in Mexico buying the severed Ghidorah head from earlier. 

          Okay, so easily the best thing in Godzilla: King of the Monsters is the monster fights. Godzilla fighting the likes of Rodan and Ghidorah is absolutely amazing, and the framing of these monster fights is terrific. This movie also marks the first time that Rodan, Ghidorah, and Mothra have been adapted outside of Japan, and it's really awesome. The new actors, including Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, O'Shea Jackson, Jr, Bradley Whitford, Zhang Ziyi, Thomas Middleditch, Charles Dance, and so forth are terrific, and I was genuinely surprised by the appearance of Joe Morton as Houston Brooks, Corey Hawkins' character from Kong: Skull Island. This further ties Kong: Skull Island with the Godzilla films and establishes that this is, indeed, a shared cinematic universe. Director Michael Dougherty is clearly a fan of old-school Japanese monster movie, as he has clearly made a genuine American monster movie. 

        One last thing I want to touch on is the music in this movie. Composer Bear McCreary, whose credits include TV shows like The Walking Dead, Battlestar Galactica, Black Sails, and movies like 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Cloverfield Paradox does a great job with the score, which includes the classic Godzilla and Mothra leitmotifs from the Japanese movies. On top of that, Bear recorded a cover of the classic Blue Oyster Cult song "Godzilla" with System of a Down lead singer Serj Tankian on vocals for the track. This actually marks the first time a version of that particular Blue Oyster Cult song has been used in a Godzilla movie, and you can believe that I geeked out in the movie theater when that song came up during the closing credits. 

         Overall, this is one of the best films in Warner Bros. and Legendary's MonsterVerse, and I'm giving Godzilla: King of the Monsters a rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off. See you guys next time. Keep an eye out for this Wednesday, when I give my thoughts on Godzilla vs. Kong.