Godzilla II: King of the Monsters

Wow, I didn't enjoy it. Like, so very, very, very much. The other Godzilla shows that it cost a lot of money, and the monster battles are actually pretty good, at least the final one, which cleverly works with scale and alternates spectacular shots of two dueling titans with action with human characters running at their feet. But that's pretty much it. The new Godzilla has about fifteen human characters, but finding a single one among them that was the least bit interesting or likeable was a task beyond me. A few hours after the screening, I actually remember the names of about two of the protagonists. The trouble is that despite all the declamation and certain attempts to conceive Godzilla II a little differently, it is ultimately very much about those human characters, who of course are the ones who, by their dullness, flatness and absolute unwillingness to take themselves even a little bit less seriously (this is a film in which a giant lizard fights an even bigger three-headed dragon, dammit!) they get boring at first, and then just annoying. The grandeur and elegance promised by the trailers isn't there in the end, and while the fights are fun to watch, the rest of it really doesn't work. In fact, as a viewer, I'm not really interested in seeing another film conceived in this way. (30/05/2019)

Crucial question, who cooked up that kick-ass trailer with Debussy's steroid-infused music? Because that's who should have made this overblown, dark, cluttered, whiny, dumb movie, it probably would have turned out a lot better. Because the balance between visual epic, musical poetry and respect for the original is something we can only dream of in the full version. (04/06/2019)

An excellent start and a spectacular demonstration of different monsters, buried under a faint yet convoluted plot and underestimation of the viewer’s intelligence. Thanks to Gareth Edwards, with the previous movie Warner Brothers has managed to pull off a respectable relaunch of the Godzilla cult by successfully blending the motifs and the atmosphere of the original Japanese myth with the pomp of Hollywood blockbusters. But instead of meeting the audience’s expectations, they entrusted the next two sequels to creators of mediocre horror movies. Sure, pouring the high budget into first-class CGI should be good enough for the stupid target audience craving cool-looking monsters, but let’s see if this approach changes with the new CEO. (05/07/2019)

The anticipated Godzilla sequel, after the riveting trailers, is ultimately a missed opportunity and another blockbuster that failed to live up to expectations this year. Michael Dougherty is the director of Trick 'r Treat and Krampus, two decent holiday horror films, but Godzilla: King of the Monsters feels like a big bite that he couldn't quite chew. The characters are absolutely uninteresting (though Eleven tries), the pacing is pretty much erratic, we only see four of the fifteen monsters mentioned in the action, and repeatedly at that. Perhaps the worst part of it all is that the film isn't entertaining at all, and if it's not exactly blazing on screen, it's rather boring. I was most impressed with Hydra, which is visually solid and I think the finale is satisfying, but the rest of it hardly works at all. Too bad. 60% (03/06/2019)

This film is in some ways the same for me as the previous one – knowing what to expect from it makes me enjoy it much more. Yes, I'm still sorry that it didn't follow the Gareth Edwards style, but the story itself isn't actually any sillier, it's just presented in a very, shall we say, straightforward way and looked at through a completely different lens. Last time, humans were in the lead while monsters were unleashing havoc that affected people's destinies, and Godzilla was there to help people at the right moment. This time around, the monsters are in charge, wreaking havoc on an even larger scale, with humans on the sidelines and helping the real main characters, Godzilla and Mothra, at the right moment. I was pleased to see that the titan fights are a lot clearer on TV at home than they were in the cinema, so I enjoyed some quite amusing close-ups and imaginative choreography (I absolutely love the moments when the digital monsters move as if they’re wrestlers in rubber suits), I never stopped enjoying Bear McCreary's Ifukube-themed music, and although I may regret it, I have to say I'm looking forward to the Kong fight. (30/05/2019)