June 7th in Chicago.
Michael Dougherty directs and gets a screenwriting credit to this sequel to the 2014 original. The crypto-zoological organization known as Monarch is back again keeping tabs on giant monsters they refer to as titans (because Kaiju is being used for another franchise and monsters is too cliche).
The film focuses on the Russell Family; Emma (Vera Farmiga) a cryptobiologist, her daughter Madison (Eleven) and husband Mark (Kyle Chandler), an animal behavior and communication specialist who used to work for Monarch with Emma. The Russells loss their youngest son in the 1st film and the loss caused Emma and Mark to divorce cliche. Emma perfected the Orca, a device that allows for communication with the titans. Also, Emma believes that humans and titans can co-exist and Mark does not.
Emma is working on communicating with a cocooned Mothra when the facility is attacked by British eco-terrorist Twynn Lannister. Lannister and his goons kill all of the Monarch employees and "kidnap" Emma and Madison (what teenage Madison is doing in a highly classified secured facility is anyone's guess but that's what was in the script) and Mothra gets loose to pupate under a waterfall.
Monarch sends Dr. Ishirō Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Dr. Vivienne Graham to collect Mark to figure out Lannister's next move. That next move takes them to Antarctica where Lannister is attempting to awaken the dreaded Monster Zero!
Otherwise known as King Ghidorah.
When the good guys show up they walk into an ambush and Godzilla and Ghidorah start round one. The terrorist flee Antarctica to Mexico to wake up Rodan.
Rodan briefly battles Ghidorah but is quickly brushed aside when Godzilla ambushes Ghidorah. During their fight, Ghidorah loses a head and it's determined that the titans must go. The U.S. military sends a special weapon to destroy Godzilla and Ghidorah but surprise, surprise it doesn't work. Ghidorah flies off to regrow his head and summon all of the other titans. Godzilla goes off to is underwater lair to recuperate from his injuries.
Monarch used their submarine (yep they have one), to track Godzilla to his lair. Dr. Serizawa is able to somehow determine that it will take years for Godzilla to mend so they need to speed it up. Using a specialized mini-sub and a nuclear device (which they just happen to have), Serizawa enters the lair (on a one way trip mind you), detonates the device therefor healing Godzilla. The final battle is now set.
For some reason Boston will host the final battle. Mothra and Rodan fight, because Rodan is working for Ghidorah and Godzilla and Ghidorah get together for the last dances. Mothra beats Rodan but is defeated by Ghidorah. In her last act, Mortha is able to give her, let's call it life essence to Godzilla to give him the energy he needs to defeat Ghidorah once and for all. Which of course Godzilla does and with his victory, Rodan and the other titans that sat and watched bend the knee to the "Big G."
Apologies for the lengthy plot description but there's a lot going on. The aspect of Godzilla is simple; he battles other monsters. That's what we as the audience want to see. The scenes with real actors are sometimes ridiculous. In the five years in between the films, science has managed to become experts on titans. Science has been studying things for decades and has failed to come up with concrete answers!
The CGI and SFX are cool. The monster battles are cool as well but there's always something that clouds the battle. Whether it's clouds, a blizzard or water there is never a battle in ideal conditions. I get that the SFX cost a lot of bread and that's why they have to obscure the fights but the monster battles are why we pay for the ticket.
The acting was ok but nothing spectacular. The main characters are pretty much cliches. In fact there are too many cliches too count at times. The most prevalent are the needless sacrifices. Between Dr. Serizawa and Emma at the end of the film saying "I'll be right behind you" when they're evacuating Boston, you know she's going to die. The main human bad guy, Twynn Lannister, is essentially a Bond villain. He used to be a British army colonel and an MI6 agent but has become insanely rich in trafficking titan DNA (in just five years btw) in order to fund his eco-terrorist organization. This organization has all of the up to date military equipment as well as a large army and they get to operate with impunity without law enforcement doing anything about them.
Monarch also seems to have everything at their disposal ready to be summoned at a moments notice. Need a giant aircraft, like a helicarrier, to make an emergency landing? Done. Need a super sophisticated submarine to track Godzilla to an underwater lair? No problem. Need a mini sub to go into a special section of Godzilla's lair that just happens to have a breathable atmosphere? Got just the thing. Need a nuclear device to give out just the right amount of radiation to heal Godzilla? Not a problem. Where did this organization get their funding?
Lastly there's the "Big G" himself. He has a safe place in an ancient submerged city that happens to have an air pocket in it so that humans can breathe if they want to pop in. The nuclear blast the accelerates his healing also increases his power to out of control levels. During the final battle in Boston, Monarch monitors his radiation levels and has to evacuate a wide radius because the blast will be huge. However, Godzilla can control the radiation by letting go pulses that he uses to defeat Ghidorah. After the battle, there's no mention of any possible devastation these controlled nuclear blasts may have caused.
The picture received a 41% Rotten Tomatoes rating and rightfully so. It wasn't that great. It's hard to create tension when Godzilla vs. King Kong, being plugged since 2017, is set for a 2020 release. Just like the MCU, when you're trying to establish a big franchise, the main characters are not going to get killed off. The runtime is 132 minutes and I found myself hoping the climax would take place soon. There are some quality moments as I mentioned but it doesn't hold up. I saw this film because I invested a lot of time back as a kid watching the Toho Godzilla films and the 1997 piece of dreck. I will also go see the next installment as well. This film isn't for everyone. If you need to see it, be forewarned.
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