I've been on record before saying that I think the cinematic universe model of film making is a mistake. It worked when Marvel did it because they were the first ones to try it and they got lucky with its success. When Legendary Studios started this universe back in 2014 with Godzilla, I predicted it would crash and burn within three movies. Now, with the release of movie number three, has it failed? Well not really. But it's not great.
1. Background
The two movies that preceded this were Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island. Godzilla was an alright movie, definitely much better than America's last attempt at making a Godzilla movie in 1999, but suffered from a lack of showing the actual titular character. The advertisements for that movie were, for me at least, the main cause of the failure of that movie. False advertisement is a serious thing, and to advertise a movie as a particular thing, and then to present something entirely different is a mistake.
In 2017, Kong: Skull Island was released, and it was an improvement over its predecessor in every way. the effects were better, the story was easier to follow and the actors were doing a much better job (Not to discount Bryan Cranston in Godzilla, that man always does an amazing job). The biggest advantage this movie had over Godzilla was that all of the action scenes took place in the daytime. Lighting is very important, and viewers want to actually be able to see clearly when two giant monsters attack each other. This movie understood that.
3. Story
I'll say this, At least I got what I paid for this time around. The last Godzilla movie was a litany of false advertisement. This one at least told me everything I needed to know in the trailers. "So there's gonna be a bunch of monsters, and they're gonna fight. And Eleven from Stranger Things is there. Go see it please." Well, I did go see it, and that's basically exactly what I got. The problem was, I guess I wanted just a bit more?
Here's the thing, I understand this is a Godzilla movie. I understand that means that all the studio is required to give me is at least two giant animals slamming around for a little bit. But this movie has the same problem as the last Godzilla movie in the fact that I just don't care about the human characters. This time we mainly follow a dad as he attempts to find his wife and child (Sound familiar 2014 Godzilla fans?) amidst a string of new attacks by Titans. I mean seriously, can they not call them Kaiju? Do they think people will confuse Pacific Rim as a part of this series? Actually, the general audience might think that. I still have to explain to my family why Tobey Maguire isn't an Avenger.
3. Special Effects
This movie actually looks pretty good. If they were going to get anything right, it had to be the look of the monsters. The four min monsters of the film, Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah all look very good. They all have these little quirks to their movements that make them feel unique. As I stated earlier, the film actually looks best during scenes set in broad daylight. When Rodan is introduced, the colors are much warmer, and as a result, what we are seeing on screen is much clearer. Rodan looks beautiful because we can actually see him, and the CGI holds up surprisingly well. But then Ghidorah shows up again and it's back to dark and dour. Disappointing.
The main problem with the special effects is the lack of scope. Without Gareth Edwards at the director's helm, the loss of scale is really noticeable. I watched both this, and the last Godzilla movie in IMAX theaters, and when I watched the last one I thought "Damn Godzilla is HUGE." Unfortunately, Michael Dougherty just doesn't have the same idea of the scope that Gareth Edwards does. Instead of making the monsters seem big, he makes everything else look small. It's more Gulliver's Travels and less Pacific Rim.
4. Conclusion
So, should you see it? Well, I'm sort of a mixed bag. There's a lot to like in this movie. For the most part, I think it's an improvement over its predecessor, and for all its flaws it's still part of the second best cinematic universe in a film currently. This movie's biggest problem is that it lacked confidence. It was afraid to take risks. Want to know a Godzilla movie that takes risks? Go watch Shin Godzilla, the last live-action Godzilla movie from Toho Studios. That movie does everything right that this movie does wrong. In the end, this movie is inoffensive at best and slightly disappointing at worst. It's nothing to get mad over. I'm still looking forward to Godzilla vs. Kong next year, but they'll have to really impress me in order to keep me with this series.
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