Godzilla vs. Kong

[MysterioMaximus]

Woke up early just to watch it. Look...it's a giant monster versus movie, I'm not going to sit here and pretend it's brilliant. I'm not going to lie either though. I had SO MUCH FUN with this movie. I was highly entertained, heck more than I even expected to be. I'd say it's probably my favorite of all the modern American Godzilla films.

I enjoyed the first one, but I had a decent amount of issues with it. It wasn't as good as I'd hoped for. For one, I felt almost tricked that Bryan Cranston was in it. Dude dies, what, like ten minutes in? But my real issue was the shocking lack of Godzilla himself and I know I wasn't the only one. I got so annoyed with how that would basically tease him and then CUT AWAY right as we're about to get the money shot. I get doing that a few times, but it happened CONSTANTLY. I've often said, the film should really be called MUTO featuring Godzilla. I also kind of wanted the first one to be a loose remake of the original, less the heroic Godzilla or wrestling matches and more first appearance villain Godzilla. But I could live with that. I get it, he's more known as a hero now. It was enjoyable, but just not really what I wanted.

I didn't personally care for Skull Island at all. I get why they changed so of the lore. For one, you have to scale him up in order to fight Godzilla later. I get that. But I thought the movie was mostly just kind of silly. Strange edits, characters making very questionable decisions, really random moments like John Goodman's death just coming out of nowhere and not really mattering at all, etc. Wasn't a fan. Probably my least favorite of them thus far.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters: Well they at least listened to the "Not enough Godzilla" critiques with the first one, but my issue here was I REALLY think this film was overkill. Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah ALL introduced in ONE movie? I just thought it was a little much. It's fun, but I do think it's lacking something. Heart maybe.

So Godzilla vs. Kong REALLY surprised me in the sense that it really does seem to have more heart than any of the above IMO. It's probably due to Kong being in it, he's much easier to humanize than the others. Again, it's not Shakespeare, but I did think it was "smarter" than the others. And it really gave me this sort of child-like excitement and feel.

I wonder, now that they've done pretty much all the BIG hitters (Godzilla, Kong, Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah...and...*cough*), who's really well known enough to do that hasn't been done?

 

[Masterfett]

Well, anything else is just whatever and that happens when you open with big hitters first. Though I understand they didn't have the luxury to build up to this moment or the big hitters, in the movie world you gotta take your shot big right out of the gate.

I suspect we'll see a new solo Kong movie with this new version and that Godzilla might take a break for a bit. IDRK because I'm not fully into this universe as others are but I'm sure they're working on something unknown and interesting from the mythos.

At least the success of this Movie will hopefully get us the long awaited Thundercats movie.

 

[VideoViper]

It was good more of a Kong movie than Godzilla. The bad guy was who I expected

Lots of fun questions to explore. Like who built.... Some dumb stuff but no worse than the other movies.

 

[Lobotscomb]

who's really well known enough to do that hasn't been done?

Gamera!

Loved the movie because it was mostly character driven by Monsters. Milly Bobby Brown however added NOTHING to this movie. Tapwater did more...lol
Movie IS really fun. There are a few directions this could go from here. Especially with the reveal of the psuedo monster island.

 

[Real_Scooby]

Saw it, loved it To be short, a awesome 2-hour-CGI-giant-monster-clash with a few humans thrown in from time to time.
Grab your bucket of popcorn and just enjoy it, it definatly is a welcome change during this hard COVID-dominant time

 

[nintendo2600]

This movie is great! I've watched it twice already and I'm sure I'll watch it again in the future.

 

[Nerfherder]

The monster stuff was fun, but this series still suffers greatly from the humans doing nothing more than giving exposition and getting the monsters together in some ridiculous ways. A hollow earth? C'mon, man! Just make them all from outer space.

 

[Wishing_Well]

I wonder, now that they've done pretty much all the BIG hitters (Godzilla, Kong, Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah...and...*cough*), who's really well known enough to do that hasn't been done?

Destroyah is the last big bad they have left to due.

 

[EmperorPalps]

This movie was painful to sit through. It was nothing more than a two hour demo reel for all the VFX studios involved. Shin Godzilla was far more interesting, if for no other reason a majority of the effects were practical with minimal CG.

 

[Nerfherder]

Shin Godzilla is great, because like the original, the humans actually have something to do.

 

[Tulgah]

Got around to watching this. It’s fine.

 

[Onderodian]

It's good!

 

[Tulgah]

I agree! I had a lot of fun.

 

[jjawa3]

Saw the last part of it last night, the effects were excellent, the movement of Godzilla and Kong great, but who was the mechanical thing? it moved very well too. I will watch the whole thing soon. and Middle Earth? isn't that from another favorite?

 

[MysterioMaximus]

Saw the last part of it last night, the effects were excellent, the movement of Godzilla and Kong great, but who was the mechanical thing? it moved very well too. I will watch the whole thing soon. and Middle Earth? isn't that from another favorite?

That's Mechagodzilla, a modernized version of a classic Godzilla foe, basically a big piloted mech suit designed to counter Godzilla attacks. Then the "middle earth" is actually the Hollow Earth, don't think Tolkien. There's lots of real world theories on it, not that it does exist just that some crackpots believe it actually exists (insanely enough...I'm not joking here - it's akin to Flat-Earth believers), and it's been used a lot in literature - great example is Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. It's often portrayed as a sort of primordial lost world, prehistoric, think Skull Island or the Savage Land from X-Men but underground. A sort of land lost in time where it stayed trapped in a sort of Mesozoic-like era. So Kong and his species thematically fit rather well in that sort of landscape.

I mean I'm not going to sit here and claim it's a masterpiece - it's a Godzilla movie. If someone goes in expecting more than typical giant monster absurd fun, that's on you...you wanted to hate it. By now, everyone should know what they're in for. It's a silly, boyhood, playtime type movie. Shut your brain off. It's intended to be fun and nothing more...and in that, I think it achieved what it aimed to do. I think this films are always doomed for one or the other demographic - when they try to make it more in-depth character driven, one side argues it's boring. When they try to make it more mindless havoc and monster battles, one side argues it's dim-witted and stupid. It's like they can't win, someone's always annoyed. Well I had fun. I want my Kaiju films to be heavy on MONSTER BATTLES, is human character depth REALLY that required for this type of film? I'm not going to pretend it's a brilliant, lifechanging film experience...I probably won't even remember a lot about it a few months from now. But while watching it, I was enjoying myself in a lil kid-type manner. I can think of a lot worst films to spend two hours on.

 

[Tulgah]

My brain was shut off the whole time, and I loved it!

 

[MysterioMaximus]

My brain was shut off the whole time, and I loved it!

Exactly. I mean I don't agree on doing that with all movies, but again...this is a giant monster vs. movie. I mean what did people expect? I don't care what anyone says, I had a blast...and can utterly admit it's absurd...but that almost made it more fun. It knows WHAT it is and just embraced it. I can admire that. I thought it was the best of all the new ones.

 

[Tulgah]

Yeah, sometimes I’m in a Steel Magnolias kind of mood. But most of the time I want to see monsters blowing fire on each other.

 

[MysterioMaximus]

Yeah, sometimes I’m in a Steel Magnolias kind of mood. But most of the time I want to see monsters blowing fire on each other.

Yeah exactly, it's like said...I feel like these kind of movies will always have a percentage of nay-saying simply because of the audience. One half wants it to be some actual sincere and serious drama about a giant monster (which considering the context could be very boring...)...the other side wants nothing BUT monster fights (which means the other half will deem it mindlessly stupid)...

...but to me, the point of a giant vs. monster movie IS the fighting. I'm not here for family drama. So in that, this movie succeeded IMO.

 

[jjawa3]

Maxim, it was very late and I just saw it mentioned on the menu and said 'Let's see", and so I did, in the almost last part of it. I had seen all the Japanese monster movies and loved them. then came along the American made Godzilla movies, some good ,remakes, ugh, I also saw the old King Kong movie when I was younger. but then, I grew up with Sci-Fi, all my life. But... the latest movie being discussed reminds me of a Japanese version, but then, maybe it's a remake! It's all fun in the long run.

 

[MysterioMaximus]

Maxim, it was very late and I just saw it mentioned on the menu and said 'Let's see", and so I did, in the almost last part of it. I had seen all the Japanese monster movies and loved them. then came along the American made Godzilla movies, some good ,remakes, ugh, I also saw the old King Kong movie when I was younger. but then, I grew up with Sci-Fi, all my life. But... the latest movie being discussed reminds me of a Japanese version, but then, maybe it's a remake! It's all fun in the long run.

It's an inherently silly, boyhood genre. It's rather simple, either you get it...or don't. It's one of those types of subgenre.

 

[Masterfett]

Exactly. I mean I don't agree on doing that with all movies, but again...this is a giant monster vs. movie. I mean what did people expect? I don't care what anyone says, I had a blast...and can utterly admit it's absurd...but that almost made it more fun. It knows WHAT it is and just embraced it. I can admire that. I thought it was the best of all the new ones.

This, I think we all need a movie every now where we can just shut off the brain and enjoy it for what it is. And you would think movies like these would be considered that, but I also think we at times are guilty of trying to wrap our heads around it using our logic and reason. As much as I enjoy a Monster movie being just that, the part that usually falls flat are the Human aspects which is where the second one fails for me. If it hadn't been for the lame/lackluster way they handled it I could enjoyed it more as simply a Godzilla movie. So when Godzilla vs. Kong came along and they actually did a good job telling the Human aspect of the story it felt like a more well rounded experience.

Movies like Starship Troopers for example can be enjoyed like that, shutting off the brain and enjoying it for what it is. I'd even say you could do that with Shang-Chi if one wanted to, as there's enough going on to enjoy it as as simple fantasy movie, but because it's Marvel there is also something else going on in addition to the actual story about a boy and his Family. So this is one instance where you can do both rather than one or the other.

Personally I do struggle with shutting of the thinning cap, with just about everything I see there's a mystery to be solved or a greater meaning behind what's really going on. It's just in my nature for some reason and no matter how many movies I see that don't have that aspect to them I still find myself working it out and coming to the conclusion before the actual movie does. Maybe it's all those years of watching shows like Star Trek, Mason, Matlock, CSI etc. where it was a challenge to solve the mystery and identify the culprit before the show ends.

 

[Tulgah]

Y’all are what make RS really worthwhile to me. That’s some nice stuff!