Age of The Nerd
For nearly sixty-five years, Godzilla has remained a pop culture mainstay. As the thirty-fifth entry in the long-running franchise, Godzilla: King of the Monsters has a massive legacy to live up to. Moreover, the third Godzilla film to be produced a Hollywood studio finally has the opportunity to get an American interpretation right. Whereas the 1998’s Godzilla proved how easy it was to screw up the character, the 2014 reboot of the same name was a welcome – yet flawed – return to form.
Gareth Edwards’ film was a back to basics, slow-burn story. It managed to modernize the G-man in a way that brought the size and magnitude back to the franchise. Now, the latest entry builds on those elements, while also adding a much-needed sense of awe and wonder to the franchise. Godzilla: King of the Monsters mends many of the complaints about its predecessor. However, it also creates a whole new set of problems for itself, much like the opposing ends of a seesaw.
As a veteran of genre filmmaking for the past 15 years, Dougherty’s involvement in the franchise is exciting. He’s the type of filmmaker that simply understands the machinations of genre storytelling – for better or worse. When it comes to a movie like Godzilla: King of the Monsters, filmmaker intent is a major factor in determining its quality. As a massive fan of the franchise, it’s blatantly obvious that this is the Godzilla movie Dougherty has always wanted to see. In other words, it’s hard to judge the film for something that it’s not trying to be.
In this respect, he delivers a sensory experience that is less interested in creating a human connection than delivering on complete monster madness. Both tonally and visually, Dougherty treats the various Kaiju with the mythological reverence that they deserve. Unfortunately, the ideas that Dougherty brings to the table are often more interesting in context than the actual execution. This starts with the impressive ensemble cast, which is largely wasted in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
For the most part, the excellent ensemble cast is wasted. The core trio of Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga & Kyle Chandler is nearly wasted. While all three of these players do what they can with the material, we never spend enough time with them to identify, let alone care. It’s tough to distinguish which character is our protagonist – something that the film grapples with throughout its lengthy runtime. In general, most of the cast treats the material more seriously than they probably should. Interestingly, it’s supporting players such as Ken Watanabe and Bradley Whitford that steal the show with self-aware performances. Considering the level of talent involved, it’s a shame that none of the emotional beats land.
As bland as most of the cast is in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the script is equally as disappointing. Written by Dougherty and Zack Shields, with a story by Dougherty, Shields and Max Borenstein, the film is a paint-by-numbers Godzilla story. It focuses heavily on plot and very little on character, which is standard for most Godzilla films. However, there are far too many human characters and location jumps for anything of substance to take place. As a result, there is little context on the family dynamic between our protagonist(s). The motivations of the human characters are often unclear, which makes the drama feel like a manufactured tool to get to the action. Furthermore, the movie never tries to humanize the characters, which ultimately makes it hard for us to care.
It’s true that the third act delivers some of the best all-out monster action in the entire franchise. Nevertheless, it also makes some leaps in internal logic that never connect – even for a complete fantasy. Its characters are passively active, which is an unusual predicament for a movie like this to be in. Thematically, Godzilla: King of the Monsters explores the morality of playing god and meddling with nature. As with most Godzilla movies, the environmental themes are ever-present. Ultimately, the film is about not only restoring balance to the fictional universe but also to the fictional franchise itself. Much like the direction, these themes are far more interesting in idea than execution in the final product.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is perhaps the most visually dynamic film in the franchise to date. Despite this, the cinematography lives in close up and medium close-up, which feels like a missed opportunity. On one hand, the tight framing and long lenses help to sell the sheer scale of the monsters. On the other, it also prevents the film from having any sense of clean visual geography, especially during the action. While there are some absolutely beautiful visual moments interspersed throughout, sloppy editing often mitigates the cinematography rather than enhancing it.
The visual effects are top-notch, smartly utilizing heavy atmosphere to sell the realism. The animation is dually impressive, giving each monster a unique, distinguishable personality. In terms of big blockbuster destruction, it’s refreshing to see a different city like Boston finally get demolished in a massive Kaiju battle. This should go without saying, but the always-trusty Bear McCreary delivers another inspired score for the film. McCreary’s work here is so epic that it’s hard to imagine Godzilla: King of the Monsters without it. There’s simply a level of supremely effective bombast here that is unrivaled in the current blockbuster soundscape.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is not a movie that it trying to be realistic in any sense of the word – it’s a complete fantasy. That said, it’s also not trying to reinvent the wheel; it’s merely just trying to present a shiny new version to it. In this respect, the film mostly delivers. However, it also brings some new elements to the Godzilla canon. Which is all you can ask for after sixty-five years of telling essentially the same, slightly repackaged story.
Even though Godzilla: King of the Monsters is an old-school Kaiju film at heart, we ultimately still need something to latch onto. Unfortunately, that something ultimately isn’t present in the film. The Kaiju action is absolutely killer, but the lack of someone other than the monsters to root for ultimately makes it a fairly hollow experience – even if it is easily the most exciting American Godzilla film to date.
Rating: 3/5
The Picture
Godzilla: King of the Monsters arrives on 4K Blu-ray with a visually stunning video transfer. Sourced from a 2K digital intermediate, the film’s home video release also retains the 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Although not a particularly colorful film, the Dolby Vision on this disc makes considerable improvements form the start. Color surely sees a lift in saturation, but it’s the significant boost in contrast that makes this 4K grade truly impressive.
The film is already a pretty dark movie, to begin with. Yet, somehow, the boost to both highlights and shadows adds a whole new layer of nuance and complexity to the image. Textures and skin tones are appropriately rendered, while overall detail and sharpness are excellent, especially considering the film’s liberal use of atmospheric effects. Luckily, no encoding issues are to be found in this transfer – it’s as clean as a whistle. Overall, the video transfer is outstanding on this disc, making for a dynamic visual presentation.
Rating: 4.5/5
The Audio
Similarly, the Dolby Atmos mix for Godzilla: King of the Monsters is so robust that it would make the G-man himself proud. Right off the bat, channel separation is distinct and nuaced, remaining as such throughout the runtime. A hefty low end often dominates this track, while dialogue and environmental ambience remain consistent and balanced. As a result, clarity, positioning, and overall immersion are all excellent. With that said, the real highlight of this track is Bear McCreary’s epic score. Not only is the prolific composer’s score for the film the best of the franchise, but also his music is brilliantly realized on this track. Overall, this immersive sound mix is reference quality, while also being one of the year’s most memorable tracks.
Rating: 5/5
The Special Features
The supplemental material in this release of Godzilla: King of the Monsters is substantial. Headlined by a great audio commentary, this release also features a healthy assortment of supplemental material. Including a bevy of featurettes and a handful of deleted scenes, there’s a lot to dig through here. Unfortunately, a more comprehensive making-of documentary is absent, although many of the featurettes check the majority of the same boxes. With the exception of the Commentary track, the following supplements are contained in the film’s accompanying Blu-ray disc.
Audio Commentary: A feature-length track that is a highlight of the special features in this package. Director Michael Dougherty, Producer Zack Shields, and actor O’Shea Jackson Jr headline the commentary track, which really digs into the nooks and crannies of the production. This excellent track covers various aspects of the production, casting, music, sound design, cinematography, building a cinematic universe, easter eggs, homages, and much more!
Monsters 101 (5:32; 1080p): A quick series of featurettes that highlights each of the main monsters that appear in the movie. These short video pieces serve as a great primer for those who are uninitiated with Godzilla lore.
- Godzilla: Nature’s Fearsome Guardian
- Mothra: Queen of the Monsters
- Gidorah: The Living Extinction Machine
- Rodan: Airborne God of Fire
Evolution of the Titans (27:24; 1080p): A far more in-depth set of featurettes that explore how the monsters were brought to life. Featuring interview clips mixed with a few b-roll shots here and there, this multi-part piece delivers on its premise.
- Godzilla 2.0
- Making Mothra
- Creating Gidorah
- Reimagining Rodan
Monarch in Action (32:56; 1080p): Another series of featurettes that take viewers through five of the major battle sequences in the film. Although this set of featurettes are reasonably in-depth, the lack of solid b-roll from production is a setback. More importantly, the final battle isn’t covered here, which is easily one of the best sequences in the film, at least visually speaking.
- The Yunnan Temple
- Castle Bravo
- The Antarctic Base
- The Isla de Mara Volcano
- Undersea Lair
Millie Bobby Brown: Force of Nature (4:07; 1080p): A small, yet inconsequential piece that highlights Brown’s presence, both on-screen and off.
Monster Tech: Monarch Joins the Fight (8:34; 1080p): An all-too-short featurette that takes a look at the technology in the film, both real and invented.
Monsters Are Real (14:18; 1080p): A decent featurette that uses professional experts to connect the lore to real life. It’s a bit derivative, but interesting nevertheless.
Welcome To the Monsterverse (3:42; 1080p): A quick piece that promotes the so-called Monsterverse with the upcoming film, Godzilla vs. Kong.
Deleted and Extended Scenes (5:01; 1080p): It’s easy to see why these trims were made. Nevertheless, it’s still nice to see how some of the character beats were originally fleshed out.
- Mark’s Flashback (Extended version)
- Boxing Practice, Argument, and Radio Room
Theatrical Trailers (12:01; 1080p): A handful of excellent trailers form the film’s theatrical marketing campaign.
- Life
- Supremacy
- Over the Rainbow
- Wonder Rumble
Rating: 4/5
Final Thoughts
Godzilla: King of the Monsters is probably a better movie than it gets credit for. It’s visually stunning, but the lack of a human connection makes it a bit of a disappointment. Although the video transfer is an upscale and not true 4K, the image quality of this disc is astounding nevertheless. Similarly, the audio mix on this release is superb, with a reference-quality track. While the supplements are substantial enough, a few missing details keep the disc from having a truly amazing set of special features. In summation, this 4K release of Godzilla: King of the Monsters from Warner Bros. Home Video is absolutely worth picking up — especially for fans of the long-running franchise.
Overall Rating: 4/5
