Directed by Michael Dougherty
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Ken Watanabe, Millie Bobby Brown, Charles Dance and Bradley Whitford
Synopsis: Crypto-zoological agency MONARCH, which has been monitoring and studying the Titans, faces off against an eco-terrorist group, who is hell bent on releasing them all from hibernation. GODZILLA joins in the fight against RODAN and with the help of MOTHRA fights with GHIDORAH for the title of King of the Monsters.
First, I must admit; I am not a life-long Godzilla fan and I am sure that true Godzilla aficionados will be horrified to hear I found the original Japanese films to be kind of boring. Second, I also enjoyed GODZILLA (1998) starring Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno and Hank Azaria. Now that that is out of the way, let’s talk about GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019).
[SPOILERS FOLLOW]
This sequel picks up about five years after GODZILLA (2014). I must admit, I was confused at first, because I thought that the main characters, the Russell family, were in the 2014 film. They weren’t. You learn that the Russells were San Francisco when Godzilla fought the MUTOs and their son was killed. This catastrophe eventually breaks up the family and Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) takes her daughter Madison (Millie Bobbie Brown) and joins MONARCH to study the Titans.
Before their break-up, Dr. Russell and her ex-husband had been working on a device called the ORCA, think “universal translator,” which they hoped would allow them to communicate with the Titans. She has just confirmed that the ORCA works on MOTHRA, when the Monarch facility is attacked by an eco-terrorist group led by Jonah Alan (Charles Dance). They steal the ORCA, kidnap Emma and Madison and kill everyone else. Mothra escapes and cocoons herself under a waterfall. Monarch locates Mark Russell studying a wolf pack and whisk him away in the hopes that he can assist in retrieving the ORCA, as well as his family.
Jonah takes Emma and Madison to another Monarch facility in Antarctica and learn that in part that he is collecting DNA samples of the Titans. They set explosives in the ice surrounding another Titan and are on their way out when Monarch and Mark arrive. They had been following Godzilla, who had been acting strangely since the terrorist attack and the fact that he can appear out of nowhere supports Dr. Rick Stanton’s (Bradley Whitford) hollow earth theory. They enter the facility and a sniper takes out the terrorist holding the detonator just as Mark approaches from the other direction. Mark begs Madison to come to him, and she starts to, but returns to Emma apologizing, as Jonah and the others aim their weapons at Mark. Emma reaches down for the detonator and to everyone’s surprise, presses it.
Panic ensues as everyone tries to escape the explosions and the newly freed GHIDORAH, a three-headed dragon, which Monarch has dubbed Monster Zero. Madison worries about her father’s safety as she escapes with her mother as Godzilla and Ghidorah fight. Ghidorah is triumphant and Jonah quips, “Long live the King.” I don’t know about you, but all I could think about was how once again Tywin Lannister (GOT) was a kingmaker!
Monarch realizes that their Mexico facility if the next target on Jonah’s hit list and head towards it, even though a hurricane seems to be headed in the same direction. Emma reaches out to Mark, in part to placate Madison to prove that he is still alive and well, but also to make him understand why she did what she did. The Titans aren’t the danger and mankind, ala Thanos (AVENGERS), is the virus that must be cured. Wherever the Titans have wreaked havoc, the Earth has repaired itself.
Meanwhile, Monarch has discovered that the hurricane that is heading for Mexico is actually Ghidorah. They attempt to reduce the devastation and lure the newly revived RODAN (looks like a combination eagle and pterodactyl) out to sea towards Ghidorah. Rodan is defeated, but Godzilla joins in to fight Ghidorah, managing to tear off one of his heads. Unfortunately, the military wasn’t about to wait to see if Godzilla would eventually win, so they launch an Oxygen Destroying missile. Monarch high tails it out of the area just in time. The bomb explodes killing Godzilla, along with a lot of fish, but Ghidorah survives. Rodan and all the other Titans become submissive to King Ghidorah’s rule.
Mothra emerges from her cocoon and finds Godzilla, who has barely survived the bombing and has retreated to an underground chamber to recuperate. Dr. Ilene Chen (Ziyi Zhang) reveals that the women in her family (all twins) has been studying Mothra for generations. Monarch realizes that Mothra is communicating with Godzilla and follows in a submarine to the underground city, which they discover is a temple created by man to worship Godzilla. They realize that Godzilla will never recuperate in time naturally to help them defeat Ghidorah, so they decide to detonate a nuclear weapon to speed up the process. Of course, the submarine was damaged when it travelled through a vortex to get to the chamber, so the bomb must be detonated manually. Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) volunteers to stay behind. In his last moments, he walks up to Godzilla and touches him saying his final farewell.
Meanwhile outside Boston at another Monarch facility, Emma has realized that Ghidorah will not simply reduce the human race but will wipe it out. She argues with Jonah, who has always thought her dream of happy coexistence with the Titans was a pipe dream. Madison overhears this argument and steals the ORCA and heads for a now evacuated Fenway Park to lure the Titans there. Finally, I thought, Eleven (Stranger Things) to the rescue! Ghidorah arrives first and attempts to destroy the ORCA and Madison flees the stadium. A now supercharged Godzilla along with Mothra and Monarch follow the signal for the final battle.
Mothra takes on Rodan and is victorious, only to be disintegrated over an injured Godzilla by Ghidorah. Mark runs into Emma who is looking both for Madison and the ORCA. They retrieve the ORCA and realize that Madison would have run to their old Boston rowhouse, the last place they were a family. Monarch catches up with them and Emma takes the repaired ORCA and lures away Ghidorah giving Mark and Madison time to escape. A recovered Godzilla rises, now charged with the essence of Mothra and emits a thermonuclear pulse, destroying Ghidorah. Rodan and the other Titans bow down to King Godzilla.
Now like Marvel movies, after all the end credits, a glimpse of the next movie is revealed. Unfortunately, like many, I was not aware of this; however, what I have gathered from other reviews is Mothra had laid eggs before going off to battle and one of Ghidorah’s heads was recovered by fishermen and sold it to Jonah. I really wish movie theatres would put up a sign to let their patrons know that there is an extra scene at the end. Although, one theatre had put up a sign during AVENGERS: ENDGAME to let people know that there wasn’t an end clip, but a lot of people didn’t believe it!
The 2014 edition of Godzilla took way too much time to get to the actual monster action. Let’s face it, we go to see a monster movie for the monsters, not for the character dialogue. Thankfully, KING OF THE MONSTERS, did not disappoint. Within the first five minutes of the movie we have monsters and explosions. Like it’s predecessor, this version is very heavy-handed with its environmental message, but the fact that many governments (including our own) refuse to acknowledge the effects of global warming warrants the sledgehammer manner of its delivery. What people won’t listen to in a scientific paper, many will finally hear when it is presented to them in a movie or television show.
I enjoyed seeing the characters of Dr. Serizawa and Vivienne Graham again, forever how short-lived as their appearance connected the two stories. I was thrilled to see Millie Bobbie Brown, but felt her character was underutilized and hope to see her character develop more in future installments. Maybe Madison Russell can become a scientist like her parents and really find a way to communicate with the Titans, rather than attempt to control them.
If you are looking for some good old rock’em sock’em monster action, I would definitely recommend this film. I can’t wait to see GODZILLA VS KING KONG, which is scheduled to premiere in 2020 per IMDB.com
Everything & Nothing 