‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ – Michael Dougherty’s love letter to the Kaiju genre

Even the most casual moviegoer can detect very early on in Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters that this is a very different beast from its grim predecessor, 2014’s Godzilla, directed by Gareth Edwards. Edwards famously — or infamously — favored a gritty, somber tone and sought to portray the titular king of the kaiju (Japanese for “monster” or “strange beast”) in as realistic a light as possible, teasing the audience by hiding Godzilla more often than not, which pleased some moviegoers and left others merely exasperated.

But if Edwards gave us a Godzilla film inspired by the slow burn of Jaws, Michael Dougherty has given us something rather like the giant monster equivalent of a WWE SmackDown event.

Picking up where the 2014 film left off, Godzilla: King of the Monsters finds us in a world still struggling to come to grips with the destruction of San Francisco and the earth-shaking consequences of the existence of Godzilla and his overgrown brethren. Referred to as “titans” this time around (“Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms” was a mouthful, after all), these menacing colossi and their origins are the research focus for Monarch, a covert agency previously introduced in both Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island. Paleobiologist Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) are living at a secret Monarch facility analyzing one such subject when a villainous group storms the facility and abducts them both, forcing the organization to turn to Emma’s estranged husband, Mark (Kyle Chandler), who is himself still grieving the loss of their son in a previous tragedy.

The kidnappers, as it turns out, need Emma in order to enact a nefarious plot involving an especially powerful kaiju code-named “Monster Zero” (if you’re a Godzilla fan, you’re already cheering). Buried deep beneath the Antarctic ice, this three-headed demon is also called by another name: Ghidorah. According to Monarch scientist Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe), this ancient serpent shares an “ancient and unique” rivalry with Godzilla himself — and Godzilla responds accordingly. Throw in a couple of guest stars like Rodan and Mothra — a giant pterodactyl and insect, respectively — and you have the makings of a world-shattering monster mash. (I’ll stop revealing plot points here to avoid spoilers, but if you don’t know where all this is going, you probably haven’t seen enough of these movies.)

Let’s start with what King of the Monsters gets unequivocally right: The monsters themselves. Every creature’s design — their roars and screeches, their thunderous movements, their distinct personalities and powers — represents a worthy addition to the franchise’s history. Any kaiju purists worried that CGI creations might lack the personality of the original “suitmation” style will be pleasantly surprised by the painstaking care given to the core group of star monsters. It’s abundantly clear that the filmmakers truly love these characters, and they’ve pulled out all the stops to bring them to life in a manner befitting their venerable origins.

Bear McCreary’s (The Walking Dead, Battlestar Galactica) soundtrack features plenty of drums and tribal chanting, the intended effect being that audiences see the monsters as much as ancient deities (or, in Ghidorah’s case, as the Devil himself) as animals. Apart from his original tracks, McCreary also pays tribute to the classic themes by original series composer Akira Ifukube. Ifukube’s Godzilla theme — sorely missed in the 2014 film — is updated perfectly, and in a moment that took far too long to be realized in this series, even a remix of Blue Oyster Cult’s Godzilla makes a showing.

The film’s overall plot and themes will be relatively familiar: ecological concerns of apocalyptic proportions are measured against the duty to protect humanity, and a fittingly Luciferian Ghidorah is pitted against the earth’s natural order and its chief guardian, Godzilla (Christian audiences will appreciate the symbolism, which I won’t discuss or spoil beyond what I’ve written here in the past). “Easter eggs” abound for the more committed franchise stalwarts, although I doubt the references will mean much to the majority of audience members. The monster-against-monster brawls are a joy to behold, and the human cast does everything they can with what they’ve been given.

…But here we reach a bit of a problem.

In short, the human characters do precious little besides spouting expository dialogue and pseudo-scientific babble. On top of that, the cast is huge, the consequence of this being that our supposed main protagonists get very little time to breathe amidst the parade of supporting cast members. They never really have the opportunity to grow into full-fledged characters, more or less remaining as cardboard cutouts that exist only to service the plot. Madison’s character, I think, suffers the most for this, especially given Millie Bobby Brown’s current popularity. In hindsight, she doesn’t have many lines in the film’s promotional material either, but audiences will naturally expect her to be given more to do.

Then there’s the problem of the humor, which repeatedly — and, apparently, intentionally — deflates dramatic tension at every turn, similar to the comedy of Kong: Skull Island. I enjoy these comedic actors in their roles, but how am I supposed to care about the fate of the world when characters are cracking off-brand MCU jokes the whole time? (I realized belatedly that one of these characters is actually meant to be a tribute to the character Rick Sanchez from the cult animated comedy series Rick and Morty, which at least explains some odd one-liners).

Really, it all just seems too much, too fast, especially for newcomers to the series. Anyone not already familiar with the basics of the Godzilla franchise may be left asking questions like “Mothra who? Rodan what?” This odd package of conflicting tones and half-baked subplots just doesn’t help the film measure up to the best examples the franchise has to offer. That King of the Monsters finally ends up being much closer in tone to the semi-comedic Kong: Skull Island than Gareth Edwards’ 2014 film is less than a pleasant surprise, and it leaves little doubt that Godzilla Vs Kong will follow suit when it hits theaters in 2020.

This wouldn’t be a problem, of course, if the marketing campaign hadn’t emphatically promised something much grander by comparison.

Still, the necessary elements are here to please diehard kaiju fans, and judging by the relatively high audience score (in comparison to the dismal critics score, anyway), it hasn’t been unsuccessful on this front. I could add in this film’s defense that there are plenty of movies in the franchise’s history that are fairly close in tone and style (see Destroy All Monsters or Godzilla: Final Wars for more on that).

Nevertheless, in a world where Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla and Hideaki Anno’s Shin Godzilla (2016) have shown that it’s possible to make a Godzilla film that is both entertaining and artistically respectable, there is no escaping the conclusion that Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a little bit of a letdown.

All this being said, I’ll add a final personal note: It occurred to me as I sat down to my screening in Prague — a complementary Czech-language Godzilla poster in hand — that, in a way, I’ve been waiting to see this movie since childhood.

Like Michael Dougherty, deep down I’m really just a kid from Ohio who loves monster movies.  Seeing Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah up on the big screen at last — characters who I spent my formative years drawing and coloring in notebook after notebook as I rewrote their classic storylines to include my own twists — was an experience that was something less like watching a movie for me and more like having an unexpected visit from a group of old friends.

Even as I ponder its flaws, there’s still an inner part of me that halts as I reflect on the overall experience of King of the Monsters and what it meant to me as a fan. If I’m being honest, I’ll probably go out and see it again on the biggest screen possible, if only to revive my boyhood self one more time.

I’ll always love you, big guy.  See you in 2020.

“Long live the king.”

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is rated PG-13 for sequences of monster action violence and destruction, and for some language.