“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” Movie Review

    There is just something about monster movies that brings a smile to my face everytime I watch them.  Even if they aren’t my favorite movies, seeing a giant monster destroy a city is fairly breathtaking.  Seeing a monster fight another monster is just that much better.  Kaiju films are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me.  Even though I didn’t catch it in theaters, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” was a bit of a must for me to watch.

    Set after the events of 2014’s “Godzilla”, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” starts with the scientific organization Monarch tracking the likes of Godzilla and Kong as well as several other titans who have yet to arise.  Monarch scientist Dr. Emma Russell has created a device that can communicate with these titans but the device is stolen by a terrorist organization who also kidnap the doctor and her daughter.  Soon the device is used to awaken the hibernating monsters.  Monarch soon enlists the help of Emma’s ex-husband Mark to figure out how to rescue Emma and stop the titans.  When everything else seemingly fails, Monarch must put their faith in Godzilla to restore the natural order.

    This film is influenced by the 1968 film “Destroy All Monsters” which sees Godzilla and several other monsters battle King Ghidorah.  This film scales back the monster mayhem a bit to focus primarily on Godzilla vs King Ghidorah with a smaller scale battle between Mothra vs Rodan also happening at the same time.  The monsters are the clear stars of this film but it was also nice that the human co-stars had a slightly more satisfying role to play in the sequel.

    On the subject of the human co-stars, this film primarily focuses on the Russell family played by Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler and Millie Bobby Brown.  Farmiga and Chandler both give good performances but it was a bit odd seeing Chandler in the role considering he also co-starred in Peter Jackson’s “King Kong”.  Millie Bobby Brown was wonderful in the movie and proved her career past “Stranger Things” is just beginning.  It was also nice seeing Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, and David Strathairn all return for the sequel.

    Michael Dougherty took over directing duties for the sequel and delivered a superior sequel.  This film is the third film set in this new monsterverse after “Godzilla” and “Kong: Skull Island”.  This movie will be followed next year by “Godzilla vs. Kong” which should be an interesting film considering how both Godzilla and King Kong are depicted as protagonists in their films.

    While I enjoyed how the Monarch organization managed to allow the human characters to appear in the film in a logical way without taking away from the monsters, the monsters were still what everyone came to see and they didn’t disappoint.  Toho favorites King Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mothra all join the battle in this sequel.  Rodan is given the least screen time and feels almost like an after thought.  King Ghidorah on the other hand is the main antagonist and is depicted incredibly.  Still, for me, the main standout was Mothra, Queen of the Monsters.  I won’t go into spoilers, but one of the most emotional scenes in the movie for me involved Mothra.

    “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” doesn’t have much plot but also has the good fortune of not requiring much story either.  These monsterverse movies provide good old fashion spectacle and that is fine by me.  I would recommend this movie for anyone who just needs to sit back and relax.  Enjoy the show (down).

Grade: B

“Godzilla” (2014) Movie Review

    The second American remake of “Godzilla” was released during a time when I rarely went to the movie theaters.  (I know, super weird to hear such things).  I have to admit though, the film caught my curiosity and I liked the trailer.  At the worst, I figured it would be at least on par with the first American made “Godzilla” film which I oddly didn’t hate like many other people did (though it has many problems).  This film turned out to be very different than that film unsurprisingly.

    The film follows a Navy Lieutenant named Ford Brody who accompanies his father Joe to Japan to investigate what caused the meltdown that killed Ford’s mother at the Janjira Nuclear Power Plant.  Upon their investigation, a creature emerges and ends up killing Joe.  Ford, being a Navy Lieutenant and witnessing this creature, is informed about Project Monarch which studies monsters and he is told about Godzilla.  Project Monarch hopes that Godzilla might be able to fight these new creatures, dubbed MUTOs, along with the United States Armed Forces.  Ford finds himself caught in the middle of the rampage caused by the monsters fighting.  Will Godzilla end up being a savior to humanity or an unstoppable monster?

    To be completely honest with you, I was actually pretty excited to see this movie when I finally got it on video.  A large reason I had so much faith in this movie was because of Bryan Cranston.  Cranston was still doing an incredible job on “Breaking Bad” at this time and he could only elevate a project like this.  To his credit, he does add a sense of realism and does an amazing job...SPOILER WARNING...for the few minutes he is in the movie.  Unfortunately, Cranston is the only actor who manages to ground the film with his presence with the exception of Ken Watanabe who is also hardly used.  Instead the film focuses primarily on the couple of Ford and Elle Brody who are a bit of blank slates in this movie.  Now, I don’t blame the actors for this because their characters had almost no development.  Once Godzilla shows up, the focus on human emotion takes a backseat.  Aaron Johnson-Taylor and Elizabeth Olsen play the Ford and Elle Brody and both actors have done fantastic work in the past, it is just a shame they weren’t given more to work with.

    A lot of the problem I had with this film was with a lot of the narrative decisions.  As stated above, you don’t hire Bryan Cranston for your film and then kill him off in the first act.  Even Cranston himself called his character’s death a “narrative mistake”.  Then there was the somewhat confusing way Godzilla was viewed by Project Monarch in this movie.  It seemed like the organization was a bit all over the place with what they believed Godzilla’s motivation to be.  Then there was Ford and Elle Brody who ALWAYS seemed to travel right in the path of destruction.  No matter where Godzilla and the MUTOs happened to end up, so did the Brody family.  Lastly, while the action was well done, it took awhile to finally see Godzilla in all his glory.  This isn’t a horrible creative decision, but I just personally wanted to see more of Godzilla early on.  While I didn’t love the design of the MUTOs, I thought the design on Godzilla was top notch and deserved more screen time.

    This film marked the beginning of Legendary Studios’ MonsterVerse which now includes “Kong: Skull Island”, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”, and the upcoming “Godzilla vs. Kong”.  In some ways, this film felt a little more like “Cloverfield” (minus the shaky cam) than a traditional Godzilla film from Toho.  While I think there was more quality that went into this movie and definitely more care, I don’t know if I enjoyed it more than the first American “Godzilla” movie.  Sure, the first one was dumb and had a lot of flaws too, but it also knew it was a dumb popcorn flick.  I enjoy when movies take themselves seriously, but sometimes there is a middle ground as well.  Essentially what hurt this movie the most was it’s structure.  It just needed some tweaks and it could have been mind blowing, instead we ended up with a respectable popcorn flick, which is nothing to be ashamed of either.

Grade: C

“Pokémon Detective Pikachu” Movie Review

    Being just shy of turning 34, I feel like the Pokémon franchise has been around for most of my life.  Since the mid 90s, Pokémon has taken the world by storm.  The franchise has consisted of video games, trading card games, television shows, and animated movies.  Everywhere you looked, you couldn’t escape Pokémon.  It truly was a cultural phenomenon among the youth of America.

    “Pokémon Detective Pikachu” tells the story of...well...detective Pikachu.  Okay, there is a little more to it but I think Pikachu alone would sell the movie to most people.  After a detective is in a car accident outside of a top secret Pokémon lab, Tim Goodman is informed his father has died as a result of the crash.  Upon going to his father’s apartment in Ryme City (a city where humans and Pokémon live together in peace), he finds a Pikachu there.  This Pikachu is unlike any other Pokémon however because Tim can understand him.  After forming a bond, the pair set off to find the truth behind the disappearance of Tim’s father.

    I am going to start off with a bit of a disclaimer for this review.  I am not, nor have I ever been, the biggest fan of Pokémon in the world.  I have a passing knowledge of the universe but I have never played a Pokémon game or collected trading cards or anything like that.  I have watched a few episodes of the animated series but that is about the extent of my Pokémon experience before this film.  I essentially wanted to see this because the trailer looked entertaining.

    I have some mixed feelings about this film.  On the plus side, this is probably the best video game adaptation to date.  While this is the first live action Pokémon movie made, there have been three animated Pokémon movies that have hit theaters (in addition to several movies that were released direct to video).  This adaptation lifts several elements from “Pokémon: The First Movie” including the inclusion of Mewtwo. One aspect of the film I felt a little let down by was that much of the humor of the film was highlighted in the trailer.  I was expecting a little funnier film even though I did enjoy the finished project.  I just wish the film was marketed a bit less humor heavy.

    The film stars as Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu.  Reynolds provides the voice and facial motion caption for the Pokémon.  Justice Smith plays Tim Goodman and has good chemistry with his computer animated co-star.  Smith has improved significantly since his critically panned role in “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”.  Screen veterans Bill Nighy and Ken Watanabe add a level of credibility to the film.

    The film was directed by Rob Letterman who previously helmed “Goosebumps”.  Like “Goosebumps”, “Pokémon Detective Pikachu” was made for adult fans of the franchise.  The production design was a bit neon noir feeling not completely unlike “Blade Runner”.  The creature design was also fantastic.  The Pokémon felt feel and adorable throughout most of the movie.  Pikachu and Psyduck were among the standout creatures in the film.

    Overall, “Pokémon Detective Pikachu” is a cute nostalgia trip geared more for fans who grew up with the phenomenon as opposed to young fans just getting into the franchise.  While it wasn't exactly the movie I was hoping for, that doesn't make it a bad movie either.

Grade: B-