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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Amph "There's More Than One King" - The MonsterVerse [Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire]

Discussion in 'Community' started by Eeth-my-Koth, Jul 17, 2013.

  1. christophero30

    christophero30 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    May 18, 2017
    It's good it's just dark and strange. Certainly bold.
     
    Dagobahsystem likes this.
  2. GregMcP

    GregMcP Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 7, 2015
    Either Alien Invasion, or the Justified and Ancient Empire of Mu arises from the Hollow Earth.

    There has to be an overarching theme.
    I think Ghidorah will be back. He's the Emperor Palpatine of this universe. Death doesn't kill him so easily.
     
    Master_Lok likes this.
  3. Master_Lok

    Master_Lok Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 18, 2012
  4. Darth_Foo

    Darth_Foo Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 24, 2003
    Shin is one of the best Godzillas, certainly the most realistic imo but the design of the new G is not so great.
    the idea of him mutating and evolving is great but the early stages just look dumb. And too much sci-fi channel level cgi. However the atomic breath scene is one of the best G scenes ever.
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2021
  5. Dagobahsystem

    Dagobahsystem Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 25, 2015
    That BvS meme will never get old no matter how often it is reused.

    Have they made one of Chief Brody talking to Jaws at the climax of that film yet? Or maybe Mario talking to Bowser? Or Ozzy talking to the dove?

    Anyhow, next up on my Showa catch up is Godzilla Raids Again.
    Looking forward to it. Gonna proceed through the rest of that era in chrono order.

    I'll report back on the "people and plausibilty factor" since that's of the utmost importance when analyzing these pictures.
     
    Master_Lok likes this.
  6. FatBurt

    FatBurt Sex Scarecrow Vanquisher star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 21, 2003
    Watched it last night

    It was as rubbish as I expected but also delivered exactly what I expected.

    MechaGodzilla's design was just awful, it looked ridiculous

    The whole conspiracy theory subplot with Eleven, Firefist and Phastos delivered the same as the Canto Bight diversion did. Essentially pointless filler.

    The fights were pretty decent though and I enjoyed seeing Hong Kong get destroyed as I kept annoying my kids by going "I've been there, I've stood next to that building" etc...

    All told a ridiculous waste of 2hrs and quite often there is nothing better that putting on a bad movie and watching it because you just need brain dribble noise in the background.
     
  7. Darth_Foo

    Darth_Foo Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 24, 2003
    My theater has 16 screens and 9 of them are GvK this weekend. Almost all the showings today and tomorrow are sold out! We haven't been this busy since Feb 2020.
     
  8. bstnsx704

    bstnsx704 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 11, 2013
    Dagobahsystem likes this.
  9. GregMcP

    GregMcP Force Ghost star 5

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    Jul 7, 2015
    Well, yeah, the Conspiracy Kids were there to provide the thin veneer of "plot". To see the bits of info that make it some sort of story and not a bunch of random action sequences.

    They are needed, but definitely not the best bits of the movie.
     
  10. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    Watched this via HBO Max on Wednesday. I was whelmed. Kong: Skull Island is still the high bar.
     
  11. vin

    vin Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 1999
    Young vin watched it and liked it.

    Edit: loved it
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2021
  12. christophero30

    christophero30 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    May 18, 2017
    I was very happy with the winner and how it all went down. Well done.
     
  13. EHT

    EHT Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 13, 2007
    Just watched this on HBO Max with my son and his friend. The fights and action scenes were very well done, but the plot lacked much substance and was very predictable; to be fair, though, it kind of had to go that way. Overall, I think I still prefer Kong Skull Island and Godzilla 2014.
     
  14. heels1785

    heels1785 Skywalker Saga + JCC Manager / Finally Won A Draft star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 10, 2003
    just finished GvK, really enjoyed it. even the human characters were interesting, which was unexpected. fight scenes were perfect, cgi was perfect, sound was perfect. definitely the most fun ive had watching a film this yr.

    godzilla charging kong's axe to mount the comeback/deliver the coup de grace at the end was awesome
     
  15. Ahsoka's Tano

    Ahsoka's Tano Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 28, 2014
    I'm glad someone else had the same feeling about it as I did.

    As I mentioned in the Last Movie You Saw thread, I felt like MechaGodzilla was comparably scrawny to both Godzilla as well as Kong; almost the equivalent of the T-800 Endoskeleton in the original Terminator movie. Not all that threatening. I know it's a different studio and all, but the MechaGodzilla in Spielberg's Ready Player One was far more impressive.


     
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  16. bstnsx704

    bstnsx704 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 11, 2013
    The skeletal, T-800-esque nature of this Mechagodzilla actually made me wish they did attempt the "Mechagodzilla masquerading around in fake Godzilla skin" stunt from the original Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla.

    I actually dug this particular iteration of Mechagodzilla (though it doesn't top Showa Mechagodzilla or Kiryu from the Millennium era films) and had a lot of fun with just how mean it came across, due to Ghidorah's influence. They even worked a more mechanical sounding version of Ghidorah's evil cackle from King of the Monsters in there, which was a very neat touch.
     
  17. Dagobahsystem

    Dagobahsystem Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Currently rewatching Kong Skull Island with Chris and Binks.

    I love this film. My favorite Kong picture no doubt.
     
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  18. bstnsx704

    bstnsx704 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 11, 2013
    Kong: Skull Island is a movie I always have a blast with, but I just can't bring myself to put it over the traditional Kong narrative – for me it is King Kong (1933), then Jackson's King Kong (2005), which I see as one of the most lovingly crafted remakes ever made, and then the MonsterVerse Kong: Skull Island.

    But at the end of the day, it is hard to truly compare them. The traditional narrative of the '33 and '05 films operate within a very different structural framework than the more kaiju/anime-influenced Skull Island. They're totally different beasts, and all the better for it.
     
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2021
  19. Dagobahsystem

    Dagobahsystem Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Yeah but Kong Skull Island has the best soundtrack as well as Jing Tian although they don't really give her any lines.

    I like the 1933 original and PJ's remake too, but the pacing of Skull Island is the best imo and the various monsters etc...
     
  20. MagnarTheGreat

    MagnarTheGreat Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 21, 2016
    I recently watched all the new Monsterverse movies starting with 2014's. My ranking:

    1) Kong: Skull Island (2017) - reminds me of Jurassic Park in a good way, there's a real spirt of adventure here. There's some brief tense scenes and horror elements. Great monster action that the director actually lets us see unlike 2014's Godzilla. Characters are all elevated by the performances of A or B list actors and are mostly decently if not well motivated characters. :bluesaber:

    2) Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) - an overwhelming spectacle of both family drama and monster action. :bluesaber::redsaber:

    3) Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) - probably the worst script out of the four but delightful pro-wrestling monster action. Terrible production design and the 'characters' were almost all constantly used for exposition, often for unimportant information. You can tell a lot was left on the cutting room floor not that it would've helped. :redsaber:

    4) Godzilla (2014) - swapped out a superior and lively character for one with less connection to the plot and is a plank of wood. Where's Godzilla oh no they are paying tribute to Jaws even when the monsters are on land with lame cutaways and hard-to-see dark visuals. To a certain extent it feels like the movies made after this were a reaction to the complaints in this one. :redsaber:
     
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2021
  21. dp4m

    dp4m Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2001
    Someone online pointed out this was Batgodzilla vs Superkong, and now I can't unsee it...
     
  22. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000


    Godzilla vs. Kong (2020)
    Viewing Experience: Theatrical (IMAX w/Laser)

    It was great to be back in the biggest theater again. The scale was very enhancing of the experience- even with the wide shots needed to fit them all into a single shot, just that size on the screen is truly awe-inspiring. Godzilla has never been scarier when he's angrily staring/snarling at you at almost full-size from that screen.

    A fun coincidence occurred when, after the first clash, my friend went "Round 1 goes to (Kaiju 1)." and, then, later, an actual character in the film goes "Round 2 goes to (Kaiju 2).". We, the audience, are part of the experience [face_laugh].

    To keep this brief- the fights are fantastic, the human storylines have been scaled back from KOTM (except for MBB's subplot which felt really unconnected to everything, even though the evolution of her character since the last film is probably one of the more fun performances in the film). The mythology is further expanded with some disorienting (in a good way), unique visuals tied to a camera style that was either evolved from them or brought in to thematically mirror or pair with them (there are a lot of locked-focus camera rolls that keep the audience topsy-turvy with characters getting tossed around. It's very cool).

    There's definitely more development with Kong than Godzilla, for reasons the plot does a good job of explaining. But since it necessitates keeping Godzilla at a distance, we don't get those hero moments for Big G to get us cheering like we did in KOTM. However, that's probably fair in the long run with KSI and GvsK for Kong balancing out G14 and KOTM for 'Zilla.

    Mechagodzilla was effectively dangerous- though the Ghidorah head element felt underexplained. I get that they were using it to communicate between sites and that drawing energy from it is what attracted Godzilla, while the telepathic element was harnessed for remote pilot controls. But was it Ghidorah that took over control of the machine at full power?

    I'd also say that there was an interesting rock/paper/scissors element going on, with G > K, M > G and K > M. Though given how Mecha was only effective at keeping one Titan at bay, I don't think it (under normal operational human control) could have handled Ghidorah or any other Titan capable of regeneration and multi-vector attacks.

    Also, Godzilla atomic fire breathing down to Hollow Earth seemed the most outlandish in a film full of crazy fantasy. He drilled down through a quarter of the planet in minutes! Through a weird, distorting 2001 vortex. And then they were able to yell across that distance at each other.

    I just pictured Jeff Bridges in Tron now saying "Now that is a big hole!" [face_laugh]

    I don't think it's the best of the Monsterverse films (that is still Skull Island) or my favorite of the films (KOTM, which, even though it isn't as lean as GvsK, has more stunningly beautiful shots, higher highs in kaiju action and a far more effective score). But I would probably say it is right around par with Skull Island. G14 remains the weakest entry.

    Now to go rewatch some highlights on HBO Max...
     
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2021
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  23. Pro Scoundrel

    Pro Scoundrel New Films Expert At Modding Casual star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    Well, that was purely and completely ridiculous, while also really fun. They abandoned the "real world" approach of the previous 3, and amped up the sci-fi and fantasy elements a thousand percent. It's basically a Pacific Rim movie.

    Kong got the real focus, and was done very well. His story was the one worth watching. Godzilla is destruction porn personified, but he's barely a character in this one.

    I wanted MechaGodzilla. I got MechaGodzilla. If this is the last of the series, I got basically everything I wanted from them.

    I'm bucking the trend in here with my ranking.

    1. GZ 2014 and KOTM are tied for my favorite. I think GZ 2014 is the better movie as far as story, human characters, structure, etc., while KOTM is the most passionate love letter to my inner 12yr old Godzilla superfan self. There are so many easter eggs, and cool new layers of lore, on top of the orgy of Kaiju action, and I really love both films, dearly.

    2. Kong SI is a fun reinvention of Kong, but it can't match the classic story. However, it works very well as part of this film series, and introduces the Monarch concept much better than GZ14 did. I watch it first whenever I binge these films. It's the better entry point of the series. It's also just a generally fun film, that manages to give it's many human characters enough personality to keep them interesting, while waiting for Kong to show up again.

    3. GvK is definitely my least favorite of the series. The trailer didn't make it seem like as much of a departure from the previous style as I felt it was. As I said above, They abandoned the "real world" approach of the previous 3, and amped up the sci-fi and fantasy elements a thousand percent. It's basically a Pacific Rim movie. I still enjoyed it, but I prefer the approach of the other 3.

    If this is the last of the Legendary/WB Godzilla films, I can say that I'm pretty happy. I got most of what I wanted from them, and I think their rewatch value is very high. That alone is a huge win. If they make more of them, then it's all gravy from here on out.
     
  24. PCCViking

    PCCViking Chosen One star 10

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    Jun 12, 2014
    Totally different beasts. Pun not intended? ;)
     
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  25. Rylo Ken

    Rylo Ken Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Dec 19, 2015
    I haven't been able to sit through any of the last three Godzilla movies, but GvK was easily the worst. All the talent and attention and money and effort went into animating kong, leaving nothing left for "being entertaining."