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

Godzilla's regenerative ability is a big plot point in "Godzilla 2000".

I thought the actual fight scenes in "Godzilla vs. Kong" were good, but the bits with the people were the problem. The Kong-centered human story was somewhat interesting. But the Godzilla-centered human story was pretty much superfluous, including a loss of character development from the previous movie, and a rather foolish villainous plot. And the fact that both groups have little effect on each other, never interact, and each one never knows the other even exists is a detriment to the movie in general.

 

And the fact that Kong had Matrix like abilities to evade Godzilla's atomic breath, when we all know one hit and it is monkey game over.

 

Oh, I know it was the film’s thematic purpose. They kind of beat you over the head with it from frame one. That was what I was referring to in an earlier post when I said it was a case of message before story. They were so concerned about making a film criticizing the Japanese government that they neglected to make the film entertaining or provide one character I could like and get behind (in my estimation; I understand I’m in the minority in the fandom).

I’ve given it three or four chances and it’s just not for me. But that’s okay. Toho has more than made up for my disappointment with Shin with the excellent Minus One.

 

Godzilla Minus One is one of the only times I cared about the humans, probably since Gareth Edwards movie

 

In other Godzilla news, we lost Godzilla suit actor (he played Gigan in vs. Gigan and vs. Megalon as well as the big guy himself from Godzilla 1984 through Godzilla vs Desotroyah) Kenpachiro Satsuma today.

https://www.godzilla-movies.com/news/kenpachiro-satsuma-heisei-godzilla-dies-at-76

 

Yup, I get it too - I just don't think much of the idea. You could make Shin Godzilla about a random creature with no personality, and achieve the same thing. To me, this was a Godzilla movie where Godzilla simply doesn't FEEL like Godzilla. I didn't hate it; there was enough creativity regarding the visuals to keep me engaged. But it definitely didn't rock me the way it did some, and I think the bland passive Godzilla was the issue.

 

I may have to watch Shin again. I liked it but agree it doesn't feel like Godzilla until near the end. I like how in GMO they went back to Godzilla being a malicious destructive force of nature. This Godzilla seemed angry and wanted to hurt people.

 

Many of you are probably familiar, but an Advent Calendar lets you count down the days to Christmas. They generally have a little door for each day, or a flap of paper, or something you open (each day). Behind will be a picture, or a small treat, or an ornament, etc. I've seen many many kind, including some for dogs!

ANYWAY - this year my wife surprised me with a kaiju-themed one. Each day a new monster, each about one to two inches tall. Some are "Lego", most are molded plastic. Looks like about 50/50 between Godzilla-related monsters (mostly Godzilla) and Ultraman monsters. Terrific fun for a fan of giant monsters!

 

Haha! That would be too perfect!

 

A music track worthy of a weapon of mass destruction

 

Two G-things!

MONARCH: I am still watching MONARCH and I am finding it fair-to-middling. For me, the problem is that if you;re going to make a human-centric series, then you have to make the humans, and their story, engaging. So far, that is only moderately true for me. The "lead trio" of young people are kinda MEH to me, the series handwaves away the very idea that Titans could be dangerous to humans (is that really hard to imagine? Granted, in the Monsterverse, it DOES appear that no Titan has ever attacked a city before the MUTO attacks -- for some reason), and the amount of monster-action is miniscule (I have seen some scoff at this, asking "what did you expect"... I didn't expect wall to wall monsters, believe me but...take another look at the promo poster for the series and then get back to me... )

JUSTICE LEAGUE VERSUS GODZILLA: I have read the first two issues and...not bad! We'll see if they "stick the landing" but so far a decent build-up and some cool Godzilla artwork.

 

Have a few things Godzilla related to say so this will be kind of a long rambling post, sorry.

After a reduced schedule over the holidays my theater has Minus One back to five showings a day! This is because it's still selling well and we only have one new movie this week which is Night Swim a PG13 horror movie few care about.

I'm liking Monarch just fine. The weekly release schedule made me like it more I think, gave the mystery some time to brew although the past plot is still more interesting than the 2015 time. However my wife loves it and she has zero interest in Godzilla outside of the Showa era. I'm going to use the show as a Trojan Horse to get her to watch the Legendary series lol. She's already said she will watch Minus One when it's available bc of everyone talking about the quality.

Spoiler: Monarch spoiler

The inclusion of Apex made me squee like a little girl. It's exactly what I hoped the show would do, retroactively make little connections between the movies to fill in plot and logic gaps.

I have a coworker who is one of the harshest critics I know. I swear he watches movie with the intent of finding things to complain about. When we showed 2000 Millennium he said it ''was one of the worst movies I've ever seen" and said he would no longer believe my reviews because I said it was good. Then went on to make fun of the effects. Anyway he liked Minus One and decided to watch some older ones. I told him straight up "dude I don't think Godzilla is the franchise for you, you're not going to like them. Of the 33 or so movies maybe 3-4 are serious, the rest are varying degrees of ridiculous." Of course the first one he goes for was Invasion of Astro Monster on tv and, surprise surprise, I get a paragraph text message about how dumb it is. I'm like "yeah that's one of the better ones, this is what you're in for." And yet he is still making his way through the Showa era texting me about how awful it all is and I have bad taste for liking it. I just don't understand people some times....

Which leads me to my next point. It seems to me that gate-keeping with Godzilla is too easy to fall into. "The humans' plot is stupid and doesn't amount to anything" Yeah that's how it is. "Godzilla doesn't appear until the half way point" Yep if your lucky. Back in 2014 I found myself asking nay-sayers if they've seen the old movies and if they said no I'd be like well that's how they are so it's not a big deal 2014 did that. Now a days I'm trying to be nicer in explaining the norms of Godzilla and the older series to newer viewers.

And lastly toys for GxK are hitting Walmart shelves so anyone who wants to be spoiler free should avoid those aisles. Personally I want to get the figure of the new villain Titan that hasn't yet been shown in the trailers

 

The new American Godzilla movies are competently made, but they are lacking heart. I just can't get into them. I don't dislike them, but the non stop explosions/carnage gives me a headache. Kong Skull Island showed how it's done. And obviously GMO. I don't have much desire to see KK vs Godzilla 2, but I will see it anyways.

 

Not to be ornery but I barely made it through Skull Island. Maybe it's that I'm not a Kong fan to begin with having only seen the original from the 30's, or its that a lot of people hyped it up, but at the end I thought "that's it?" The Monarch show has me thinking of giving it a second chance to refresh my memory of where Monarch is at as an organization at that point in the timeline.

 

Not at all; your reaction is your reaction, that is fair. I am a big Kong fan so I enjoyed it. Kong with an axe? Not so much. And it feels like they cheated with Kong's ridiculous maneuvers to avoid Godzilla's atomic breath.

 

So many things about GvK are awful especially when written out, but in the theater I was totally sold. Wanted to stand up and cheer a few times and considering the small crowd with covid restrictions it was tempting. Was more disappointed by KOTM because it had more potential.

That said-

Spoiler: Possible big GxK spoiler

As shown in the trailer and poster Kong gets a glove . There are English letters on the side so it's human made then. Maybe a Christmas present lol. The rumor is that it gives Kong's punches electrical energy which if true is kind of a call back to original KK v G. I understand wanting to emulate the 60's era but....this and Godzilla "evolving" (as the toys say) into a new color is too much