Godzilla: King of the Monsters

An excellent start and a spectacular demonstration of different monsters, buried under a faint yet convoluted plot and underestimation of the viewer’s intelligence. Thanks to Gareth Edwards, with the previous movie Warner Brothers has managed to pull off a respectable relaunch of the Godzilla cult by successfully blending the motifs and the atmosphere of the original Japanese myth with the pomp of Hollywood blockbusters. But instead of meeting the audience’s expectations, they entrusted the next two sequels to creators of mediocre horror movies. Sure, pouring the high budget into first-class CGI should be good enough for the stupid target audience craving cool-looking monsters, but let’s see if this approach changes with the new CEO. (05/07/2019)

The anticipated Godzilla sequel, after the riveting trailers, is ultimately a missed opportunity and another blockbuster that failed to live up to expectations this year. Michael Dougherty is the director of Trick 'r Treat and Krampus, two decent holiday horror films, but Godzilla: King of the Monsters feels like a big bite that he couldn't quite chew. The characters are absolutely uninteresting (though Eleven tries), the pacing is pretty much erratic, we only see four of the fifteen monsters mentioned in the action, and repeatedly at that. Perhaps the worst part of it all is that the film isn't entertaining at all, and if it's not exactly blazing on screen, it's rather boring. I was most impressed with Hydra, which is visually solid and I think the finale is satisfying, but the rest of it hardly works at all. Too bad. 60% (03/06/2019)

They called for action and destruction, but five years later, it is becoming apparent that the controversial first installment was the right way to go. Nothing against the grand opponents of the titular titan, but whoever came up with the idea of ​​a spectacular clash of gigantic monsters as an eco-techno thriller that addresses family traumas that are for the most part unseen should hang their head in shame. Every time it seems to be heading in the right direction, some logical contradiction or extremely cheesy line comes along, or at the very least a deafening moment. However, the royal Godzilla still has its strong moments, thanks to Millie Bobby Brown's incredible acting certainty and Mothra being a creature so perfect I instantly wanted to take it home with me. The screenplay, however, is sometimes seriously insane. When I think of the playful Kong: Skull Island, I can't help but feel sorry that it has been compelled to become part of this strangely sterile universe. 50% (06/07/2019)

Wow, I didn't enjoy it. Like, so very, very, very much. The other Godzilla shows that it cost a lot of money, and the monster battles are actually pretty good, at least the final one, which cleverly works with scale and alternates spectacular shots of two dueling titans with action with human characters running at their feet. But that's pretty much it. The new Godzilla has about fifteen human characters, but finding a single one among them that was the least bit interesting or likeable was a task beyond me. A few hours after the screening, I actually remember the names of about two of the protagonists. The trouble is that despite all the declamation and certain attempts to conceive Godzilla II a little differently, it is ultimately very much about those human characters, who of course are the ones who, by their dullness, flatness and absolute unwillingness to take themselves even a little bit less seriously (this is a film in which a giant lizard fights an even bigger three-headed dragon, dammit!) they get boring at first, and then just annoying. The grandeur and elegance promised by the trailers isn't there in the end, and while the fights are fun to watch, the rest of it really doesn't work. In fact, as a viewer, I'm not really interested in seeing another film conceived in this way. (30/05/2019)

Crucial question, who cooked up that kick-ass trailer with Debussy's steroid-infused music? Because that's who should have made this overblown, dark, cluttered, whiny, dumb movie, it probably would have turned out a lot better. Because the balance between visual epic, musical poetry and respect for the original is something we can only dream of in the full version. (04/06/2019)