GODZILLA VS KING KONG: MONSTERVERSE (5/22/20) 3 3

[apollobuzz]

I'm just going to tell everybody who the big winner was...

It was me (dad) since my 17-year old son wanted to see this so badly in the theaters, that I got to spend two hours with him.  He usually just wants to play video games and not be bothered by the old man; but he absolutely loved the movie and said he had a great time!  I loved that he loved the movie and wasn't embarrassed by Pops!  He hasn't been out anywhere in over a year due to King COVIDzilla.  Priceless!

[FlyingDonut]

ITS MECHAGODZILLA VERSUS GODZILLA AND KONG.....after Godzilla kicked Kong's ....after Kong tore the head off a flying lizard thing and ate it....after Kong went to Skartaris/the Savage Land....after Kong and Godzilla fought on a boat.

The review I just read of this movie was the best review I've ever read of any movie: "Go find the biggest television in your house. Sit down in front of it. Turn on Godzilla versus Kong. Turn the sound off. Watch joyously. If neither Kong nor Godzilla are on the screen, go get snacks. Repeat for two hours."

[▫️]

Here’s my two pesos.

Story was dumb, come on, there’s been better stories with these characters in the past. It can be done. Was barely hanging on for the first hour. Even the first encounter/fight was just ok. 

Gripes. The Hollow World could have filled 30 - 45 minutes of run time with the team exploring it and getting into shenanigans.
Technical gripe. Why is it that Godzilla was pretty much flawless in movement but Kong looked like they just skipped the motion capture? He was herky-jerky at times and almost had a stop-motion feel in a few scenes. And yet he looked amazing, especially his hair during close-ups. His movement and CGI was uneven in the film. Like they cut the budget or were coming up on a deadline to finish scenes.

Here’s my review in time stamps:

Opening to 1:22 

1:22 to 1:32 Kong emerges from the tunnel into Hong Kong. 2nd battle. Pretty good fight. They have my attention now.

1:32 to 1:42 You-know-who enters the scene and wow, I wish I was watching this in IMAX. Dumb movie is now worth the price of admission. Would have been a hundred times better had I NOT known about third character. Kind of like how BvS would have benefited from not showing Doomsday in the trailer.

Try not to pay attention to the story and just watch this for the 20 minutes I noted. 

[▫️]

Forgot to mention this great scene. 

[Bosco685]

There could be a prequel concerning that Hollow Earth story. Especially since the axe head is the detached scale of a previous Godzilla. Which is why it lights up from his fire.

King Kong’s Axe Powers and Origin Explained by ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Director and Writer

Quote

That axe comes in handy in the grand finale of Godzilla vs. Kong, when Kong and Godzilla team up to fight uber villain Mechagodzilla, and indeed it’s Godzilla who powers up the axe so that Kong can deal the final blow that kills Mechagodzilla once and for all. But the mythology behind the axe isn’t really explained within the film, and in an interview with Collider's own Steve Weintraub, Wingard said they kept its origins secret for a reason:

 

“Yeah, it’s something that we just kind of tease at in the movie and hopefully we can explore in later films. But yeah, there is a real backstory behind it.”

 

Writer Max Borenstein, who has been involved in all the Legendary MonsterVerse movies thus far in some capacity, was more forthcoming. In a separate interview with Collider's Steve Weintraub, Borenstein revealed that the axe was actually made from the scales of a Godzilla-like creature, which explains why he’s able to power it up during the big Godzilla vs. Kong finale:

 

“To me it’s like Godzilla’s scales have this conductive, radioactive quality and the primate Kongs had a kind of evolved civilization of sorts, as primates might, and simple tools and had used the spine of a Godzilla creature to create it. Presumably there are more like it, but it feels like the iconic scepter of the King.”

 

Indeed, clearly this axe and the entire trip to Hollow Earth opens up the mythology of the MonsterVerse in a unique way, but Wingard cautions that while they have hopes for a Godzilla vs. Kong sequel, it’s really on the audience to tell the studio whether they should make more of these:

“I think the MonsterVerse is at a crossroads where audiences need to vote that they wanna see another one of these films before they continue, and I think that’s a really healthy thing… Let’s figure out what people really like about this movie, and then if we’re gonna make a sequel one way or the other, let’s figure out what that is based on what people like and don’t like.”

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by Bosco685

[Bosco685]

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by Bosco685

[theCapraAegagrus]

Spoiler

I'm sorry, but the whole 'sending a power signature from the middle of the Earth to Japan somehow activating a secret power in Mecha' made my eyes do a 360 roll in the back of my head.

Same thing for the 'pilot' dying and a Ghidorah skull somehow controlling the Mecha.

I can ignore a lot of the storytelling to try enjoying this, but I can only ignore so much. It was just so much worse than Emma's "release all the monsters to save the Earth".

Spoiler

I'm also confused as to why Godzilla attacked FL? As far as I can tell, Ghidorah's remains were always in Japan? If so, attacking there makes sense. FL was just a tech location. Does Godzilla just hate computers?

 

[fantastic_four]

3 hours ago, Oddball said:

Story was dumb, come on, there’s been better stories with these characters in the past. It can be done.

Hulk no like when big, dumb monster movies have smart stories.  Hurts Hulk's head.  

I've never tried to rank the monster/robot movies...which ones are the best?  My memory is telling me they're ALL dumb, but maybe I'm not remembering a few.  The one I remember liking the most is the first Transformers film, and that one is dumb, dumb, dumb.  But I never would have liked Godzilla or Kong at all if the movies being dumb was a problem.

[Bosco685]

50 minutes ago, Angel of Death said:

  Reveal hidden contents

I'm sorry, but the whole 'sending a power signature from the middle of the Earth to Japan somehow activating a secret power in Mecha' made my eyes do a 360 roll in the back of my head.

Same thing for the 'pilot' dying and a Ghidorah skull somehow controlling the Mecha.

I can ignore a lot of the storytelling to try enjoying this, but I can only ignore so much. It was just so much worse than Emma's "release all the monsters to save the Earth".

  Reveal hidden contents

I'm also confused as to why Godzilla attacked FL? As far as I can tell, Ghidorah's remains were always in Japan? If so, attacking there makes sense. FL was just a tech location. Does Godzilla just hate computers?

 

Well the actors standing in for the monsters pre-CGI were still asking...

Come on! It's a massive monster movie. Not that deep a story necessary.

[theCapraAegagrus]

4 minutes ago, Bosco685 said:

Come on! It's a massive monster movie. Not that deep a story necessary.

I'm not asking for a deep story. I'm asking for a story that isn't Grade-A stupid.

[▫️]

7 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

Hulk no like when big, dumb monster movies have smart stories.  Hurts Hulk's head.  

I've never tried to rank the monster/robot movies...which ones are the best?  My memory is telling me they're ALL dumb, but maybe I'm not remembering a few.  The one I remember liking the most is the first Transformers film, and that one is dumb, dumb, dumb.  But I never would have liked Godzilla or Kong at all if the movies being dumb was a problem.

For starters, the 2014 Godzilla had a better story. The humans were at the forefront but that was also the movies major complaint. Not enough Godzilla. Great performance by Brian Cranston is overlooked. Now we have more monster battles and a lighter tone with the human characters being either too jokey or overly serious.

[Bosco685]

 

[Bosco685]

 

[Bosco685]

Cool to see fellow directors celebrating another peer.

[fantastic_four]

12 minutes ago, Bosco685 said:

 

Godzilla won, so hopefully Gunn can make the next round happen--Godzilla vs Starro.  

[theCapraAegagrus]

I am extremely surprised at those scores.

[fantastic_four]

1 hour ago, Oddball said:

For starters, the 2014 Godzilla had a better story. The humans were at the forefront but that was also the movies major complaint. Not enough Godzilla. Great performance by Brian Cranston is overlooked. Now we have more monster battles and a lighter tone with the human characters being either too jokey or overly serious.

I remember enjoying 2014 Godzilla and don't disagree, but I never felt compelled to re-watch it.  That's the mark on these films for me, which do I want to see again.  I enjoyed this film but don't feel compelled to re-watch.  I definitely want monster fighting action twice as much as compelling story.  I love Cranston and remember thinking he was good in that film, but he wasn't the draw, Godzilla was.

I did feel compelled to re-watch Peter Jackson's King Kong another time or two, and I've re-watched some of the best scenes on Youtube multiple times, particularly the ones with the dinosaurs and that scene where they're fighting bugs in that trench.  Maybe I'm burnt out on monster movies now.  

[@therealsilvermane]

5 hours ago, fantastic_four said:

I remember enjoying 2014 Godzilla and don't disagree, but I never felt compelled to re-watch it.  That's the mark on these films for me, which do I want to see again.  I enjoyed this film but don't feel compelled to re-watch.  I definitely want monster fighting action twice as much as compelling story.  I love Cranston and remember thinking he was good in that film, but he wasn't the draw, Godzilla was.

I did feel compelled to re-watch Peter Jackson's King Kong another time or two, and I've re-watched some of the best scenes on Youtube multiple times, particularly the ones with the dinosaurs and that scene where they're fighting bugs in that trench.  Maybe I'm burnt out on monster movies now.  

I've only seen half of Godzilla v Kong (maybe a little slow for a midnight watch), but of these four Monsterverse movies, Kong Skull Island seems by far to be the best of the bunch. At the halfway point, GvK doesn't anger me the way Godzilla '14 did with its useless character arcs that truly only wasted two hours of my time between the five minutes of total lizard action.

Can't they just make these movies like a day in the life of Kong or Godzookie without people or very minimal use of people? "But the human story!" Make the story about a giant gorilla or dinosaur trying to achieve a goal or get something and make that your plot.

Edited April 1, 2021 by @therealsilvermane

[fantastic_four]

9 minutes ago, @therealsilvermane said:

I've only seen half of Godzilla v Kong (maybe a little slow for a midnight watch), but of these four Monsterverse movies, Kong Skull Island seems by far to be the best of the bunch. 

I think I agree, Skull Island was better.  I remember being surprised how much I liked it.

The only one I think I've missed is Godzilla: King of the Monsters.  Was that better or worse than Godzilla vs Kong?  I've been on the edge of watching that for most of the last year.

[@therealsilvermane]

12 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

I think I agree, Skull Island was better.  I remember being surprised how much I liked it.

The only one I think I've missed is Godzilla: King of the Monsters.  Was that better or worse than Godzilla vs Kong?  I've been on the edge of watching that for most of the last year.

To be honest, I've only seen parts of GKofM but what I saw didn't seem very good. I guess I'll go back and watch that since I have HBO Max anyway. I just enjoyed about every minute of Kong Skrull Island. Maybe having Loki, Captain Marvel, Nick Fury, and a Nova Corps guy in it helped.

Edited April 1, 2021 by @therealsilvermane