BEFORE: Yeah, I snuck out in early June to see this film, for several reasons. The key one is that I've made my path to the end of the year, and I've determined that this film will function as an important link in October. It, along with four other films being released this year, will play an important part in making a "perfect year" possible. There may have been other ways to get there, but this is the way that I've chosen. Plus, I got totally burned by "Hellboy", I had a slot for it, ready to go - I figured if the film was a hit, it would still be playing in late May when my other Ian McShane movies were scheduled. Well, it wasn't a hit, so I missed out on "Hellboy", and the Ian McShane films got moved from May to June, anyway. But everything might still happen for a reason, right?
Now, I've chosen my path, and in doing that, I determined that I'll also need to see a few other films in the theaters: "Toy Story 4", "X-Men: Dark Phoenix", "Spider-Man: Far From Home", and of course "Star Wars: Episode 9" - that's a must-see for me. Hell, those are ALL must-sees for me. There's one other possibility, and that's going to see "It: Chapter Two" in the theater, it obviously links to "Dark Phoenix", but it's optional, placed between two other James McAvoy films, I can watch it this year or wait for next year, because it links to other films I also can't get to in 2019. And I probably will need to adjust the count to land right on 300 films for the year with my Christmas film, so I'll have to make that decision in October. (It's June when I'm writing this, but it will be October when I publish...)
The other reason to see this film is to support another one of my friends, and already this has been a good year for doing that. I saw "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and "The Lego Movie 2", (directed and/or produced by my buddy Chris Miller), plus I watched "Destroyer", directed by Karyn Kusama, who I knew back in film school. (I also watched "Movie 43", part of which was directed by another school-mate, Brett Ratner, but he's a total a-hole, so I don't count that as support.). This new "Godzilla" film was directed by Michael Dougherty, an ex-co-worker of mine from years ago. Though I'm not in touch with him frequently, I've followed his career writing for some of the "X-Men" and "Superman" movies. I'm happy to send my $15 his way tonight to see "King of the Monsters".
If I'm right, (REDACTED) carries over from (RESCHEDULED FOR TOMORROW) ?? EDIT: I changed it up, now Zhang Ziyi carries over from "The Cloverfield Project". We'll get to the other planned link tomorrow...
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Godzilla" (Movie #2,762)
THE PLOT: The crypto-zoological agency Monarch faces off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah.
AFTER: Though the last "Godzilla" film was released in 2014, I didn't watch it until 2017, and then last year I watched "Kong: Skull Island", so for me these films have fallen right in a row, one per year anyway, and they're all intended to be part of the same universe (or "Monsterverse" or "MUTOniverse" perhaps). Even though it was set in the late 1970's, one character who survived in "Skull Island" is still alive, and appears in "King of the Monsters" to tie everything together. They're setting up next year's film "King Kong vs. Godzilla", that's obviously part of the plan - so hmm, which monster do you suppose will be left standing at the end of this one?
But first we've got to all get through the battles at hand - because after Godzilla and a few other MUTOs destroyed San Francisco in 2014, it turns out that the whole world is on edge, wondering when/if the monsters are going to return. But they already have - it's just that the Monarch Corporation is keeping them contained, also waiting for the giant caterpillar one to form a giant cocoon and emerge as something else. Gee, I wonder what it will be - maybe a giant pretty butterfly that hugs people and makes them feel good. BUT, probably a giant moth that bites their heads off and sucks out the juices.
There's one scientist, though, who's working on a way to control them, by finding the right sonic frequencies that make them docile rather than monstrous - right, because that's all it takes, the right alpha waves to make the giant radiation-fueled monsters into cuddly pets (who still want to eat you...). It's all part of the emerging science of bio-acoustics, which I'm not sure is really a thing. BUT, if you believe in giant radiation-fueled monsters, is it that much harder to believe that one monster can emit frequencies to control the others, all around the globe? Or that somehow these frequencies can be transmitted from a device and call the monsters from 1,000 miles away, yet still not damage the hearing of everyone in a five-mile radius? (There's gotta be a NITPICK POINT in there somewhere...)
Speaking of N.P.s, I re-read my review of the 2014 "Godzilla" film today, and I found a whole bundle of them, leading me to conclude that the whole film was essentialy nonsense. The forces fighting the monsters would do illogical things like sending paratroopers in to do a ground assault (yeah, still trying to figure out that one - why not just drive?) or follow the logic of "Hey, there's a new monster in Las Vegas, so quick, let's head to San Francisco!" Umm, why? Then they set up all their tanks on the Golden Gate Bridge, because there was just NO WAY that Godzilla could attack from the water, since he's a giant lizard who lives under the sea. Oh, wait...
So it's at least easy to see that there's a bit more logic involved here, at least where rules about fighting the giant creatures are involved. Rule 1: You're probably going to lose, because it's a frickin' giant creature. Rule 2: The creatures are fueled by radiation, so you can't use nuclear weapons, you've got to come up with something else. Rule 3: You know what, maybe it's best if we don't fight them at all, maybe they'll kill each other and this whole thing will work itself out. That seems about right.
That scientist woman is part of a fractured family that used to work for Monarch, except her husband is off studying wolves, and her daughter is with her at one of the facilities. Her son was killed in the San Francisco attack, it seems the family tried to put the pieces back together after that, and just couldn't manage it. Then there's a bunch of terrorists who want to wake up ALL the MUTOs, because the human race is on the brink of exterminating itself with pollution, over-population, famine and disease (blame the anti-vaccers) and a few more MUTO attacks will go a long way toward balancing the scales and making the planet livable again. Geez, that sounds a lot like Thanos's reasoning for killing off half the population of the universe. And I'm not saying Thanos was wrong, it's just the method that's questionable. The human race has to find a way to stop reproducing so much, while also saving the other species on the globe AND curb waste and pollution, or battling giant monsters is going to seem like a field day compared to what's coming on the horizon.
The team from Monarch (plus a few hangers-on) travels from here to there, from Mexico where Rodan emerges from a volcano (I always thought he was a pterodactyl, but I guess now he's a fire demon) and discovers where Godzilla goes when he needs to relax and regenerate. But the climax is set in my old hometown of Boston, where the citizens are being air-lifted out of Fenway Park. Wouldn't you know, that's right where the big bosses are headed - Ghidorah must have heard there was a big "green monster" there. But this got me wondering - in the last "Godzilla" film, the monsters attacked San Francisco, and this time, it's Boston. Both are notoriously liberal, "safe harbor" cities - so is Godzilla possibly a political metaphor? Trump-zilla attacking the cities that he doesn't like?
Look, Godzilla just wants to be in charge of the other monsters, can't we just give him that? It will stop the fighting, at least - and the MUTOs only want to eat a few hundred of us per day, and in exchange they'll drain off the radiation from our nuclear accidents and missiles, and maybe they can help fix the hole in the ozone layer or something. It seems like a small price to pay.
Also starring Kyle Chandler (last seen in "First Man"), Vera Farmiga (last seen in "Special Correspondents"), Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford (last seen in "Destroyer"), Sally Hawkins (last seen in "Paddington 2"), Charles Dance (last seen in "Victor Frankenstein"), David Strathairn (last seen in "Darkest Hour"), Thomas Middleditch (last seen in "Tag"), Tyler Crumley (ditto), Aisha Hinds (last seen in "Mr. Brooks"), O'Shea Jackson Jr., Ken Watanabe (last seen in "The Sea of Trees"), Joe Morton (last seen in "Justice League"), CCH Pounder (last heard in "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies"), Anthony Ramos (last seen in "A Star Is Born"), Elizabeth Ludlow (last seen in "Table 19"), Jonathan Howard, Randy Havens (last seen in "Logan Lucky"), Lexi Rabe (last seen in "Avengers: Endgame"), Lyle Brocato (last seen in "Get Out"), Tracie Garrison, Vince Foster (last seen in "Passengers"), Joshua Leary, T.C. Matherne, Jimmy Gonzalez, Zac Zedalis, Natalie Shaheen, Jesse O'Neill, Shauna Rappold (last seen in "The Big Short").
RATING: 7 out of 10 newspaper clippings
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