We live in an unprecedented time, my friends, of media consumption and creations. As Linkara explained in his Cosmic Fury video, the popular wisdom of media is that it lasts a while and then it ends with a revival or a sequel later down the road. Nostalgic revivals were made for stuff like Gilligan’s Island or Star Trek: The Next Generation, trying to get lightning to strike twice. But, it was that notion he brought up about how after you turn into an adult, you were supposed to stop caring about the media you loved as a kid. Though I grew up a millennial (I consider myself more a 90’s kid), while I never necessarily stopped loving the things from my youth like Star Wars, Transformers, Power Rangers and of course Godzilla, I’ve always been under the impression you’re supposed to stop loving them after you grow up.
When I was growing up, I didn’t know a lot of people who liked kaiju movies. Most of them were the adults who grew up on this stuff, but as for people my age in the mid-2000s, nope. I remember bringing my friends over to my house and watching shows such as Ultraman Taro, and they just looked at me like “What was that?” and “That’s so weird, dude.” We did share some same interests, but nothing related to Japan. So I wouldn’t talk about it growing up except to a very small group of my nearest and dearest. But as I was saying, we live in an unprecedented time and stuff from Japan is getting recognized more and more. Anime became more widespread and talked about; Japanese culture and terminology is being used frequently, stuff like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade having inflatable balloons with Luffy and Goku in tow..
Additionally, due to the success of films such as Pacific Rim and Cloverfield, we have seen a rise in giant monsters wreaking havoc on a city in movies again, with the king himself returning after a ten year absence to reclaim his throne. Godzilla 2014 launched the Monsterverse and a tide of newly found interest in Kaiju media. Not only in the West, but also back in the East, with movies and TV shows such as Shin Godzilla, Minus One, and Kaiju No. 8. While the film itself has peaks and valleys, ups and downs, it was still a faithfully new interpretation of our biggest star, celebrating 60 years of the franchise. So what do you do with critical and financial successes in an unprecedented time in movies where cinematic universes are all the rage? Why, build a cinematic universe, of course! While Kong: Skull Island introduced our other kaiju hero, fans were waiting for the next Godzilla movie.
Gareth Edwards had decided to leave the “Godzilla 2” project to pursue his own projects. Legendary would hire Michael Dougherty to direct and write, being best known for his cult movies Trick ‘r Treat, Krampus, and being a writer for X2: X-Men United and Superman Returns. He grew up watching the old Godzilla movies, and is a huge fan, probably even more so than a lot of people. In interviews, he said as a kid he’d doodle Godzilla attacking the illustrations of Babylon and Rome in his class, much to the chagrin of the Nuns teaching him.
While things were gearing up for the return of Godzilla in the west, the franchise would take, in my opinion, a serious dip in the East, with the Polygon-produced Netflix trilogy of anime films being released in the interim. The films were seen as a disappointment to many individuals in the community, myself included, due to little to no scenes of Godzilla, no kaiju on kaiju fights, and most of the potential being given to prequel novels that weren’t even translated or released in the West.
While official sources say the Anime Trilogy were the first Reiwa Era Godzilla movie, it clearly wasn’t. Godzilla: The Planet Eater premiered in 2018, a full year before the coronation. I would argue that Godzilla: King of the Monsters is the true first Reiwa Era Godzilla movie and has paved the way. I don’t know why people and Toho say it is – maybe just to bridge the gap or whatever.
So with all that said, will King of the Monsters 2019 right the wrongs of the past years’ failures or will it be considered one of the greatest Godzilla movies of all time? My short answer: absolutely. My long answer: this review!
Let’s dig into King of the Monsters!
We open with the familiar sound of thunderous footsteps and our hero’s iconic roar. This scene hits so hard right off the bat. We have dread and menace, plus an air of mystery blend in for new viewers not familiar with the franchise. Not to mention the haunting score. We meet the Russell family, Emma, Mark and little Madison, in the midst of the 2014’s climactic showdown between Godzilla and the Mutos. Strangely the city is a lot more on fire than in the previous movie, smoke is everywhere and people are fleeing in terror when most of them were in poorly made shelters. Although a nice Bit of continuity is the halo jump in the background. Anyway Mark is calling for his son Andrew amidst the burning rubble, until a big someone pulls their attention away and looks up to see Godzilla crushing a building under foot. While we never find out exactly what happened, it’s clear Andrew was one of the many thousands of casualties in the battle.
Cut to about five years later and Emma is reminiscing about that terrible day as a news anchor explains that Monarch’s feet are over the fire. The government wants to shut them down and reveal all of their secrets while crowds of people are protesting, demanding that the government themselves destroy all monsters. It’s here where we get the official Monsterverse name for our giant cast of creatures: the Titans. Yeah, I’m not calling them that. Titan, while a good name, is a bit overused in the media, made prominent with the Attack on Titan franchise. I wonder if they were trying to avoid using the term Kaiju to differentiate themselves with say Pacific Rim, but at this point the term Kaiju is already well known in the western zeitgeist. So I’m going to call them Kaiju because I call a spade a spade.
Anyway Godzilla has been missing for that amount of time, even though he’s been seen all over fighting Muto Prime but that’s not important, what is important is the world knows monsters are real and there may be more of them. But luckily Emma has the means. We cut over to Madison, all grown up and being played by Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown. I have to say, Brown has come a long way from her humble beginnings on Stranger Things to now being recognized as a brilliant young actress. Her acting in this movie most can be a little on the annoying, angst of an impulsive teenager(which is her character already), side of things, but it works to her benefit, being roughly around the same age as the character.
After burning the bacon for breakfast, Emma tells Maddie she’s finally completed the Orca, a device used to replicate the bioacoustics of kaiju to better communicate with them. Maddie reveals she’s been talking to her father, who has since separated from his wife. As they talk, we hear the familiar squeak of an old moth shaking the house they’re in. It’s revealed that the pair are part of a Monarch research facility in the Yunnan Rainforest in China, dubbed Outpost 61.
They arrive at the temple where a giant egg is about to hatch. The researchers have no idea what’s happening and tried to sedate it but she wants to be born. All over the temple you can see stone murals of a giant moth or butterfly, an awesome detail. They arrive at the observatory where a catwalk structure surrounds the glowing egg, a containment team surrounds the kaiju just as she hatches. Titanus Mosura, or as we like to call her Mothra, rises from her silken egg as one heavily armored caterpillar. Mothra’s larva form was given a more ferocious appearance compared to previous versions.. Previous versions, save for a few rare instances. were never that imposing looking to me. I love the bioluminescence and the caripace reminds me of a cobra with its hood partially flared open.
Anyway, they activate the containment field which short circuits and starts to scare the newly born larva, that or she’s not a morning person by the way she starts spitting her silk at the security unit, and flinging them around like rag dolls (without killing anyone might I add).
After the containment field short circuits, the researcher wants to follow regulation and terminate Mothra, but Emma objects, personally going out with the Orca in hand. . The very angry caterpillar give her a few warning growls as Emma activates the Orca, but uses the wrong frequency which makes Mothra lash out at her. Madison recklessly goes out there to help her mom, not realizing that she’s staring down a two story tall bug, and then just as Mothra is about to deal sweet vengeance for every bug ever squished, Emma finds and uses the Alpha’s frequency on her, turning Mothra blue.
And it’s here where we get one of the film’s strengths: the soundtrack. Bear McCreary, most famous for his work for God of War (the new one) and The Walking Dead, took painstaking care in recreating the original themes, particularly Godzilla’s and Mothra’s themes by the late great Akira Ifukube, as well as creating new ones for the likes of Rodan and King Ghidorah. He used a combination of Buddhist Monk chanting, particularly the Heart Sutra, Japanese chanting, and other diverse languages from various cultures.. He has done a brilliant job in making this movie epic;, I dare say McCreary is one of the contributing factors. The theme song for Mothra is an epic rendition of her classic song. While the lyrics themselves aren’t sung in the official version, there is a sung version that was released on the disc, showcasing Bear going above and beyond, as I’ve emphasized I wish he had stayed for the later installments of the MonsterVerse.
After things calmed down, Maddie is allowed to sorta pet Mothra a little. But peace is a fragile thing. A cacophony of gunfire rings out as a squad of heavily armed mercenaries storm the base, killing all of the searchers. Emma and Madison come face to to with our human villain, Alan Jonah played by Charles Dance. And he wants what Emma has.
We cut over to the Monarch Senate Hearings in Washington, D.C. where we get a montage of stock footage (in way better HD coloring) of the Godzilla Vs. Muto battle and of Kong Skull Island. Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, Vivienne Graham and our newest member of the team Sam Coleman, who’s acting more as the team’s lawyer or representative, are pleading their case to the Senate who are ready to put them under the military. Saying that the kaiju are a forgotten super species providing a balance to the world, their organization is uniquely qualified to identify which of them are good or bad for humanity. Amanda Waller, or your favorite bureaucratic government antagonist archetype, isn’t buying any of it. Serizawa says the advent of their returning is because of humans dicking around with nature, citing the atomic tests and strip mining for Godzilla and the Mutos respectively. He wants to finds a way to coexist with the kaiju, with Godzilla himself, with Graham indicating a lion and mouse type relationship or a scorpion and frog if things go bad.
Things do go bad as Serizawa and Graham get a text and just walk out on an irate Waller. Sam, to stall for time, sets everyone up with a brief documentary on Titan reproduction, with him hoping it’s the one where their genitals are blurred. So have we been watching the uncensored version this whole time? I’m sure someone is into that. Anyway, the head over to Colorado where Mark Russell has been living in Iron Man’s cabin from Endgame, studying wolves in their natural habitat. They give him the lowdown on the situation; Emma and Madison are the only ones taken by Jonah and that they have the Orca with them. Mark is not happy, who thought they destroyed the prototype, but Emma rebuilt it. He says it was only designed to keep whales from the shoreline, not talk to Monarch’s critters. If they used the wrong frequency on a kaiju you’re looking at a worse San Francisco.
But he’s their only hope. They convinced him to join them, saying if they find the Orca they can save his family. Mark agrees and flies with them aboard an osprey, Serizawa and Graham showing him Emma’s very big list of the number of monster bioacoustics she’s put on record. Somehow she combined them into one baseline frequency that all of the creatures respond to. They don’t know which frequency she used so Mark’s given the task to identify it. When asked how many, Serizawa said there were over seventeen and counting after Godzilla, most in deep hibernation and before anyone gets their hopes up, no, most of them are not the classics we grew up with. Turns out when Legendary acquired the rights to Godzilla they couldn’t get a full package deal, with Toho having set individual prices for each individual monster in their library. Meaning if they wanted to use anyone other than Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, they would have to dig into their pockets. There was early concept art for some of the classics, and at one point or another they would have shown up in the script, with favorites such as Anguirus, Baragon, Kumonga, Kamacuras and oddly enough, non-Toho kaiju Gamera was shown.
However, movie making isn’t cheap and these plans had to be dropped. And for what it’s worth, these new monsters are just as worthy to stand with some of the classics in my opinion. The designs for a lot of them are super cool. Behemoth in particular is already a fan favorite, getting cheers from fans at a screening for the movie despite being in the film for only a few minutes at most. He’s one of the coolest monsters I’ve seen in years. I wish they would do more with him.
Back to the plot, our team of monster hunters arrive at Monarch’s state of the art base, Castle Bravo or Outpost 54, an old oil rig in Bermuda with an underwater facility designed to track and study Godzilla in his natural habitat. This is super cool. I’m a sucker for underwater facilities and this has to be at the top five of my list. They even have a Muto head in the background and according to the novel Muto Prime’s remains are currently being studied so that’s cool. At the meeting Graham assembles the team, a few military soldiers with the likes of Colonel Foster, Doctor Ilene Chen, and Doctor Rick Stanton (inspired by Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty). She explains what’s going on, that Mothra has now cocooned herself under a waterfall, and that Jonah was once a British army Colonel turned ecoterrorist who has a penchant for dabbing in the market of kaiju DNA. He is obsessed with restoring the natural order with his own militia I dubbed, in the style of internet critics, “Dark Peta”.
Foster thinks that he wants to capture Mothra and proposes a strike, but Mark says they’re wasting their time. He reasons why Jonah would want just one when he already has the key to Sauron’s Petting Zoo for the Criminally Insane. He’s no dummy, but his judgment isn’t the best with his family at stake. When reminded he was only brought in to advice and his advice is to kill every kaiju on the planet, especially Godzilla whom he has sworn to hate for taking his son. While Godzilla wasn’t directly responsible, his size and the fact he was fending off two other monsters would cause a lot of casualties. Mark storms out, leaving one of the soldiers, Barnes, to remark that the dude hates Titans. Reminds me of another titan killer who swore to kill them all, every last one. Gee I wonder what ever happened to that kid.
We cut over to Antarctica where Outpost 32 (my god…Jonah is going to Outpost 31! He’s going to make Godzilla fight the Thing!) and the forces of “Dark Peta” have stormed the base. Emma and Madison are with them, and they descend to the lower levels. There they find a horror sealed in the ice for thousands of years. Something the Mother of God had nothing to do with in his creation. He goes by many names: the King of Terror, God of the Sky, the Emperor of the Cosmos, the Thousand-Year-Old Dragon, the Golden Demise, but of course they call him Monster Zero. Jonah and his men get to work as Emma, Orca in hand, sets up in analyzing his bioacoustics.
Meanwhile Castle Bravo is seemingly under attack by Godzilla, who’s taking out the observation drones and getting uncomfortably close to them. Something’s very wrong and he’s really pissed about something. Just as they’re ready to fire the masers, yes they have masers, Mark tells everyone to lower their guns and show they are not a threat to Godzilla and makes a very good point unless they know they’ll win it’s a bad idea to try to take him on. Doing so, opening up the viewpoint and getting an intense light show from Godzilla’s new dorsal plates. Yeah they changed the dorsal plates on Godzilla’s back from the long and straight ones to the more iconic maple leaf pattern that we all know, Michael Dougherty saying they changed it because of his preference but other than that it’s relatively the same body. In universe, this was a result of Godzilla’s plates being shattered by Muto Prime’s sonic roar so they grew back somewhat misshapen and could be seen as crooked almost. Personally, I love this bit of lore.
The glowing is a sort of intimidation display, like a gorilla pounding its chest. But it’s not for them. After an intense stare down with Mark glaring at Godzilla, the G-man leaves but not without scaring the ever living crap out of them. Sam looks like he needs a new pair of underwear. Mark asks to see his territorial routes (I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but I love the reference to the episode from Godzilla the Series where a guy actually does a boat tour of Godzilla! Brilliant!) noting that predators only leave their hunting ground in response to bigger threats. And all of them lead directly to Antarctica. Godzilla feels it, a great evil is about to break free. Serizawa, Graham, Chen, Mark, Barnes and Foster all go to the Antarctic aboard the USS Argo.
And might I just say, this thing looks freak awesome! The Argo, named after the famous ship of Greek Mythology, looks like a giant B-2 stealth bomber and acts as the team’s mobile HQ for the duration of the movie. This thing could fit into a science fiction movie, with its own command bridge, a hanger, even missile launchers. It might be a coincidence, but it reminds me a lot of the Supremacy, that huge Star Destroyer from the The Last Jedi, in shape mostly. That and I just love aircraft with that wing shape. Why the hell didn’t they keep using this thing in previous movies? This would have been useful when Godzilla was going crazy, or when Mechagodzilla 5 was beating the heck out of Godzilla, or Skar King and Shimo.
Anyway, they give Mark the rundown. Monster Zero was kept out of the books and since he’s a recent discovery, there’s very little information of his origins and true name. He’s another apex, like Godzilla, an alpha who could rival him for position. Chen has been doing research, thousands of years’ worth of legends, and couldn’t find anything as if people were afraid to speak of this creature, scared of the King of Terror. As if he was meant to be forgotten. Rick comes in and tells them they lost Godzilla, who vanished near Venezuela. He theorizes it’s the Hollow Earth like what Doctor Brooks talked about in Skull Island, much to Chen’s annoyance. They arrive at the facility and Foster leads a strike team before being ambushed by “Dark Peta”.
Upon seeing Emma and Madison on the cams, Mark rushes down there to save his family from Jonah. He cuts them off from escape, killing one of the soldiers who had a trigger for the explosives they planted earlier. The scene is fairly tense as both sides stare each other down like a western. Even Mark has a gun pointed at Jonah’s head, but it turns out not everyone is on the same page. Emma walks up to the catwalk, stops midway and picks up the trigger. You’re not reading this wrong. Emma willfully picks the detonator up and pulls the triggers, setting off the explosive charges that break the frozen seal and allowing the King of Terror to rise again.
The outpost completely collapses in on itself, the extraction team and Mark barely making it out, the latter wanting to pursue but wisely returning to get the former out before their buried in a million tons of ice. They get outside as little of the base caves leaving a kaiju sized hole in the ground. Jonah and Emma, who are airborne now, flip on the Orca and turn on the frequency for Monster Zero forcing him to rise. Let me just say I love the music and the scene they used it in. Bear McCreary did an amazing job creating an all new theme for Ghidorah, using the real life Heart Sutra, he manages to create an almost worship quality. Similar to how the Cultists in the Anime Trilogy worshipped Ghidorah.
Needless to say, Monster Zero himself is freaking awesome. Initially I wasn’t too keen on the new design, but it grew on me very quickly. The wings are just massive, appropriate for one of the biggest Titans of the Monsterverse, and the heads look more like classic western dragons. Speaking if which, after the movie’s released Michael Dougherty said in a Twitter post that he gave all the heads different names to coincide with their personalities. Ichi, the leader and center head, Nii, the right, more aggressive head, and probably the most important one of all…Kevin! I’m not joking. The left is like the younger brother of the three and acts very curious if not playfully like when he lowers himself down to look at the soldiers who are stupidly shooting at the obviously bullet proof creature. Needless to say, Kevin became something of a breakout character in his own right, to the point where he is something of a meme. Honestly, I’m in the same boat. I love Kevin and think he’s one of the many best things in this movie.
Anyway after the remaining soldiers get a face full of Gravity Beams, Kevin even licks one of the charred corpses before the center head tells him to knock it off (seriously, kids, don’t licker things that you had just vaporized the ever living crap out of. You don’t know where it’s been) turns his attention over to the gang. The osprey they are on has a propeller malfunction and they can’t lift off. Pretty quickly they start to panic, calling the Argo, when Maddie steals the Orca from her mom and makes Ghidorah turn on them until they wrestle it out of her hands. King Ghidorah returns his wrathful gaze back on them when their radar starts getting a ping (even getting a frightened sound from Kevin) and who should come to their rescue from up from the depths, 30 stories high, breathing fire, his head in the sky?
Godzilla breaks the ice and stares at King Ghidorah who raises his wings in a threat display. The ancient rivals roar at each other before they start a pretty vicious brawl, with even the osprey everyone is in getting knocked to the side. Remember in the last movie Godzilla only used his atomic breath like twice and towards the end? Well, it’s been omitted and his fires a full stream of blue radioactive firepower, only for King Ghidorah to dodge and return fire, knocking Godzilla back and into the hole from whence the King of the Void came. Also Godzilla does his original ‘54 roar and it’s awesome. What’s not awesome is Doctor Graham, who had gone back to the osprey to save Mark, is eaten alive by Ghidorah, snatching her like a T Rex with a small human. Serizawa looks on in horror as his friend and colleague is swallowed before him just as the Argo and a squad of jets launch missiles at him. Knowing when he’s outmatched, especially as Godzilla crawls back out of his hole, Ghidorah takes to the sky.
Mark is knocked out do to a stray missile and wakes up aboard the Argo, heading to their next destination: a small island in the Gulf of Mexico, Isla de Mara. They had lost Monster Zero in a tropical storm and Godzilla is in hot pursuit. Elsewhere, they are still reeling from the death of Graham, Serizawa especially mourning the loss of his friend, and the disbelief that Emma could pull the trigger and subsequently resurrect Ghidorah. Rick says Jonah must’ve forced her to do it, maybe use Maddie as leverage. However Mark confirms their suspensions and leads into them realizing Emma is trying to start a mass awakening. Their fears are further confirmed when Emma herself Skype meets them. She and Madison are safe but this is a ransom call for their rescue. Emma has truly joined forces with Jonah. She explains her reasoning for doing so is a simple yet complicated answer of saving the world through mass genocide, specifically the humankind stating how humans have been the dominant life for thousands of years and brought nothing but death and destruction in their wake.
Again the music really sells this scene. While Emma spouts on how in the next few years their planet will perish, the music has keys of the almost mournful song of the kaiju theme with hints of a haunting choir. She says she’s doing this for Andrew, and how by releasing the kaiju they return to a simpler time where humanity worshipped nature and lived in harmony with giant monsters using the Orca to communicate With. While Rick correctly tells her she’d be ruling a dead world overrun by monsters, Emma argues that the kaiju emit unique radiation that replenishes life, much like how a forest fire replenishes the soil or volcanoes creating new land. Still everyone thinks of her plan of systematic culling, the normally calm Serizawa even tells her this is a dangerous plan. But Mark’s words hit especially deep for her saying even if she unleashes the Kaiju and somehow restores the natural order of things it’s ultimately a fruitless endeavor. This will not bring their son back. She tells them to seek shelter in bunkers planted all over the world and cuts the call.
Chen puts it brilliantly, by calling her a bitch.
To make matters worse, she shuts down the containment system on Outpost 56, and even now begins preparation to release the kaiju in the volcano. Madison tries to talk her out of it but Jonah intervenes. Reminding her it was him who she sought for aid and they both want to save the world but the only way to do that is by activating the Orca. She acquiesces to his demands.
On the island, G-Team struggles to evacuate everyone. The village is just in total chaos with the streets crammed with people trying to flee. But as these things go it’s never easy. Especially when there’s a loud roar, the Orca playing on the loudspeakers and the volcano blows its top to allow the King of the Skies to rise.
Oh man, do I love Rodan in this! Possibly the biggest iteration we’ve ever seen, I love the design they went with, keeping the classic two horns on his head, the spikes running down his abdomen, and while not the same roar, it sounds familiar enough to be considered a new version. His skin is now a mixture of volcanic rock and lava, which I love and wish we saw more of in other pieces of kaiju media, with smoke even trailing from the wings. The Argo arrives just in time with bad news that the storm King Ghidorah was lost in has completely turned in the direction. Turns out Ghidorah himself has the ability to generate storms. Mark tells Serizawa he’s coming in response to Rodan’s awakening. So what’s his plan? Fire a bunch of missiles at Rodan and get him to follow the Argo straight to King Ghidorah…while in the process of flying over the village you were trying to save…um guys? I know you’re trying to help but, holy crap, you made it a million times worse!
The chase sequence with Rodan and the fighter jets is just superb, one of my highlighted moments of the movie as he just annihilates the squad, doing barrel rolls and turning the fighters into scrap metal with ease. One guy even tries to launch himself out of his jet before landing in the monster’s maw and getting eaten. Pretty hardcore. Made even better with the theme song for Rodan, with chants actually saying his name. Moments before Rodan could take down the Argo, they come face to face with the Golden Terror himself in a split second instance where everything is dark and his eyes glow. Pretty dang cool! Ghidorah and Rodan fight, just really tearing into each other, while the Argo tries to help a damaged osprey full of civilians. But the King of the Skies is no match for the God of the Skies and gets a face full of Gravity Beam.
To make matters worse, Admiral William Stenz, the navy guy from the first movie, calls to inform them he’s launched a missile imbued with the very weapon that killed the first Godzilla of 1954: the Oxygen Destroyer. The fears of Daisuke Serizawa have come to pass. Stenz hopes that this will finally end this nightmare, and they are warned to evacuate the area. Mark meanwhile helps with the damaged Osprey by unsticking the doors just as King Ghidorah swoops in and gets attacked by Godzilla. The wrestle in the water, showing how Ghidorah is at a severe disadvantage when fighting in the water. Kevin gets the short end of the stick and gets his head completely torn off just as the Oxygen Destroyer hits them and implodes. Schools of dead fish rise to the surface, but all is hauntingly calm until Ghidorah springs out of the water, but not a sign of Godzilla. Rick and Serizawa check Godzilla’s vitals only to find them blinking before going flat. Having lost two close friends, Serizawa bitterly turns to Mark and says he got his wish.
Ghidorah goes to Rodan’s volcano and by using its energy regenerates Kevin entirely. Spreading his wings out and giving a fan dubbed “Alpha Call”, he takes his place and calls to all the Kaiju of the world to bring to this world a beautiful Demise. All over from Scylla, Behemoth, Methuselah, and more rise at the call of their new King. Emma and Jonah watch from the monitors as all the kaiju begin to rise. Maddison just looks at her mother with a mix of horror and disgust.
Elsewhere, the outpost around Mothra’s cocoon gets the news of the mass awakening. Brooks, the scientist from Skull Island, goes to tell Doctor Ling but sees the cocoon start to glow. The clouds part and a swarm of the luminous fairies descend and surround her as Mothra begins to hatch and spread her wings. And it’s revealed Ling Chen is the twin sister of Doctor Ilene Chen (who are also the third generation Monarch), a direct call to the Shobijin, the twin priestesses of Mothra. Back at the Argo, they finally figure out Ghidorah’s deal; he’s an alien, obviously, who fell from the stars who’s storm swallowed man and monster alike. An invasive species who’s not part of the natural order of our world.
Unfortunately, things get worse for our team. Stenz is there at Castle Bravo and gives them the situation report of every kaiju causing widespread destruction. Everything from wildfires, earthquakes, tsunami and things they don’t even have names that aren’t assembly good. Mark points out that this isn’t erratic behavior but coordinated attack, Ghidorah is exerting his will over them to start what is effectively a terraforming operation. Even Emma realizes this in her vein attempt to convince Jonah this was a bad idea from the start. And the only thing capable of defeating him was Godzilla, who’s pushing up daisies at this moment. Gee, I wonder if there’s a cybernetics company helmed by Serizawa’s son making some robot or mecha version of Godzilla who can be of some assistance? What would you even call this machine monster, Robo-Godzilla? Nah, that would never work! Too bad they don’t have Jaegers in this universe.
Mark tries to leave, figuring he could find Emma and Madison on his own in a now kaiju infested hellscape, when the clouds break and Mothra unleashes a ray of pure light. Everyone sees it and hears the whale-like song she’s emitting. Realizing there could be only one thing able to understand it, they find there’s a reply. Godzilla is not dead, but is in no shape to fight either. Which makes a whole lot of sense from a meta perspective. While the Monsterverse doesn’t connect directly to the original 1954 movie, it’s still worth noting that only Daisuke Serizawa knew the original formula of the Oxygen Destroyer and the correct dosage for the Micro-Oxygen. It’s entirely possible for someone to try and replicate it like that one guy in Destroyah, but they can never have the original. Anyway it’s also noted Godzilla and Mothra are in a symbiotic relationship, they help the other and rely on each other to survive.
Mark has a plan: he, Serizawa, Chen, and Rick will follow Mothra’s beams of light and save Godzilla using a nuclear submarine while the Argo fights Ghidorah who’s nesting in oddly enough Washington, D.C. Meanwhile Madison steals the Orca and heads to Fenway Park in Boston. Mark and Serizawa have a little heart to heart about learning to let go about letting go at how painful the past can be. In order to heal our wounds we must make peace with the demons who inflicted them. Honestly, words to live by. In their journey, they get sucked into a portal deep into what Rick says is a tunnel into the Hollow Earth, when really it isn’t but give him credit for enthusiasm, much to Chen’s annoyance. What they do find however is an entire sunken city, older than Roman or Egyptian, older than Babylonian even. They pass walls that are decorated in stone monuments to Godzilla and the other Titans, the first gods.
Whether you call this Atlantis or not (if it is Atlantis where’s Gamera during all this crap?) we all acknowledge this scene as the first time in 65 years that we see Godzilla’s lair. Dougherty wanted to see where Godzilla always goes at the end of each movie. I always figured he just found a spot on the ocean floor and took a nap there until an asshole alien showed up. Anyway, they follow the radiation but stop before they get too close, the levels are too high. Sending in drones they quickly find out there’s an air pocket inside the temple and get a glimpse at Godzilla before frying. This is where he goes to recharge, it’s how he survived for millions of years and has constantly evolved to be the apex predator. However they can’t determine how long he’ll need to rejuvenate himself, it could take days, weeks, months, or years. To make matters worse, their trip into his home has left the sub’s launching systems damaged. It’s at that moment, Serizawa does the unthinkable. He volunteers as tribute. He wants to set the bomb off by hand in front of our Hero.
Serizawa doesn’t want to argue and gets ready. He says his goodbyes and hands Mark his notebook, and says Godzilla is the key to coexistence and departs.
Now, many people have criticized this scene, saying it’s unoriginal, that Serizawa is a lazily written character. But hear me out. Think back to the 1954 original, where Daisuke Serizawa, a veteran of the Second World War and a brilliant scientist, had created a weapon far greater than anything the atomic bomb can do, able to strip a living creature down to its bones and dissolve them into nothing. He regretted creating the Oxygen Destroyer, sincerely wanting to use it for good but ultimately fearing if it got into the wrong hands it would be the end of humanity. But then Godzilla attacked Tokyo, leveling the city, and leaving thousands to die. It broke his heart seeing this much destruction in a time supposedly devoid of a major war. He decided if the Oxygen Destroyer was to be used at all, it might as well be by his hands and his hands only. He goes down into the bottom of the ocean and detonates it, severing his line and wishing Ogata and Emiko to live happy lives.
Serizawa and Godzilla died together.
But was that the end? No. In any continuity, Serizawa’s bomb created more problems. The advent of a second or third Godzilla, more monsters coming out the woodworks from the depths of space to right here on earth, Destroyah and Kiryu were direct results of him using his bomb. It would be cynical to say Serizawa died in vein but in truth he died doing what he thought, by ending what he perceived as a great evil and a threat while using an even greater evil. No one should have that kind of power in the palm of their hand. And Now we’re here; Ishiro Serizawa, taking an atomic bomb up to Godzilla, suffering and choking under the intensity of the radiation but he kept going and placed the bomb before Godzilla. There’s a brief moment where Godzilla opens eyes, Serizawa approaches him, pulls off his helmet, presses his hand on his snout and says “goodbye, old friend.”
This scene showed so much respect and care to the character of Dr. Serizawa. At the time of this writing there have only ever been two Serizawa’s whose stories mirrored each other. It’s like opposite side of the coin as one sought to kill Godzilla and the other sought to save him. You could call it a Canon Event; Serizawa must die in order for Godzilla to live. And the song, Goodbye Old Friend, sang entirely in ancient Babylonian, the oldest translatable language in human history. It took a hero to save a hero.
But that’s not all we get. The submarine rises to the surface after the bomb was detonated. Godzilla rises to the surface with them, firing A stream of atomic fire into the sky in a now iconic pose, and stares down Mark, who’s on deck. And if you listen very carefully, you could hear the final cords to Requiem, the song used for Godzilla vs. Destoroyah to signify not only the death of the beloved character but also the final score conducted by Akira Ifukube. Now used as the song of his rebirth and as a loving tribute to the famous composer. God damn this movie freaking rocks!
Godzilla goes off and the Argo picks them up. Mark pieces together what Emma used to create the Orca’s frequency and it’s humans. This time they join the fight. Meanwhile Maddie has hooked up the Orca to Fenway’s loudspeaker, using the alpha frequency to stop the kaiju onslaught but not without attracting unwanted attention. King Ghidorah’s storm and subsequently the King of Terror himself arrives, seeing Madison who quickly unhooks the Orca from the loudspeakers. She dodges the Gravity Beams and manages to get outside, staring Ghidorah down who powers up a new wave of lightning only for Madie to be saved by a hero.
Godzilla comes ashore to Boston, roaring at Ghidorah as the Argo and jets aid him in his final fight. Godzilla charges at Ghidorah in full force, Serizawa got that lizard juiced. Only problem is he’s got him too juiced up, Sam warns Mark and G-Team, who are heading to Fenway Park to get Madison, that Godzilla’s radiation levels are going through the roof and have about twelve minutes before he goes off like an atom bomb. They land, but quickly get two members vaporized and another one injured. They find the Orca but no Madison. Emma drives up to them, after defecting from Jonah’s group, and they hop in. Emma and Mark bicker like hell, leaving one of the soldiers to comment that if he had them as parents he’d run away from home too. And that’s where they get the idea she went home.
Godzilla holds his own against King Ghidorah, tossing him around and getting help from Mothra. However, she’s quickly attacked by Rodan, who’s sworn loyalty to Monster Zero, and it quickly becomes a fight on land and in the air. Jets are getting knocked out of the sky, buildings Collapse, it’s an honest to god miracle half these characters survive. Unfortunately, the fight goes poorly as Rodan burns Mothra with his flaming wings but not before she pulls out her stinger and impales him. Elsewhere Ghidorah gets an energy boost from a power plant and unleashes a hail of lightning from the tips of his wings, Antigravity Beams if you would, that than annihilates the majority of the air force and forcing the Argo to retreat, the last time we’ll see it in action. As Emma and Mark find Madison in their family home or at least what’s left of it, King Ghidorah lifts Godzilla and flies him up high into the air. I love this scene when Ghidorah drops Godzilla so high in the sky he pretty much renters the atmosphere, burning up before he crashes back down to Earth.
Godzilla looks exhausted. Getting strangled, lifted up into the sky and now falling a good few miles takes a lot out of you. As King Ghidorah lands in front of him, Mothra comes to his rescue, taking the full force of his Gravity Beams and disintegrating. But not before her scales land on our hero, igniting him with her energy. Their symbiosis is complete. Needless to say, this scene is amazingly done. I especially love how the clouds are formed around Godzilla as he falls back to earth like a meteorite hitting planet like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. As Ghidorah slithers to him, he bites down on Godzilla attempting to drain his energy and pulling a Keizer Ghidorah from Final Wars.
But instead of Ozaki transferring his Keizer energy to help him, we have Emma, Mark and Madison, a family reunited to work fast and fix the Orca to give him a little extra time to recover. While an osprey lands to pick them all up, Emma gives Madison a give on the forehead before she gets back in the jeep with the Orca in hand driving away with the King of Terror hot on her heels. Emma’s whole character hinges on this moment. It was her who revived Ghidorah and opened Pandora’s Box, wanting to change the world for the better and bring back balance. Instead she created a bigger monster, not bringing balance but pure unbridled chaos that left millions around the world dead or worse. Now, in the final moments of the movie, she takes the Orca leading King Ghidorah away from the family she loves more than anything. In the beginning, she lost her only son because of things she couldn’t control. Now she has a device that will help control the mess she created. Ghidorah strafes her vehicle, knocking her to the side. But as she lays there staring her mistake in the face, she says her final word:
Long live the King.
Godzilla, energized by Mothra and Serizawa’s efforts, stands before Ghidorah as Burning Godzilla. I love this final climax; with each step he takes igniting the ground and melting everything around him. Ghidorah roars at him only to get a nuclear pulse that completely annihilates his wings, which he previously used as shields. Gravity Beams are next to useless and the next to go are two of his heads, Kevin included. An awesome detail about the nuclear pulses is they are in the pattern and roar of Mothra and her wings, showing their symbiotic bond. Oh geez, I sure hope fans don’t compare this to a certain other kaiju who blew up Boston but had nothing to do with Godzilla and only ties in that he blew up Boston!
Speaking of which, the final explosion levels Boston and for a moment as the sun starts to rise over the ruined city. Godzilla and Ghidorah are nowhere to be seen until the head of Ghidorah rises from the ashes and rubble. And just his head, without a trace of his body anywhere. Still alive somehow, he’s quickly picked up by our hero who proceeds to beat the ever living tar out of him, slamming him into the ground, burning the stump, even Ghidorah’s eyes and mouth start to glow blue before a shot of atomic breath finishes the job. And I’m sure we’ll never see King Ghidorah again! Rick comments it’s a good thing he’s on our side, only for Chen to correct him saying for now. Madison diverts everyone’s attention. The other kaiju arrive, remnants of Ghidorah’s legion coming to choose sides, only to find they are too late. Everyone from Behemoth, Methuselah, Sylla and the Muto Queen all circle Godzilla. Rodan is the last one to arrive and after a glare of death he wisely bows before him. And so our movie ends with our cast watching as all the kaiju bow before the rightful, roaring King of the Monsters.
But we’re not done yet. Now normally I don’t like to stick around for the end credits. Don’t ask me why, they sometimes make me sad or depressed for seemingly no reason. But it’s where we get to the end credits is where everything changed for me. Changed my opinion about this movie and further cemented why it is, to this day, my favorite Godzilla movie of all time. Why it shows more love and respect to the franchise, showing that the director had such love and respect. Firstly we have the end song, Godzilla, as in Blue Oyster Cult’s very own song Godzilla. While not performed by the band themselves, the cover, which I have dubbed the “epic version”, is sung by artist Serj Tankian, a lead vocalist and lyricist for the band System of a Down. I don’t have to explain how awesome this sequence is; the song is a banger!
And then there is the final moments and at the very end there is a tribute. They didn’t have to put this in, they had no obligation to do so, but the fact that they did it is so wonderful and heartwarming to even the staunchest of Godzilla haters. It’s a memorial to none other than the man who brought Godzilla to life in the iconic rubber suit all those years ago, the late great Haruo Nakajima and Hedorah director Yoshimitsu Banno. How can you not say this doesn’t celebrate the history and mythology of the franchise without saying a deep thank you to the man who helped make it happen. Yet that shows more respect than an Eren Yaeger knockoff.
There is an end credit scene where Jonah goes back to Isla de Mara and collects Kevin’s severed head. Worth mentioning for future movies. Originally there was going to be more with the Chen twins, who were hiding Mothra’s egg, but it was cut.
As you can expect, I think very, very highly of Godzilla King of the Monsters 2019. Critics were mixed at the time of its release, fans adored it. While it did/does have its fair share of haters, it’s still widely considered one of the best Godzilla movies in recent memory. I remember walking out of the theater when it came out completely mesmerized. This movie would have been great overall, but the fact that not only was it celebrating the long history of the franchise in its 65th year, but they put so much love and care into it. I didn’t even cover all the hidden Easter eggs sprinkled in like Ghidorah’s occasionally roaring his original roar, Anguirus’ skeleton in the sunken city, Steve Martin being mentioned in the newspaper montage at the end, and so much more.
The human characters were good. Folks like Sam were just there, only giving the occasional witty comedic remark but never did anything. I liked Mark’s little arc. While predictable it did feel nice to see him be redeemed from someone who wanted to see Godzilla dead for killing his son to someone who risked life and limb for Godzilla. A shame he doesn’t do much for the rest of the franchise. Emma on the other hand had a bit of a reverse arc, with her joining “Dark Peta” in hopes to save the world, but unwittingly nearly caused it’s complete destruction. Left her a bit of a complicated character, making you wonder if her redemption meant anything. But the one who took the cake was Ken Watanabe as Ishiro Serizawa, absolutely nailing his performance as the famous doctor and more than honored the legacy of Akihiko Hirata.
It’s sad we never learn what happened to Jonah. I think it’s a cool idea to have a human villain alongside the monsters, showing how not everyone is on the same page when it comes to how best to deal with giant monsters running around. The fact he was so obsessed with restoring the natural order reminds me greatly of Alexandra Springer and her organization S.C.A.L.E from the animated series. The one with the found footage style of storytelling. I don’t know if that was intentional or not but props to the writing team.
But we don’t come to these movies for the human characters, of course. The Kaiju are the real stars of the show, and they don’t disappoint. Though on the surface it’s a big- budgeted version of Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster, it doesn’t weigh itself down and make it exactly like that movie. There were moments where it felt like its own thing, which it is. I love all the new designs for Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah, as well as the new arrivals such as Behemoth and Scylla. Speaking of Behemoth, he’s probably the most unique looking kaiju of the entire movie; a trunkless mammoth with enormous tusks with the body of a sloth while it walks on its knuckles like a gorilla. It’s a shame again we’ll not see very much of him in the movies outside of stock footage. Regardless he has quickly cemented himself as a new classic worthy of the praise he gets from fans.
I had said in the past few years that SSSS Gridman, and to a certain degree, Dynazeno, feel in many ways like a response to the Godzilla Anime Trilogy, but I really think that King of the Monsters is the true direct response to the Polygon films. Everything wrong in those three movies were countered in one epic movie. It had a vengeful protagonist who grew throughout the movie and who changed his views, call backs to the past that you didn’t have to read in extended novels, and a director who genuinely cared for the history of the franchise. The kaiju fights were epic and exciting and wasn’t the monsters just standing around, nor did it need an amateur animator to fix that problem. Despite a slightly larger cast, everyone had room to breathe, and of course tributes to those who made this possible and not arbitrarily stamped on for no reason other than the character needed a name. The villains, while sadly underused or just discarded all together, were still enjoyable and had good reasons for why they were doing this.
If Michael Dougherty ever wanted to direct another Godzilla movie with Bear McCreary as the composer, you bet your bottom buck I’ll have my tickets purchased, my ass in the seat with popcorn in one hand and a soda in the other, watching in awe as my hero stands triumphant, roaring that iconic roar. I can’t wait for that day.
See you Space Cowboy!
