Godzilla King of Monsters (2019): When Tywin Lannister Wakes Up the Targaryen Sigil

I’m still haunted by Game of Thrones‘ last season which ended up confusing. And there are lots of resemblance on this movie. Haha.

OK, first thing first, why do you finally decide to watch this Godzilla movie? Your answer might influence the way you see the whole movie. If you are a monster-movie fan like me (I’m more a disaster-movie fan, actually), you might find this Godzilla movie fascinating. The monster fighting between our beloved monster protagonist Godzilla, and his arch-nemesis three-headed dragon Ghidorah (which looks exactly like Targaryen house sigil of Game of Thrones, hence my title of this review) might consist of CGI, but you cannot help but to awe by the intense fighting. However, if you are more a person who watch movie to be entertain by the story, just forget about this movie. Even with the special chemistry between Kyle Chandler – Vera Farmiga – Millie Bobby Brown, the story cannot help enhancing the whole investment in monster fighting. Therefore, you might want to answer my question first.

We all know from the title of this movie that this movie wants to prove that Godzilla is the mightiest monster of earth, and he’s gonna beat that Ghidorah down. However, you cannot put aside the story of The Russell Family: Mark (Kyle Chandler), his estranged wife Emma (Vera Farmiga) and their daughter Madison “Maddie” (Millie Bobby Brown). The Russells lost their eldest son in the previous 2014 event where Godzilla fought MUTO in San Francisco, and therefore, they despise Godzilla with their own way. Mark is now a scientist who take wildlife pictures, estranged himself from his wife and his daughter, while Emma and Madison works for Monarch, and invented Orca, the control devices of giant monsters (they called them “The Titans”) that they hid in several hidden captives around the world.

When Emma and Madison witness the birth of giant larva of Mothra, a rogue team led by Alan Jonah (Charles Dance, who also played Lord Tywin Lannister of Game of Thrones), invade the captives and kidnap Emma and Madison to take control of Orca. In order to save Emma and Madison, and also to take back Orca, Monarch’s lead scientists include Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe), Dr. Graham (Sally Hawkins) and Dr. Chen (Zhang Ziyi) recruit Mark, who admits he actually wants Godzilla to be dead in order to avenge his son. Their search for Emma and Madison lead to a surprising fact that Emma actually cooperated with Jonah in order to raise “Monster Zero”, or what Dr. Chen calls “Ghidorah” to promote the balance on earth.

I see Godzilla: King of Monsters as a movie with environmental issues. Emma’s vision of humans infected the world and expectation that “The Titans” could bring back balance to this infected world is a common view nowadays. You might consider it since Thanos brought the issues on Avengers: Infinity War (2018). This issue actually the base why this movie could work, on how we should trust Godzilla and his monster companion like Mothra “The Queen of Monster” to protect the world from destruction caused by humans. However, this issue is kind of lost in the middle of the movie and the movie shifts the directions quickly to show that both Godzilla and Mothra are protectors of the earth from evil monsters like Ghidorah and his sidekick, fire bird Rodan.

On the term of monster movie, Director Dougherty knows how to make his audiences sit still on their seats throughout the movie. The monsters showdowns, monsters fighting and other dramatic scenes are made to keep the thrill and excitement still during the length of the movie. Who would care about family drama of The Russells or the sacrifice of Dr. Serizawa if you got almost two full hours of monsters spectacular showdowns? This is what we have been missing from any Pacific Rim movie, and what makes this King of Monsters are probably the best Godzilla movie ever made.

What made this movie could be better is the way they put us invest a bit on The Russells’ grievances and how they deal with it. Every member of Russell family deal with their grief very differently, and although they sometimes lost the emotional showdowns every time they face any of The Titans, they are the proof that we can sip more of human characters in a movie centered on monsters like this. All of Mr. Chandler, Miss Farmiga and Miss Brown capture our emotional grip on this movie, but their character should be developed a bit more while also increasing the thrill when meet The Titans.

There were times when a movie tried to balance the monsters epic fighting and family drama and failed successfully. The 2014 Godzilla is kind of that movie, and this trick is like a two-headed Ghidorah, they try to eliminate one another. This movie try to balance it, and at some point, it merges beautifully. So finally, it went back to your movie preferences. otherwise, this movie is like Godzilla. It’s magical!

Directed by: Michael Dougherty | Produced by: Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Bryan Rogers, Mary Parents, Alex Garcia | Screenplay by: Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields | Starring: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, Zhang Ziyi, Bradley Whitford | Music by: Bear McCreary | Cinematography: Lawrence Sher | Edited by: Roger Barton, Richard Pearson, Bob Ducsay | Production Company: Legendary | Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures | Official Website

7.7/10