Godzilla: King of the Monsters Review

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Release Date: 30th May 2019 - Australia

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures

Legendary Entertainment

Toho Company (based on)

(in association with)

Huahua Media (in association with)

Wanna Qingdao Studios

Distribution

Roadshow Films

Genre: Sci-Fi

Rating: M

Runtime: 132 minutes

Budget: $200,000,000

Box Office Gross: $386,600,138 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

Earth is changed forever by a mass extinction created by humans. The world is on the edge of its destruction when it experiences earthquakes, explosions and other natural disasters. Scientists believe the creatures called the Titans (hidden for many years) would restore the Earth to its balance. Now, it is time to find them all, and the fate of the entire world and humanity depends on them.

Cast

Kyle Chandler - Mark Russell

Vera Farmiga - Dr. Emma
Russell

Millie Bobby Brown - Madison
Russell

Ken Watanabe - Dr. Ishiro
Serizawa

Ziyi Zhang - Dr. Ilene Chen/
Dr. Ling

Bradley Whitford - Dr. Rick
Stanton

Sally Hawkins - Dr. Vivienne
Graham

Charles Dance - Alan Jonah

Thomas Middleditch - Sam
Coleman

Alisha Hinds - Colonel Diane
Foster

O’Shea Jackson Jr. - Chief
Warrant Officer Barnes

David Strathairn - Admiral
William Stenz

Anthony Ramos - Staff
Sergeant Martinez

Elizabeth Faith Ludlow - First
Lieutenant Griffin

Jonathan Howard - Asner Jonah

CCH Pounder - Senator Williams

Joe Morton - Dr. Houston Brooks

Randy Havens - Dr. Tim Mancini

Lyle Brocato - Executive
Officer Bowman

Jimmy Gonzales - Commander
Crane

T.C. Matherne - Master
Sergeant Hendricks

Kenneth Israel - Argo Deck Officer Zellner

Skylar Denney - Argo Officer Arvin

Kelli Garner - Argo Officer Cross

Tyler Crumley - Young Andrew

Lexi Rabe - Young Madison Russell

Zac Zedalis - Sergeant Travis

Tracie Garrison - Asaj

Natalie Shaheen - Lieutenant Bottin

Jesse O’Neill - Corporal Winston

Joshua Leary - Sergeant Baker

Vince Foster - G-Team Officer Tippett

Shauna Rappold - G-Team Officer Harryhausen

Michael Dougherty - Fighter Pilot (Cameo)

(Uncredited)

Seth Green - Fighter Pilot (Cameo)

(Uncredited)

Zach Shields - Fighter Pilot (Cameo)

(Uncredited)

Crew

Story/Screenplay/Director - Michael Dougherty

Story/Screenplay/Executive Producer -

Zach Shields

Story - Max Borenstein

Executive Producers - Hiro Matsuoka,

Keiji Ota, Yoshimitsu Banno, Roy Lee,
Dan Lin and Kenji Okuhira

Executive Producer/Unit Production Manager -

Barry H. Waldman

Producers - Alex Garcia, Jon Jashni,
Mary Parent, Brian Rogers and Thomas Tull

Co-Producer/First Assistant Director -
Cliff Lanning

Co-Producers - Ali Mendes and

Jay Ashenfelter

Co-Producer/Visual Effects Producer -
Maricel Pagulayen

Co-Producer/Visual Development Supervisor -

Matt Allsopp

Casting Director - Sarah Finn

Production Designer - Scott Chambliss

Concept Artists - Tim Flattery, George Hull,

Craig Sellars, Christopher Lee Shy and

Milena Zdravkovic

Conceptual Creature Design: Amalgamated

Dynamics, Inc. - Tom Woodruff Jr.,

Tim Martin and Mauricio Ruiz

Conceptual Creature Design: Legacy Effects -

Glen Hanz and Darnell Isom

Supervising Art Director - Richard L. Johnson

Art Directors - John Dexter, Natasha Gerasimova,
Harry E. Otto, David Scott and Thomas Valentine

Set Decorator - Amanda Moss Serino

Costume Designer - Louise Mingenbach

Makeup Department Head - Joel Harlow

Director of Photography - Lawrence Sher

Director of Photography: Second Unit -

Paul Hughen

"B" Camera/Steadicam Operator: Second Unit -

Bob Gorelick

First Assistant Director: Second Unit -

Marvin Williams

Supervising Location Manager - Janice Polley

Second Unit Director/Stunt Coordinator -
Thomas Robinson Harper

Stunt Coordinator - Todd Warren

Godzilla Performance Capture - T.J. Storm

King Ghidorah Performance Capture -

Jason Liles, Alan Maxson and Richard Dorton

Special Effects Supervisor - Eric Frazier

Special Effects Coordinator: Second Unit -

Eric Allard

Visual Effects Supervisor - Guillaume Rocheron

Visual Effects Supervisor: MPC - Robert Winter

Visual Effects Supervisor: Method Studios -
Daryl Sawchuk

Visual Effects Supervisor: DNEG - Brian Connor

Visual Effects Supervisor: Rodeo FX - Peter Nofz

Senior Animation Supervisor: MPC - Spencer Cook

Animation Supervisors: MPC - Sean Conly,

Patrick Heumann and Randy Link

Previsualisation Supervisor - Rpin Suwannath

Technical Supervisor: The Third Floor -

Casey Schatz

Film Editors - Roger Barton, Bob Ducsay and
Richard Pearson

Additional Editors - Michael P. Shawver,

Josh Schaeffer and Robert Malina

Sound Designers - Erik Aadahl and

Ethan Van der Ryan

Sound Designers: E2 - Brandon Jones

and Tim Walston

Co-Supervising Sound Editors: E2 -

Jason W. Jennings and Nancy Nugent

Production Sound Mixer - Whit Norris

Re-Recording Mixers - Tim LeBlanc

and Tom Ozanich

Additional Mixers - Michael Keller

and John T. Reitz

Composer: Original Godzilla Themes -

Akira Ifukube

Music - Bear McCreary

Music Supervisors - Peter Afterman

and Margaret Yen

Review

Viewers from any generation should know Godzilla because it came out in 1954 in black-and-white glory. Nowadays, our favourite giant lizard is in three remakes from 1998 (click here), 2014 (here) and 2016. The latest episode is GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, the sequel to the 2014 version by Gareth Edwards. Unlike its predecessor, KING OF THE MONSTERS shows more scenes of the title character and the monster battle sequences. There are also cutting-edge visual effects that keep the Kaiju fans enthralled. The 2019 iteration draws upon the 1964 version of Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster, which might appeal to fans. In this film, alongside Godzilla are his other long-time associates from the Toho originals like Rodin, the pterosaur and Mothra, the giant moth.

Unfortunately, KING OF THE MONSTERS is flawed because of the undeveloped human characters and the predictable storyline. There's no excuse for the poor writing, even in a film that is essentially science-fiction fantasy and relies heavily on special effects. It's not strictly the kind of movie that you would expect.

The human cast, with a few familiar faces, is exceptionally well-chosen for this movie. Add in actors like Kyle Chandler as the father who has socially withdrawn from his family after his son's death. Vera Farmiga portrays a scientist mother with a radical side in her character, and Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things is their surviving offspring. Charles Dance of Game of Thrones seems immorally capable of handling the role of the terrorist. Ken Watanabe seemed legit to reprise his role from its predecessor.

KING OF THE MONSTERS should have been an atomic-charged film to keep us entertained with monsters battling against each other while wreaking havoc. Instead, it was an intriguing but decent film sidelined by a few uninteresting aspects. What could have done something for the whole feature is to make the human characters less distracting and for the storyline to shift the focus to the monsters.

Star rating: (6/10) Fair Movie

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