Review: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Everybody’s favorite giant, radioactive, atomic fire-breathing lizard is back, and this time he brought a few friends with him.

Godzilla is arguably the most iconic movie monster of all time. Sorry King Kong. His latest outing brings him and a few other iconic creatures to town in gorgeous CGI glory. Godzilla’s last movie in 2014 did well with critics but was slammed by fans for using the title monster sparingly and instead focusing on the human characters. Basically, not enough Godzilla. Film makers apparently heeded these complaints because this new film delivers the exact opposite: Godzilla galore.

It’s obvious all effort was put into the monsters rather than the generic script and plot. To sum it up, humanity is destroying the Earth so Eco-terrorists conspire to release all the gargantuan "Titans" in order to save the planet by restoring things to their natural order. Sound familiar? Well it should since it's the basic plot used in lots of bad movies. The monstrous three-headed dragon, Ghidorah, quickly takes control of the other titans for his own sinister motives and it's up to Godzilla to save the day.

The impressive human cast including Kyle Chandler, Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga and Ken Watanabe does a great job with what they’re given. However, the dialogue is poorly written and a lot of the lines come off as forced and sometimes unintentionally hilarious.

The movie does boast a certain cheesy charm that hearkens back to the classic, terribly English-dubbed, Japanese originals. There's also Easter eggs galore for hardcore fans. I've been a Godzilla fan ever since I was little kid and I can honestly say that I couldn't tell you the plot of any of the old movies. I do remember the monsters, their unique personalities and of course the epic battles. Let’s be honest, if all you want to see is gigantic monsters fighting each other and destroying major cities, you won’t be disappointed.

Godzilla and the other monsters are beautifully rendered in CGI and they are truly majestic to behold. I absolutely recommend seeing this movie at least once in theaters and maybe even IMAX just to experience the full spectacle of these larger than life creatures. The battles are thrilling, surprising and wildly entertaining. The human characters do have a few moments where they shine, but nothing compares to watching Godzilla and Ghidorah square off in the middle of downtown Boston.

FINAL THOUGHTS: King of the Monsters unleashes its cast of kaiju in spectacular fashion with the human characters being entirely forgettable. Come for the monsters. Stay for their epic showdowns. Long live the king.

OVERALL GRADE: B-

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