The human characters were kind of broad/standard, but far from being terrible. No worse than the typical summer blockbuster, or kaiju movie in general, with the exceptions of Rick and Sam. I would have happily cut them out of the film and beefed up Dr. Graham's role instead (and spared her, he death was pointless). But I liked the Russell family, Foster and the G-Team and especially Serizawa and Chen (because she and her sister are the Shobijin!). The standard divorced family coming back together but not getting a perfect happy ending was pretty refreshing, as Emma needed to pay for her crimes but I'm glad she got a little redemption. I'd be interested to see how Mark and Madison cope with their feelings in the next film, but I'm not setting my hopes too high: it's still going to be a Summer blockbuster after all. But I overall would like to follow this cast going forward, but it only looks like Ziyi is signed up for the next one along with Brown and Chandler?
As for the REAL stars, the monsters: they were perfect. Each one had a lot of personality, and were clearly developed by people who loved the old movies. This is hands down the best King Ghidorah ever, he finally lives up to his "King of Terror" moniker. I feel like even in his debut film (the only Showa film where he isn't a mind controlled mook), possessed Venus princess was overselling him a bit since he got beaten back by three Earth monsters, one of whom was still a baby. Here, the special effects allow him to really be the apocalyptic nightmare he is meant to be. And I liked how the three heads had distinct personalities, with the left head being the "dumb" one lol.
I feel like Mothra and Rodan were a bit more superfluous to the plot, especially the latter, but I don't care because I think I loved them the most. Rodan's scene was awesome, I kind of wish he teamed up with Godzilla and Mothra against Ghidorah instead of being the latter's minion, but at least he survived to be seen again in the next film. Mothra's scenes were all amazing, in large part due to the reworking of the classic musical scores in the soundtrack. Her emergence from the cocoon was I think my favorite scene, and I like how she was given additional weapons in her arsenal like the silk spray in the adult form and the stinger. Her sacrifice was inevtiable, but so is her return since she left an egg behind. I hope we will see her in the next film and we will see her, Rodan and Godzilla for real.
They continued to double down on Heroic Godzilla, and into the credits we see news reports of him protecting humans by keeping other Titans in line, so it will be interesting to see if he's cast in a more antagonistic role in the next film when he goes up against Kong. The lost undersea kingdom he was slumbering in, along with his role as Earth's protector, does make him seem similar to the Heisei Gamera.
Tywin finding the Ghidorah head at the end is of course setting up some other threat, probably one that will unite Godzilla and Kong. Odds are it's going to be Destroyah. |