Taste disappointment in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, if it was hyped in your head a little too much. The insipid drama that it carries and the plot that was already in place were the two primal alarming issues that nibble on it like fish, and the result is not that good.

Walking in with high hopes in my pocket, after witnessing poetry take form in 2014 when Gareth Edwards had gone behind the camera, Godzilla: King of the Monsters ends up being a big let down. Turns out to be a huge disappointment if you were expecting big things from this monsterverse. But if you don’t go with high hopes, you might as well enjoy it.

Ask yourself these questions: What do you expect in a monster movie like Godzilla? Fight? Well, you got it! If you wish to be thrilled without the story, it has many traces of it, yes. But if you wanted Godzilla: King of the Monsters to be a complete package, it doesn’t stand as tall. It carries within its womb one of those cliched stories that you have always seen, almost everywhere in thousands of films. If you wanted it to be different, unfortunately, it doesn’t sell anything that you haven’t seen before.

Things to Watch Out For (Spoilers)

Rodan and Mothra are the two beasts in the movie that deserve all your attention. You need to keep your eyes peeled for them. They pack in plenty of visuals to mesmerize you in whatever limited time they get.

Rodan has the most amazing kills when he runs into some petty human firepower before running into the main antagonist – Ghidorah.

Whilst Mothra elicits amazement from everyone that looks at it, the critter wings in at a time when it is most needed. Mothra draws horns with Rodan and Ghidorah which ends up being a pretty decent fight.

Ghidorah is downright badass! It gives Godzilla a hard time and serves as the one hard to beat force in the entire movie. The movie skims on that popular Japanese storyline where the hero always falls in the beginning before rising to full power in the end to defeat the villain. That being said, cliches don’t fail to unspool on the carpet of the monsterverse.

Issues with Godzilla: King of the Monsters

How do you feel when the writing of one of your favourite monsters ends up only being average? A plot that you see coming and with dozens of loopholes, Godzilla: King of the Monsters feels like a bland creation that people tried too hard to aggrandize.

Godzilla seems to have suddenly dropped its guard in terms of filmmaking and I blame its direction for that. Michael Dougherty, the Trick ‘r Treat director wasn’t a wise choice, to begin with, and so he proves as he focuses on a story that was already riddled with dispensable drama.

Primarily because half of the things in Godzilla: King of the Monsters end up being pointless. They seem either daft or so obvious that as a viewer you always end up seeing a workaround for an act which the writers or the director seem to be overlooking.

There are not one but many instances where the movie keeps swimming with its flaws wide open. But there are insinuations aplenty, where it tries to tell you where it is headed. A couple of references about Skull Island implies the final battle is imminent. That’s one positive thing to look up to.

Wasted Talents

Wasting talents from the likes of Vera Farmiga and Kyle Chandler, the movie tries to bite on some emotional human melodrama which doesn’t quite fit the bill. The direction, even though tries really hard to walk on the same lines as its predecessor, fails big time to create the same level of intensity and gravitas.

Anyone could have played the part of Madison Russell, for which Millie Bobby Brown was chosen. Her character wasn’t written properly at all. She was just there to bridge a gap between her parents, and probably to once do something heroic. As a plot, it doesn’t surprise you. You see everything coming.

Creating Kyle Chandler’s character Mark Russell as the hero feels like a waste when he keeps acting too ballsy at junctures where he shouldn’t have. And when he was supposed to be the hero, Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) volunteers. Mark could have at least said something but no, he decides to not open his mouth and let Serizawa go on to die.

Gore, Action and Visuals

There is no real terror in the eyes of people who are encountering these behemoths for the first time. They are running into them as they please as if they are pretty sure they wouldn’t get hurt even if they get too close.

Gore is absent that makes you wonder about the casualties of how it doesn’t affect you or thrill you. You don’t feel sorry for dying people because well they are just people without any backstory attached to them. Life doesn’t feel very important in that respect.

In terms of visuals the flick scores high. However, there are instances where you literally have to squint to watch the monsters get ready for a fight-off. There is a lot of blue, and there is a lot of dark, that don’t bedeck the visuals of the movie but end up making it look average.

There was so much one could have done with the action of the movie. Such monster movies should carry something out of the ordinary to blow people away. Godzilla: King of the Monsters doesn’t. Only the final action bits of the movie are worth cherishing for. There are not many “did-you-see-that” moments in the movie that take away all the delight from its action.

You can order Godzilla: King of the Monsters from here:

The Final Verdict

Now what peeves me more is that even as we reach the climax of this monsterverse, we don’t have a solid director to blow our minds away. Adam Wingard sits in the finality of it all like a boss, and that’s what bothers me.

Even though the Godzilla movie had plenty of flaws, it cannot be considered a bad movie. You can call it an average one, for its filmmaking style which tries its very best to hold everything taut. Yes, this movie isn’t a lost cause for it is deliberately pushed toward an upcoming feast in the form of Kong vs Godzilla.

Don’t blink just yet!

Check out the trailer of Godzilla: King of the Monsters here: