GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS | Movie Review (Revised)

 

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS
May 31, 2019

An eco-terrorist group kidnaps a Monarch scientist who has invented a device that sends out frequencies capable of calling out to and calming down the newly discovered monsters, now dubbed 'Titans'. They use it to awaken one of the more deadlier Titans dubbed 'Monster Zero' later named Ghidorah. This gets the attention of Godzilla who immediately takes a dislike to him as well as other Titans around the world including Mothra and Rodan. It becomes a race against time for Monarch to figure out how to defeat Ghidorah and save the planet from annihilation.

Originally, Gareth Edwards was expected to direct a whole trilogy of Godzilla films but certain unexpected happenings forced these plans to be altered significantly. Edwards became busy working on 'Rouge One: A Star Wars Story' and chose to not return for the sequel. Then Legendary pictures obtained the rights to other monsters and chose to work on a film that would bring them together.

Stepping in to direct the follow up to the 2014 film was Michael Dougherty, who previously directed horror films Trick R Treat and Krampus. Not only did he already have experience with monsters but in the years leading up to the release of King of the Monsters, he made it clear that he was a die-hard Godzilla fan. Our boy was in good hands, but did it come together in the end?

The answer is yes. Oh. my. God. Zilla! This movie absolutely delivers the goods in terms what you'd expect from a Godzilla movie.

Before this, I had only ever seen a handful of Godzilla movies in theaters. Mostly solo ventures like the original 1954 film and Shin Godzilla, 2014 comes out and I finally get to see the Big G fighting other monsters on a big screen. But as much as it wet my appetite, it still left me and many more fans wanting, wanting more fights and the inclusion of classic monsters. King of the Monsters granted our wishes.

Finally getting to see Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah on the big screen was such a delight. Their redesigns are all great, their personalities are on point and I found the scenes with them and every other monster simply breathtaking.

The fighting in this movie retains most of the same POV style shots from the previous film while adding even more dynamic shots of the monsters in action. Much of the time, our human characters are caught right in the middle of the fights and it raises both the tension of not only which monster, but which humans will survive the chaos. And no, I don't care if it's in the dark or the rain, I just love seeing monsters fight, no matter the environment. Seeing Godzilla and Ghidorah fight is always amazing, but what was even more surprising was seeing Mothra and Rodan engage in battle with each other, something that has never been seen before.
I could see the fights just fine, way better than the first Blu-ray release of Godzilla 2014.

True Godzilla fans will be sure to spot every little easter egg sprinkled throughout the film. Especially the outpost numbers, names of weapons and a certain message on a protest sign. 

I'm sure this has been said a million times already, but I FREAKIN' LOVE the soundtrack for this film. I have to be honest, I was not begging for some of the original Ifukube scores to be used for this movie like most fans were. I was perfectly fine with the music from the last movie, but Bear McCreary's music has the same epic, primal feel from the last movie, cranks it up to 11 and adds some awesome renditions of Godzilla and Mothra's themes. Much of the original music is great as well, especially the themes for Rodan and Ghidorah. They even threw in a new version of the Blue Oyster Cult song.

Now the time was come to talk about the most criticized part of this movie, the human characters. 

For what they are worth, I think the human characters are all good. Millie Bobby Brown does great in her first film role, Ken Watanabe gives a masterful performance as always and the rest of the characters all act in ways that I feel would be realistic in this film's universe.

I also loved that they included a brief appearance from Houston Brooks from Kong: Skull Island.

As long as monster movies exist, there need to be humans in them to explain the plot and move the story forward. Sure a few of them say a few bad jokes, but that doesn't bring down the quality of the film for me. Even if the characters are 2 dimensional, I still can't bring myself to hate them. But sadly, it looks like most people do. The majority of reviews I've seen for King of the Monsters seems to have affected the box office performance of the film, putting the future of the MonsterVerse into uncertainty after 'Godzilla vs. Kong.' 

However, I do not wish to judge the opinions of other reviewers and fans thoughts on this particular part of the film, I'm just here to give my thoughts on the matter.

I do however wish to bring up one comment made by someone I know. They said that they wanted to go watch 'Shin Godzilla' again because that movie actually meant something. That got me thinking, does King of the Monsters have any meaning other than watching giant monsters beating the crap out of each other?

Godzilla 1954 was metaphor for nuclear destruction, Shin Godzilla was a commentary on the response to a natural disaster by the government and even Godzilla 2014 was about citizens and military officials reacting to a disaster.

But what about King of the Monsters?

Let's look at the story. The monsters from the start have been used as metaphors for natures wrath or weapons of mass destruction. Emma Russell using the Orca device to, more or less, control the Titans can be likened to such weapons falling into the wrong hands.

Think about what would happen if all nations just decided to attack each other with their biggest, most powerful weapons. The planet would be completely devastated and most of humanity would cease to exist, but eventually, the planet would move on and begin anew. Replace those weapons with the Titans and that's more or less what happens in this movie. But that's just my view on the subject.

Something can also be said for it's message of faith and spirituality. If you want to know more about that, I highly recommend THIS VIDEO ESSAY from Up From The Depths.

Bottom line, this movie is a love letter to all Godzilla fans, I can count multiple times where I was smiling like a kid during it. It's got the dynamic violence, savage action and spectacular thrills I hoped it would. I saw the movie 3 times in theaters, countless times on Blu-ray and it has not gotten old yet.

Michael Dougherty is clearly a huge fan of the series and the amount of effort and care he put into King of the Monsters shows in abundance. If you are a big Godzilla fan, ignore the professional reviews and give King of the Monsters your time. I promise you will not regret it. See it on the biggest screen you can and be sure to stay till the end of the credits.

If I had anything else to say, it'd probably be: Good luck, Kong. You'll need it...

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 

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KONG: SKULL ISLAND | Movie Review (Revised)

KONG: SKULL ISLAND

March 10, 2017

An expedition to the uncharted, newly discovered Skull Island is interrupted by the presence of the island's ancient guardian, an enormous ape-like creature named Kong. As the survivors motives differ from escape to revenge, they must contend with the many, many dangers of the island.

It's been quite a journey since the release of Gareth Edwards' Godzilla reboot in 2014. In addition to making a sequel, Legendary Pictures had another brilliant idea: have Godzilla fight King Kong again. But first, give Kong his own movie to be included in a series of films now dubbed the "MonsterVerse".

I don't think every modern film series should attempt to be the next Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I'm all for the MonsterVerse. Giant monsters have been crossing over into each other's movies since the 60's. If anyone could pull it off just as well, I believe Legendary Pictures is capable of it. 

For Kong's 8th cinematic outing, Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts decided not to repeat the usual Beauty and the Beast story from past films. After Peter Jackson's masterfully done remake, there really is no point in doing so. He instead pitched the idea of setting his film in the post-Vietnam War era. After a well done opening credits sequence, you are instantly transported to that era. Everything from the sets, the costumes and the songs that play throughout the film feel very authentic. Even when you get to Skull Island, you're never free of that vibe.

The cinematography of this film is nothing short of beautiful, nearly every shot feels like a painting you could hang on your wall. Much of the filming took place in Vietnam and it gives this version of Skull Island a more exotic, mysterious and threatening feel than past iterations. 

Also, Jordan Vogt-Roberts loves anime and video games so this movie contains a ton of references to a number of them. Some are obvious and some are a bit more subtle, so keep an eye out

Another area this movie does well in is the human cast, who are all played by solid actors like Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson and John Goodman.

Larson plays a photojournalist reminiscent of the archetypal reporter characters from earlier monster movies. Personally, I wish we could see more journalists in modern monster films. 

But John C. Reilly is the one who completely steals the show.

I'd most seen Reilly in comedy roles, and I was a bit worried his comedic talent would overpower the film. But he manages to shift the tone from funny to dramatic surprisingly well. 

I even loved the minor soldier characters. Usually the army guys in movies like this are just there to be generic army guys, but some of these guys have great personalities and endearing moments that you'll probably want to see them live through this. The only characters I felt were a bit sidelined were the 2 Monarch scientists played by Corey Hawkins and Jing Tian.

Now for the big guy himself. Skull Island is the second film in which Kong is brought to life through Motion Capture CGI preformed by both Terry Notary and Toby Kebbell. Notary has had plenty of experience as a stunt performer and animal movement coach on several films, including the Planet of the Apes reboot series in which he plays the Chimpanzee 'Rocket'. Toby Kebbell, who also plays the character Chapman in the movie, provides the facial references for Kong AND he played 'Koba' in the Planet of the Apes reboot series. Talk about playing to your strengths.

Both actors excel at giving Kong an incredibly demanding presence. The moment you first see him, you know he is a GOD. But Kong also has his fair share of sympathetic moments that show he's not just a mindless monster, but an actual character. 

The CGI for Kong and the creatures of Skull Island are great. While this Skull Island may not have Dinosaurs (or rather, used to), it does have it's own unique set of creatures. In fact, the main predators of the island are inspired by a creature from the original King Kong that only appeared briefly. The Skull Crawlers are wickedly cool and seeing Kong fight these things are the highlights of the film. There's no jaw breaking here or kisses of death like in Godzilla 2014, but there is a finishing move that is just as awesome.

Speaking of which, I know it's inevitable that people are going to compare this movie to Godzilla 2014, and I will admit this movie is a bit more exciting and Kong has more screen time than Godzilla did in his movie. But if you were to compare the past Kong movies to the past Godzilla films, that's kind of been the norm since day one. Most Kong films have always been exciting, adventure films, while Godzilla's (The original and everything pre-1960's and past 1975 at least) are more serious, disaster-drama films with cool monster fights in them.

I went into Kong: Skull Island expecting a fun adventure movie and an awesome reinvention of Kong and I got that and more in spades! I really don't have anything bad to say about the movie, it is a fantastic Kong movie, a great monster movie and a fun time at the movies overall.
You wanna know how good this movie is? My Mom enjoyed it and she doesn't care for monster movies! Unless it has Dwayne Johnson in it, but that's beside the point.
 It is definitely an amazing inclusion to Legendary Picture's MonsterVerse. And be sure to stay after the credits for a very special surprise!

A surprise I wish wasn't ruined by copyright information. 

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 

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SH MONSTERARTS BIOLLANTE (SPECIAL COLOR VERSION) | Figure Review

Out of all the SH MonsterArts figures that have come out so far, I feel that none has reached a more legendary status than Biollante. Originally released in late 2013 with an MSRP of $229.99, it became a huge hit and a personal goal of SHMA collectors. 
Like all expensive collectable items, the price went up far more than any sane person should pay. We're talking $400-$1,000 ranges. Needless to say, after King Ghidorah, Destoroyah and Kiryu, Biollante was next on my "Please Bandai, do a rerelease!" list.
And thank Godzilla they did!

When you open the box, you'll immediately notice this figure requires a bit of maintenance. Instructions are included to show how to attach Biollante's massive tendrils to her base. Attach them as indicated and you've got yourself an indestructible super plant with an incredible presence. 

I do not think I'm over selling it when I say that this figure looks AMAZING! The lush, plant like body of Biollante is sculpted very nicely. Now in the movie, Biollante is made by combining plant cells with Godzilla scales and looking at Biollante's neck, I think this was the first time I noticed Godzilla-like skin (and on the head)

I especially noticed those details on Biollante's head. It's pretty much a more crocodilian version of Godzilla, with some tusks added. Head detail is great, the outer row of teeth look very nice, but the part of this figure I think I'm impressed came out looking as good as it did, was the inside of the mouth. Sure maybe the teeth could have been a little bigger but I do not envy the job the sculptor had with them already. All the teeth are also painted well.

Running down her back are a series of really cool bush-like dorsal fins

One important thing to note is that this figure is adorned with several thorns on it. They may not be as sharp as a rose, but despite being made of a soft rubber material, they can hurt if you're not careful handling Biollante.

What really adds to this figure's already impressive shelf presence are Biollante's tendrils. We have 4 big ones, there were more in the movie but adding more may have been overkill. Also, there's a chance that more tendrils would jack up the already HUGE price tag this figure has. 

The first thing I thought about when looking at the tendril's was a rose stem, with some small thorns and some small overlapping vines. 
Each tendril has a small venus flytrap head on the end which look great. They may be small but the detail and paint are very nice. The heads do have tongues, but they are sculpted into the jaw. If there's any SHMA figure that could've benefited from having an articulated tongue, I think it would be this one. I feel like that would give them a lot more character. But alas, the way the mouth was engineered wouldn't allow it. 

As with most re-releases, this SH MonsterArts Biollante figure is the Special Color Version. 

Obviously, I've never owned the original Biollante figure so I can only go off of pictures comparing the two figures.
From what I can tell, the paint on the Special Color Version is a mixture of brighter and darker green on the body. There's also some brown shading to give it a more earthly look, especially at the base of the figure. Looking at both side by side, I think I prefer the Special Color Verison. 
The colors also closely resembles her game model from the PlayStation 4 Godzilla game.

One notable feature of Biollante is her large orange sac in her belly. It's detail is pretty good and resembles a brain.  

This sac is made of translucent plastic which ties into a major feature of this figure.

You'll notice there is a switch on the bottom of the figure which lights up the sac. push the switch to the right position (one dot) for an orange light, the right position (two dots) for a more reddish light and back to center to turn it off.
Luckily batteries are included.

Despite being a mostly stationary lady, Biollante still has some impressive articulation. 

Biollante's head can look up/down and can move side to side a little bit. Her mouth can open super wide, if you use a little bit of force it can open a bit more. Don't force it too hard though!
The neck is made up of 4 segments which allow for even more up/down and left/right movement.

Also, the drosal fins are a whole piece attached to the back which can move up and down, allowing for even more possibility for the neck.

In order to keep continuity with figures pose, this piece of her chest that can move up and down and blend into Biollante's neck. 

The real fun part about this figure is messing around with the tendrils.
Starting at the bottom of the figure we get some forward/backward movement. 
Each tendril has a large number of segments attached to ball joints which lets them move pretty freely, so you can get very creative with Biollante's posabillity. 
And the mouths on the ends can open and close. Don't be afraid if any parts pop off, they can be easily reattached to their ball joints.

Unfortunately, no accessories to go with this nearly $300 figure. 

From what I've seen, there is supposed to be a new SHMA 1989 Godzilla figure that's basically the Kou Kyou Kyoku figure, but more in scale with a regular SHMA Godzilla figure and without the lights and sound, to act as a companion piece to the Biollante figure.
I might pick it up, we'll see.

This Biollante is figure is just a phenomenal piece that any collector should have. I cannot stress enough how imperative it is to snatch these things while they're available but of course I sympathize with those who are hesitant to purchase it given it's price, especially since this is now the most expensive figure, surpassing the original Biollante figure.

That being said, I still give this a high recommendation even with it's high price tag and I bought 2 of these things! (One for myself and the other was a Christmas present for my buddy Kaiju Kidd that me and my other friends pitched in for.)

Save up and keep an eye out for any sales or deals that may come up is the best advice I can give.

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and thank you for joining me here in my lair.

So long...

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, be sure to give my Facebook page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. 

Thanks for reading!

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