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| Godzilla and King Gidhora |
“Hail
to the King”
A Review of Godzilla: King of the Monsters by Nick
Olszyk
MPAA Rating, PG-13
USCCB Rating, A-III
Reel Rating, Three Reels
Disclaimer: The following review contains a
few spoilers, although anyone with even a passing knowledge of series should
not be surprised.
My
family did not own a television until I was eight, but my dad would
occasionally rent one as a special treat for a weekend. We would also borrow an
old VCR and scour the cheap rack at Cub Foods for 99¢ VHS tapes (yes, grocery
stores rented movies in the early 90s). A mutual favorite of ours was old
school Godzilla films from Toho, and I had seen nearly all twenty-two before I
entered middle school (there are thirty-three now). Thus, even before I saw Godzilla: King of the Monsters, there
was zero chance I would write a poor review. On the subject of the King, I am
unapologetically biased. Objectively, it is a decent action flick that is
competently made. I doubt it will win any converts to the cause, but for the
faithful it was everything we wanted.
Five
years after their son was killed as a result of Godzilla’s first epic battle in
San Francisco, the Russel family is still struggling. The mother Emma (Vera
Farmiga) and her daughter Madison (Millie Brown) responded by joining Monarch, the
underground research team dedicated to understanding Godzilla and his kaiju
comrades. The father Mark (Lyle Chandler) turned to alcohol and self-loathing.
At the beginning of the narrative, Emma has perfected the Orca, a device that
projects a sonar-like noise that influences the beasts in any way the plot
requires. When Emma and Madison are kidnapped by eco-terrorists who want to
free as many monsters as possible, Mark teams up with Monarch to rescue them
and, hopefully, save the world. Things get much more confusing from here, but
that not the point. What matters is gargantuan creatures tearing up the screen
while humans provide exposition. On that front, the movie succeeds wildly.
Fantasy
and science fiction are the last bastion of apocalyptic literature in a culture
the increasingly eschews the idea that symbols have objective meaning. As
Godzilla wrestled a three headed dragon, I was reminded of the Leviathan and
Behemoth of St. John’s vision and St. Paul’s “cloud of witnesses” watching
humanity. Mankind finds fantasy thrilling because it is the closest our
imagination can come to the spiritual forces that battle on our behalf every day.
In truth, we are small – like the puny humans running for cover – and need a
guardian like Godzilla against demonic powers. We need divine helpers like
Aslan who are “good but not safe.” They love us, but that love means violence
against the Devil. While religion is never explicitly mentioned, spiritual
imagery abounds in King of Monsters.
Characters pray, theodicies are explored, and the hubris of man is rejected.
There are no atheists in the foxholes, and no agnostics in the imagination.
While
Godzilla movies are fun, they are ultimately fodder for speculation on the
human condition. The 1954 original was a sober meditation not just on nuclear proliferation
but the consequences of Japanese imperialism. Owen Glieberman of Entertainment Weekly explained this well
in his review of the 2004 re-release:
“The characters
talk about [Godzilla] not as an enemy but a force of destiny, a ‘god.’ The
inescapable subtext is that Japan, in some bizarre way, deserves this hell.
Godzilla is pop culture’s greatest symbol of nuclear apocalypse, but he is also
the primordial spirit of Japanese aggression turned, with something like fate,
against itself.”
Probably the most famous analysis
of the King came from the 70s rock band Blue Oyster Cult, who, in their adeptly
titled song “Godzilla,” nicely summed up the franchise’s basic message:
History shows again and again
How nature points out the folly of man
Godzilla!
In King of the
Monsters, the villains take these lyrics as marching orders, releasing the
titans to rid the Earth of its human “infestation.” They believe humans have
polluted the Earth long enough and now the monsters will “restore the balance.”
Their arguments are eerily similar to many contemporaries including a new Seattle
law that legalizes the composting of people in lawn mulch. The film
strongly disagrees with them, yet, like many blockbusters,
it’s not sure why humans have this inherent value.
The 2014
reboot of Godzilla catered more to
new audiences who were unfamiliar with the series sixty year history. I was
fine with the that and enjoyed
the film immensely. This movie, however, gives far greater time and energy
to fan appreciation, although it is still approachable to newbs. In fact, it
probably tried too hard, cramming in so many references that even I, a Godzilla
expert, discovered that I had missed a few on first viewing. Besides the
obvious big three (Gidorah, Mothra, and Rodan), there’s Monster Zero, the
Oxygen Destroyer, Atlantis, the Shobijin, weird McGuffin technology, a wise
Japanese elder who sacrifices himself, a missing kaiju head, and even a passing
reference to space aliens that will doubt play a major part in future movies.
I’d better stop there before I get too excited. I loved Godzilla in 1992, and I
love him in 2019. True love can’t really be explained, just experienced, and
this was an experience I hope to have again and again. Long live the King!
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