Godzilla versus Kong

[McAvoy]

It's been out for about a week now. How did you guys like it?

I think if you shut down your brain, this is a good movie.

In no order, the hover cars. I think that's a bit too far. At least with the Godzilla 2014 movie they tried to do with existing weapons that we actually have.

Mecha Godzilla through the skull. Wondering why it shouldn't be the brain. Why the skull?

Mecha Godzilla being so powerful. We can barely make robots walk like dogs. There is work being done on larger ones. But the one thing is that is known, is giant robots like Gundams or Jaegers aside from being humanoid, are way way out of our realm of mechanical engineering.

Millie Bobby Brown story arc is useless except for a way to get the bad guy to show Mecha Godzilla.

Speaking of the bad guy. Is he the bad guy here? He is trying to create a suitable defense against Titans.

Godzilla and Kong supposedly weight about the same as an aircraft carrier. No way in hell can any ship in that ocean fight will support their weight. They would crumple like cardboard.

In the end, it is a battle between big lizard and big ape.

[Beelzquill]

I liked it, though it is really stupid. Truth be told the laws of physics have never really been allowed in Godzilla movies, square cube law and all that. The big disappointment for me is that apparently the Japanese guy who fried his brain trying to pilot Mechagodzilla was Serizawa's son. I mean, why? He is such a wasted opportunity of a character, it's like Brian Cranston in the 2014 movie all over again! The bad guy is Ghidorah again I think, also, that Business Villain really shouldn't be assembling their anti kaiju weapon in large population centers like Hong Kong. The kid and the conspiracy podcast guy were there just for exposition and comic relief. I like the guys going with Kong though

the fights were balla though, and that's 90 percent what I wanted from this movie so it works for me.

[McAvoy]

Bad Business Guy like I said if you really think about it, has the right idea. If you can for example create your own Titan that can take down the likes of Godzilla then it's not a bad idea. Think about it, conventional weapons don't work and you are basically a slave to the Titan's whims.

Still wondering what the hell Mecha Godzilla is made of anyway.
Gotta iron out the giant lizard machine going rogue though.

Speaking of which, they don't really address the giant skull afterwards. It's still there.

Also they could definitely just make mobile large tanks or something to recreate Mecha Godzilla's energy beam.

I do wonder about Godzilla's attack in the beginning. Were they testing something? Or did they attract Godzilla as a way to garner support for a anti Godzilla weapon once it goes public?

[Beastro]

My niece wanted to watch it and liked it.

I found it light on themes (Only paying slight attention to the "mankind seeking transcendence" theme of these Godzilla films) and totally devoid of things like character development, even when it came to the two titular characters.

The big disappointment for me is that apparently the Japanese guy who fried his brain trying to pilot Mechagodzilla was Serizawa's son. I mean, why? He is such a wasted opportunity of a character, it's like Brian Cranston in the 2014 movie all over again!

Same with the evil chick being business guy's daughter, when she just escorts the team and then dies. She could have been anyone. Like I said, zero character development.

It's pretty bad when a typical Roland Emmerich film has better film design than your movie.

also, that Business Villain really shouldn't be assembling their anti kaiju weapon in large population centers like Hong Kong. The kid and the conspiracy podcast guy were there just for exposition and comic relief. I like the guys going with Kong though

the fights were balla though, and that's 90 percent what I wanted from this movie so it works for me.

You already answered your own question there.

For me, the annoying thing was that the film didn't seek to express the sheer loss of life taking place. I mean, a nuclear aircraft carrier goes straight down in a fight; that's 6000 people going to the bottom of the ocean instantly.

I know that's to keep the rating down, but it misses an opportunity to express the theme of us being ants around these primordial gods while also providing a good argument for the bad guy, even if the attacks are provoked; Godzilla being capable of doing just this is a good reason to be suspicious, which then ties into out modern problems of trust and control.

I've kind of thought the same thing should be done with the Transformers where the Autobots don't initially fight with and protect humans, but look on them indifferently as just local fauna on Earth as they fight the Decepticons little better than we see wildlife caught up in war. It's only gradually that they come to appreciate that something is different with us and that they should be protect us rather than their entire focus being around their age old single minded waging of war.

That could provide some interesting development for the Autobots where they're not just default noble good guys to begin with.

In the end the movie felt rushed to me and multiple movies crammed into one. The journey into Earth should have been a movie unto itself with everything building up. Instead, we have Hong Kong being right over the spot where Kong finds the plot device and drills a hole all the way down to allow for a quick transfer of the expedition back up to the surface with a minimum of fuss.

There's turning off your brain to enjoy something fun and then there's just outright writer laziness that smacks you out of that extreme suspension of disbelief. Sadly, it feels like what people oddly praise action-adventure movies for being, a "thrill ride" where it's just a lot of forward movement with no actual movie there.

Think about it, conventional weapons don't work and you are basically a slave to the Titan's whims.

Such movies are a modern expression of people's sentiments around deities and a fundamental distrust modern people have of them which stems from their desire for transcendence. I mean, they're called freaking Titans for a reason.

It is interesting, however, that this desire is still criticized as hubris rather than applauded (though like I said, they could have given their antagonists better arguments, as you reason as well). It is similar to the theme of Superhero stories that only Superheroes can rightfully take the place on the hierarchy above common men, which common men have no place assuming save those who prove themselves extraordinary to cease to be common men. The truly common in their hubris who try to assume a position by force are punished for challenging the order of things.

[McAvoy]

About the aircraft carrier scene. If planes are launching off of a carrier you will see hundreds of people on the flight deck. Obviously they didn't show that probably for a couple of reasons, budget reasons to make that many CGI sailors, and most obviously not to think about the men and women that were killed.

This is after where Godzilla destroyed a couple of destroyers with his tail too. I can easily imagine the horror of those sailors being trapped on front half of the ship being dragged underwater.

[Beastro]

About the aircraft carrier scene. If planes are launching off of a carrier you will see hundreds of people on the flight deck. Obviously they didn't show that probably for a couple of reasons, budget reasons to make that many CGI sailors, and most obviously not to think about the men and women that were killed.

This is after where Godzilla destroyed a couple of destroyers with his tail too. I can easily imagine the horror of those sailors being trapped on front half of the ship being dragged underwater.

That sort of horror is what is needed, and IMO, is essential to this genre. The whole terror of the original Godzilla film was the realization that he was trampling people en mass and the implications of that.

This felt more like kids playing with their toys make believing furniture and other things in their living room were a city.

[McAvoy]

About the aircraft carrier scene. If planes are launching off of a carrier you will see hundreds of people on the flight deck. Obviously they didn't show that probably for a couple of reasons, budget reasons to make that many CGI sailors, and most obviously not to think about the men and women that were killed.

This is after where Godzilla destroyed a couple of destroyers with his tail too. I can easily imagine the horror of those sailors being trapped on front half of the ship being dragged underwater.

That sort of horror is what is needed, and IMO, is essential to this genre. The whole terror of the original Godzilla film was the realization that he was trampling people en mass and the implications of that.

This felt more like kids playing with their toys make believing furniture and other things in their living room were a city.

Well let's be honest this is just a really pretty and high end version of the Toho Godzilla movies that came after the original. Whether it's the 60's or 90's versions.

The original was a force of nature that nothing the humans could do. And in a way the 2014 version kinda showed it too, though to lesser extent.

But yeah, this is basically a movie a kids imagination made. Big monsters fighting each other. Humans are barely a thought.

Then again in the last movie, Godzilla and Three Headed Dragon Dude did completely level Boston. I mean it looked like a nuke went off in the aftermath. That alone should have killed hundreds of thousands if not millions.

Something like that would make humans very very wary of the Titans.

[Beelzquill]

I think the "team Godzilla" parts should have been about Monarch storming the Apex building after the daughter figures it out or something, that would be a bit more believable a way to weaken MechaGodzilla instead of random Kiwi kid from Deadpool 2 pouring whiskey on the circuits. Though I did like that they didn't do the cliche kid who can somehow hack encrypted megacorporation computers scene.

[Beastro]

Something like that would make humans very very wary of the Titans.

That's the thing.

If the death toll of each of Godzilla's acts of protection is larger than some wars, people can rightfully understood to go look for an alternative.

I know these movie try with it, but they muddle things. IMO, Godzilla should be more like the Weapons in FFVII where defending Earth doesn't include factoring in loss of human life right down to all of Mankind being expendable if necessary. That way he is both a antagonist to us and a protagonist which can't sit right with us but we'd struggle to live without.

[McAvoy]

Something like that would make humans very very wary of the Titans.

That's the thing.

If the death toll of each of Godzilla's acts of protection is larger than some wars, people can rightfully understood to go look for an alternative.

I know these movie try with it, but they muddle things. IMO, Godzilla should be more like the Weapons in FFVII where defending Earth doesn't include factoring in loss of human life right down to all of Mankind being expendable if necessary. That way he is both a antagonist to us and a protagonist which can't sit right with us but we'd struggle to live without.

Godzilla took out a good portion of San Francisco and basically wiped out Boston. Now the obvious argument want preventing the Mutos from creating more of them which by the looks of the egg sacs, would have been alot. Boston was the final battleground for Godzilla against an alien monster changing Earth wherever it went. That can be excused in a way.

But let's say Bad Guy Business guy was successful in creating a true anti Titan of human control, those sort of battles would still result in that sort of carnage and destruction. We saw it in the movie.

Really the best way to combat Titans prevent the widespread damage and destruction is to kill all the Titans. And have more than one of these Mech Godzillas on hand in case.

The movies really did downplay the human deaths. We could be talking about hundreds of thousands or millions of deaths. And who knows how much money too. It would tank the would economy.