Godzilla 2 - King Of The Monsters

Ein hervorragender Anfang und eine überwältigende visuelle Vorstellung der einzelnen Monster. Leider wird das durch die langweilige Arbeit mit der Geschichte und die Unterschätzung des Intellekts der Zuschauer*innen kaputtgemacht. Den Warners ist es dank Gareth Edwards gelungen, den Kult von Godzilla würdevoll zu erneuern. Im vorigen Film haben sie erfolgreich die Motive und die Atmosphäre eines japanischen Filmmythos mit der technischen Überladenheit der Hollywood-Blockbuster verbunden. Sich jetzt anstrengen und die Erwartungen der Zuschauer*innen erfüllen? Nein. Sie vertrauen die nächsten zwei Teile Autoren von durchschnittlichen und uninteressanten Horrorfilmen an. Ein hohes Budget für CGI ist doch ausreichend, die Zuschauer*innen sind blöd und werden mit schönen Monstern zufrieden sein. Mal sehen, ob sich diese Einstellung mit der neuen Frau CEO ändern wird. (05.07.2019)

In his previous effort, Edwards handled the legacy of the Toho films much more deftly. He stretched the cues effectively and delivered a clear action set-piece with some iconic moments at the end. But this? This sequel has a fantastic, exciting trailer, with a wonderful musical theme “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” that will make you swoon. Unfortunately, the film itself is not fantastic, let alone exciting. In every one of the 27 Godzilla movies I've seen so far (not counting Emmerich's crap that has nothing to do with Kaiju), I've had more fun than here, including the worst of them, the infantile Son of Godzilla, which was at least a pleasant guilty-pleasure. This film is just guilty, but without any pleasure. You don't care about characters who have a mouthful of family values, visually it's not great either. The golden-hued color filter is downright ugly and the action is cluttered, with a shaky camera that's often a clump of pixels you don't care about. It has a few moments, a few references to Toho's predecessor, which are nice (the woman is also the catalyst for plot twists, and we can hear about three times the notorious Godzilla arrival motif we know from Japanese Kaiju), but that can't be enough even for the most diehard Toho/Godzilla fans, among whom I count myself. It's a disappointment that I hope won't break the lizard's neck in the future. (31.05.2019)

Wow, I didn't enjoy it. Like, so very, very, very much. The other Godzilla shows that it cost a lot of money, and the monster battles are actually pretty good, at least the final one, which cleverly works with scale and alternates spectacular shots of two dueling titans with action with human characters running at their feet. But that's pretty much it. The new Godzilla has about fifteen human characters, but finding a single one among them that was the least bit interesting or likeable was a task beyond me. A few hours after the screening, I actually remember the names of about two of the protagonists. The trouble is that despite all the declamation and certain attempts to conceive Godzilla II a little differently, it is ultimately very much about those human characters, who of course are the ones who, by their dullness, flatness and absolute unwillingness to take themselves even a little bit less seriously (this is a film in which a giant lizard fights an even bigger three-headed dragon, dammit!) they get boring at first, and then just annoying. The grandeur and elegance promised by the trailers isn't there in the end, and while the fights are fun to watch, the rest of it really doesn't work. In fact, as a viewer, I'm not really interested in seeing another film conceived in this way. (30.05.2019)

Dougherty must be the only person on the planet who is approached by the people form Warner Brothers with a huge budget and an unmissable offer “to play games with Godzilla and all his fellow cult monsters in the backyard during their awakening and the end of the world", so he can't think “hmm, it could be from the perspective of people, as Edwards tried but failed to do, or bitter satire in the style of (Shin´s) Japanese Godzilla or a catastrophic B-movie full of ultimate monsters and titanic battles referencing the classics". No, what comes to his mind is “cool, I'll finally be able to shoot an interior conversational movie from the Avengers Helicarrier and satisfy all the scientists who have to say the weird nonsense with a straight face in similar movies, and I'll do it by not making them say that in a few sentences, but it will last tens of minutes and even the nonsense they talk about will be even more stupid than it normally is and I will intersperse it with dull CGI action, where everyone will constantly keep running out of collapsing buildings, and it will be full of such generic shots of falling skyscrapers that even the animators themselves won´t be able to tell whether this scene of a crumbling big city happened in the last Marvel or DC movie". And he did as he said he would. The childish quasi-scientific piffle and solutions meant to restart the civilization of Mother Nature are an integral part of the genre. But only If they form the background/prologue to the battles of the Titans, not if they are the cornerstone. No one gives a shit about monsters anymore. Except Dougherty. And when they just have mercy on the audience here and there and offer what the viewers are looking for, it lacks ideas, cool moments, dynamics and scale. The exception is a few moments during the decent ending, when the film almost becomes what it wanted to be (and should have been) the whole time. McCreary's music, paying one tribute to another, is the film's biggest asset. And yet it is very specific in every respect. At least he understood “what is going on", even if the director didn't. (28.09.2020)

The anticipated Godzilla sequel, after the riveting trailers, is ultimately a missed opportunity and another blockbuster that failed to live up to expectations this year. Michael Dougherty is the director of Trick 'r Treat and Krampus, two decent holiday horror films, but Godzilla: King of the Monsters feels like a big bite that he couldn't quite chew. The characters are absolutely uninteresting (though Eleven tries), the pacing is pretty much erratic, we only see four of the fifteen monsters mentioned in the action, and repeatedly at that. Perhaps the worst part of it all is that the film isn't entertaining at all, and if it's not exactly blazing on screen, it's rather boring. I was most impressed with Hydra, which is visually solid and I think the finale is satisfying, but the rest of it hardly works at all. Too bad. 60% (03.06.2019)

They called for action and destruction, but five years later, it is becoming apparent that the controversial first installment was the right way to go. Nothing against the grand opponents of the titular titan, but whoever came up with the idea of ​​a spectacular clash of gigantic monsters as an eco-techno thriller that addresses family traumas that are for the most part unseen should hang their head in shame. Every time it seems to be heading in the right direction, some logical contradiction or extremely cheesy line comes along, or at the very least a deafening moment. However, the royal Godzilla still has its strong moments, thanks to Millie Bobby Brown's incredible acting certainty and Mothra being a creature so perfect I instantly wanted to take it home with me. The screenplay, however, is sometimes seriously insane. When I think of the playful Kong: Skull Island, I can't help but feel sorry that it has been compelled to become part of this strangely sterile universe. 50% (07.07.2019)

Oh shi... Faulting Godzilla for having stupid people in it is rather unfair. They have always been stupid and their behavior often illogical or just plain dumb. And it’s not Godzilla’s fault. The people who move the action along, especially the unpleasant scientist, are asking for a kick up the ass, but they manage to wake the monster, which then destroys the city and then they have a fight. Thank God for that, at least; otherwise there’s no point in even concerning myself with the cast. There are lots of battles and they’re much more monstrous than before. The alien dragon is a worthy opponent for Fatty. The caterpillar/moth seems really nice, not to mention Rodan the Pterodactyl (the aerial chase is incredible) and the mammoth. I think the sequel with Kong already has a clear winner, but I look forward to seeing it anyway. But with fewer people next time, please. (31.05.2019)

Crucial question, who cooked up that kick-ass trailer with Debussy's steroid-infused music? Because that's who should have made this overblown, dark, cluttered, whiny, dumb movie, it probably would have turned out a lot better. Because the balance between visual epic, musical poetry and respect for the original is something we can only dream of in the full version. (04.06.2019)

Etwas Schlimmeres habe ich im Kino lange nicht mehr gesehen. Bei diesem Film hatte ich noch weniger Spaß als beim neuen Hellboy, was schon etwas bedeutet. Godzilla aus dem Jahr 1954 gehört immer noch zu meinen beliebtesten Filmen. Aber jede Fortsetzung, auf die ich gestoßen bin, halte ich für schrecklich dumm, weil ihr die Idee vom Original fehlt und weil es einfach nur darum geht, dass sich die Gummimonster verhauen. Es war für mich also eine unangenehme Überraschung, dass die neue Serie offensichtlich an diese Tradition anknüpfen möchte. Nach dem wunderschönen Film von Gareth Edwards (es stimmt, dass ich ihn erst beim zweiten Mal zu schätzen wusste) erscheint ein Film, der den erwähnten Fortsetzungen zum Verwechseln ähnlich sieht. Extrem dumm, ohne Ideen, ohne Stimmung, langweilig. Der Film verlässt sich nur auf doofe Kämpfe der Monster, die auch das Publikum fertig machen. Mit seiner Peinlichkeit und übertriebener Ernsthaftigkeit löst er bei den Zuschauer*innen oft ein ungewolltes Lachen aus. Ich kann gar nicht alle Szenen erwähnen, bei denen ich die Augen verdreht und gedacht habe, ob das wirklich passiert ist und ob es jemand im Ernst, ähm, ernst meint. So hat mir eigentlich nur die Musik von Bear McCreary gefallen (die mit dem ursprünglichen Motiv von Ifukube arbeitet)… Und das ist wahrscheinlich echt alles.____PS: Wenn Ihnen aber die ursprünglichen Filme gefallen haben, in denen Godzilla jemanden verhaut, die eigentlich keinen Sinn ergeben, in welchen Menschen zwar überflüssig sind, aber trotzdem da sind, wird Ihnen vielleicht auch dieser Film gefallen. Während des Films habe ich sogar mehrmals gedacht, dass die Tricks auf solch einem Niveau sind, dass sich die digitalen Monster wirklich so bewegen, als ob es Menschen in Kostümen oder Puppen wären. Für mich ist es kein Plus, für Sie kann es aber eins sein. (30.05.2019)

This monsterverse is a rare example of variable filmmaking techniques that result in considerably different movies. Godzilla, perhaps the most distinctive blockbuster of the decade, cleverly linked the events from the characters’ perspective and the futility of their actions, while Kong: Skull Island delivered straightforward and over-the-top adventure focused on human actions (and how they make everything worse). This sequel starring the fairy lizard is somewhere in between, it takes from the first one the serious attempts at fatalism and the portrayal of the insignificance of the human characters, while form Kong it takes the narrative drive, more space for the monster encounters and a more active human participation with the Titans. I don’t think it will be any surprise to say that the oscillation between two such different concepts results in a pretty impersonal approach that is often somewhat simplified, and that maybe even weakens both the nature of the clashes of the monsters and the fate and motivations of the human heroes. The catalyst of the story is a group of people, but their significance is gradually lost and by the end It’s pushed aside by contrived family ties and the helplessness in the face of the powerful titans. Though the protagonists try to act throughout the story, their actions (which fortunately aren’t stupid or naive but understandably motivated) only serve the purpose of delaying the climax (unlike the first movie, where the characters actually tried to prepare for it). On the other hand, the narration flows by quickly, rhythmically setting monumental action set pieces into a story that systematically shuffles between the subjective observation of the terrors and the havoc caused by the monsters and the admiration for Godzilla, whose iconic image the film develops and escalates. The twists are also linked smoothly and they basically make sense, though they are often simplified by the insanely fast movements through space and, of course, the indecision over which approach should take precedence. The individual scenes and their staging are great, it’s a shame that they were unable to build a more coherent story arc around them. In any case, it’s still an interesting approach to the extensive mythology of that world, to which I will gladly return. 70% (08.06.2019)

Es wäre albern, übertriebene Erwartungen an einen Film zu haben, dessen Kern der Kampf riesiger Monster ist, aber zumindest muss man gewisse minimale Erwartungen haben. Aber dass alle Charaktere im Film absolut eindimensionale Karikaturen sind, die sämtliche Klischees von Katastrophenfilmen erfüllen (Tochter in Not, heldenhafter Vater als Retter, entschlossener Wissenschaftler, der sich für andere opfern will) und roboterhaft klischeehafte Namen der Monster deklamieren, damit wir, dumme Zuschauer, wissen, wie man sie richtig nennt, ist wirklich verwerflich. Am Ende hat Charles Dance, auf den ich mich am meisten gefreut habe, nichts zu spielen. Und dass die Actionszenen und Spezialeffekte so umwerfend sind, dass sie das nichtssagende Drehbuch verdecken können, kann man wirklich nicht sagen. Es ist nur eine weitere schnell zusammengestellte Franchise-Produktion, die als Brücke zum dritten Film dienen soll und den Zuschauer vollkommen ignoriert. (05.09.2019)

Ich will nicht verhehlen, dass ich mich auf Godzilla 2 gefreut habe wie ein kleines Kind auf dem Weg zum Süßigkeitenladen. Gleichzeitig habe ich damit gerechnet, dass es eine Enttäuschung werden könnte. Nachdem ich den Film gesehen habe, muss ich zugeben, dass ich etwas ganz anderes von dem neuesten Kaiju-Film erwartet habe. Godzilla 2 hat auf jeden Fall ein flottes Tempo, er fließt im Kino schön dahin und enthält im Vergleich zum ersten viel mehr Action, aber auch viel mehr familienorientierte Szenen, was etwas nachteilig ist. Ich muss zugeben, dass die Trailer nichts über den Hintergrund der Figur mit dem Gesicht von Charles Dance verraten haben, was eine nette Überraschung für das Drehbuch war. Andererseits haben die Filmemacher leider nicht auf starke Parabeln, tiefe Weisheiten und ein paar logische Fehler verzichtet, die man einem ähnlichen Film verzeihen könnte. Es mangelt weder an Pathos noch an den typisch amerikanischen Klischees über die Bedeutung der Familie und der Selbstaufopferung für das Gemeinwohl. Aber ich mag diese oberflächlich durchdachten, aber audiovisuell beeindruckenden und größenwahnsinnigen Popcorn-Filme einfach. Es stimmt, dass die Bilder manchmal überladen und düster waren (wie bei BvS) - aber sei's drum, bei Tageslicht hätte das nicht den gewünschten Effekt gehabt. Der zweite Film bietet auch eine bessere Besetzung als der erste - siehe Vera Farmiga und Millie Bobby Brown. Ich bin gespannt auf den nächsten King-Kong-Film, dem Godzilla 2 mit seinem Ende die Tür geöffnet hat. (03.06.2019)

Warner Bros crammed 200m into a reminder of how much we should have appreciated the previous Edwards auteur blockbuster. We didn't appreciate it, after the harvest we're going to have to suck Chinese dicks. Good for us. A film about a room with six people in it flying around the world watching a digital cartoon. (28.08.2019)

I thought Godzilla: King of the Monsters was supposed to be a celebration of classic kaiju monsters, and the main ones are featured here. However, in the end, it just became a parade of CGI, where to make it even uglier, most of the action takes place in the dark, so the monsters do not stand out as beautifully. Although I find the inclusion of Vera, Kyle, and Millie appealing, none of them work in the movie. (20.08.2019)