Godzillasaissance!

This film is absurd and ridiculous and I want 12 more please. Director Adam Wingard does a brilliant job of capturing the 60s/70s era vibe of the King of Monsters when he was in full blown superhero mode. The Kaiju are unequivocally the stars of the film with the humans relegated to exposition and scene dressing…which isn’t to say there aren’t any good human characters. Jia and Trapper (played by Kaylee Hottle and Dan Stevens, respectively) are great for example. Bryan Tyree Henry is not AS annoying as he was in the previous film…but he’s still kind of annoying. Like I said, the real protagonist of the film, much like in Godzilla vs Kong, is Kong. He goes on an epic, Campbellian hero’s journey told entirely through visual storytelling. There are 10 minute stretches of the film that feature zero dialogue as Kong navigates the wilds of the Hollow Earth and faces challengers to his throne as King. But what is a king to a god? Godzilla lurks in the oceans as the great arbiter of the natural order, as he always has. Kong is very much humanized, but Godzilla functions in a much more atmospheric and symbolic role as the frightening visage of nature’s wrath. While he may be on humanity’s side at the moment, he isn’t always. Therein lies his rivalry with the great ape. The beef between these two titans is hilariously intense and epic as they are forced to join forces against a common enemy in the form of another ape: The Scar King. What a villain. His design and body language make for a memorable and striking antagonist that sits perfectly content among such iconic Godzilla baddies as Ghidorah, MechaGodzilla and Gigan. While I will forever miss the amazing score that Bear McCreery composed for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Tom Holkenberg really delivers a cool, thrilling musical accompaniment to the Kaiju carnage. The 80s synthwave vibes are strong and infectious, with the bass booming with the stomp of monstrous feet. Between this, Minus One and the show Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the Godzilla train is rolling along without any showing of stopping. It is a damn good time to be a fan. And next month there’s even a new animated Ultraman movie, a mere two years after Shin Ultraman and a few months after the new Gamera anime. It it truly a Kaiju renaissance and I hope it lasts for years.