The Kaiju/Monsterverse Thread (Kong & Godzilla)

[The Joker]

I agree, Silver. I really should have made a post after you posted the teaser for "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire". I'm looking forward to it, and though I kinda wish the film would have had a different director, I'm sure Wingard will deliver on the entertainment/visuals just as he did with GvK.

Right now, I am just flat out a bit more intrigued by "Godzilla Minus One". Especially with the 1945 Post-War Japan setting. Just speculating here, but this particular Godzilla, I'm guessing, will emote much more so than what we saw out of Godzilla from "Shin Godzilla". If that's true, it will 1. differentiate Minus One from Shin's more often stoic demeanor, and 2. call back to the original 1954 "Godzilla" where Godzilla is clearly shown going after people!. He stomps towards people, attacks them as they attempt to flee in cars with his atomic ray, even ferociously biting at humans on a tower when he noticed the flashing lights from their cameras. Undoubtedly, the train car clip is evocative of the original where Godzilla is shown tossing a train car with his jaws.

Some new images of the Godzilla from "Minus One" have been released.





I've seen fans say that this Godzilla kinda looks like a hybrid of Legendary's Godzilla, and the Godzilla from the Heisei era. I can't really disagree with that. The feet remind me of the 1962 Godzilla from the original "King Kong vs Godzilla" a little bit.

[Silver Nemesis]

I watched Cloverfield (2008) last night, and since this is the kaiju thread I thought I'd post my review here. I'd seen the first half on TV before, but this was my first time watching the entire movie right the way through.

Some talented people were involved in the movie – it was written by Drew Goddard and directed by Matt Reeves – but I have to say I wasn't impressed. I don't think it works as a found-footage movie because it's just too unrealistic. There's too much fantastical imagery on screen, the cast is too pretty to pass for average people, and the way the TJ Miller character keeps running with the camera held up in front of him at eye level is absurd. It also doesn't work well as a kaiju film owing to the uninspired design of the creature and the lack of on-screen monster action.

The human drama aspect fell completely flat for me. We have a protagonist, whose own brother describes him as a "douche", who has a one-night stand with a woman who's underwritten to the point of having no personality, and we're supposed to be emotionally invested in the love story between them? A protagonist who barely registered any emotion after his own brother and "best friend" was killed right in front of him? We're supposed to care about him wanting to reunite with his hook-up? I didn't care. There were so many more interesting stories they could have told. Like what if the protagonist was an irresponsible single mum who'd left her kids with a babysitter so she could go partying, and now, racked with guilt, she's trying to get back to her children to make sure they're ok and take responsibility for their safety. That would've been more intense.

There's also a lack of meaningful interpersonal conflict. Everyone just seems to go along with this one guy's crusade to find his not-quite-ex-girlfriend, with minimal objections raised. Why? And why continue filming the whole thing? There's a point where one of the characters gets infected after being injured and spontaneously explodes. That could've led into an interesting subplot. Supposing the smaller creatures were spreading a contagion that's rapidly sweeping through the survivors, and supposing one of the main characters displays symptoms of infection and the others face an ethical dilemma where they argue over whether or not to leave that person behind. That could've led to some interesting drama. But instead the woman exploding is never referenced again, and the reason for her death remains underdeveloped. That plot point leads nowhere.

Cloverfield could've worked really well as a short film, but the premise is just too thin to sustain a feature-length running time. It runs out of steam after the first thirty minutes. Not counting the credits, it's only about seventy-five minutes long, but that still feels too long for so slight a plot. This surprised me, considering it was penned by Drew Goddard. He's clearly a gifted writer – check out Cabin in the Woods (2011), Daredevil (2015), The Martian (2015) and Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) for proof of that – but his Cloverfield screenplay isn't up to his usual standard. I'd say the same thing about director Matt Reeves, who also went on to better things with his Planet of the Apes movies and The Batman. Cloverfield is unworthy of those films.

I was tempted to cut it some slack because of the scarcity of competing kaiju movies at the time, but on reflection I'm not sure that's a valid excuse. Cloverfield was released just four years after Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) and just three years after Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005), both of which were superior kaiju pictures. And two years later Rogue One director Gareth Edwards released Monsters (2010), which was produced for a paltry $500,000 compared to Cloverfield's budget of $30 million. So it wasn't as if Cloverfield was the only giant monster movie from that era.

Like most films produced by JJ Abrams, the best parts of Cloverfield are copied from elsewhere. For example, the scene with the rats in the tunnel is clearly taken from Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later (2002), while the imagery of the dust cloud blowing down the street is indebted to real 9/11 footage. And the image of the damaged Statue of Liberty head had appeared in several earlier films, including Planet of the Apes (1968) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004). There's nothing wrong with showing off your influences, but the finished product needs to amount to something worthwhile in itself. That's where Cloverfield falls short for me.

It's a cool concept and it has decent special effects, but I don't think it works overall. It received a positive response from critics and audiences, but this is one of those times I strongly disagree with the consensus.

[thecolorsblend]

My breaking point with Cloverfield was Hud, the camera man. I can buy into everything else, including the transparent ripoffs influences, flimsy story logic, anemic characters, "WHY ARE YOU STILL FILMING?!" found footage tropes, Abrams mystery box bs and all that.

But Hud is so annoying that the viewer's only real regret is that Clover couldn't have eaten him earlier in the film.

I do have a soft spot for watching Clover's arrival when the characters are riding the Ferris Wheel at the very end tho. That was a nice touch.

[The Joker]

I haven't purchased any modern DC/Marvel comics in years (outside of classic material in Marvel Epic Collections and DC Archive Omnibuses), but this may wind up being a fun read.

I don't know who Brian Buccellato is, but at least this crossover doesn't have the Tom King stink on it. Might pick up the trade.

[The Joker]

This is pretty well done.

[Silver Nemesis]

Seeing Superman go up against Godzilla reminds me of The Arctic Giant (1942), which is thought by some to have influenced the original Gojira.

I hope they'll reference Titano the Super-Ape when Kong shows up. Maybe throw in a gag about DC's trend for putting apes on the covers of comics back in the fifties.

[The Joker]

I hope they'll reference Titano the Super-Ape when Kong shows up. Maybe throw in a gag about DC's trend for putting apes on the covers of comics back in the fifties.

That would be amusing. And/Or even have Batman make a remark about Kong being much larger than Gorilla Boss. Which would fit right in with the gag about DC Comics' 1950's ape covers/stories.

[Silver Nemesis]

[Silver Nemesis]

The first images have been released for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, an Apple TV+ series set in the Monsterverse. It stars Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt Russell and will consist of ten episodes. It's scheduled for release later this year.

[The Joker]

Looks interesting.

Seeing Kurt Russell in the Monsterverse is pretty cool. 

EDIT:

More info on the Apple TV+ Series.