Godzilla Vs Kong - Review
After 59 years it finally happened.
After over forty films it finally happened.
After three previous entries in the Monsterverse it finally happened.
After over a year of delays it finally happened.
There is at long last, a kaiju film where the KAIJU is the protagonist of the story. Not the secondary character, not the macguffin of the human plot, the one who takes on THIS Heroes Journey is the monster.
The movie makes it's point right from the start. The first character we see in this story... is Kong. Not twenty minutes into the movie, not in whispered dialogue, not in obscured visual shots, but right there in daylight, in multi-million dollar CGI glory. This is Kong's movie.
No longer the adolescent seen in Kong: Skull Island, the giant ape has reached maturity but his world has only gotten smaller. The permanent storm systems have destroyed most of the island as well as it's inhabitants, only a small portion has been maintained by the monster control organization Monarch. Once a King, the Titan is now a prisoner in a virtual cell and more alone than ever before. His only companions being the Monarch scientists lead by Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) and the last surviving member of the island's Iwi tribe, Jia (Kaylee Hottle) a deaf ten year old girl.
And this odd trio is where the Monsterverse finally finds something it has sorely lacked: Heart. These are not complex characters but the chemistry of Rebecca Hall and Kaylee Hottle make their relationship believable, which makes Jia's connection to a CG gorilla believable. If you cannot buy into this journey which is ultimately about finding home and family for a 350-ft ape, than this film will only ever be shallow garbage to you.
The rest of the human plot is all just to give context to the action.
Godzilla meanwhile has gone rogue. Instead of keeping to himself and avoiding contact with humanity, he drives straight into populated cities, smashing aside any military efforts that get in his way. Maddison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) from Godzilla King of the Monsters returns to find the truth of Godzilla's behavior with help from her friend Josh (Julian Dennison) and a conspiracy podcaster Burnie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry).
This subplot is sadly the films weakest point. While it serves it's purpose well enough, which is to reveal the film's villains and their evil plot, it also would have been no loss had it been cut from the film. Millie Bobbie Brown is still a star in the making (though who honestly thought that hair bun was a good idea?) but Josh and Burnie are legitimately annoying characters who completely fail to draw either laughter or sympathy.
Kyle Chandler and Lance Reddick are also in the movie... barely.
Oddly enough after three movies heavily focused on Monarch, the monster organization is almost completely absent from the film... which is a strange decision to say the least.
In fact the film has a number of good ideas that were clearly left on the Editor's floor. Ideas which would have left my higher brain functions far more satisfied.
Still, these are supporting characters, so they are not required to have character arcs but to serve a function in the plot and that's what they do.
The film's serious issue is ironically enough it's top billed star: Godzilla.
As has been standard for decades Godzilla is only featured in scenes that require him doing something, like attacking cities or fighting Kong. The contrast with the emotional scenes of Kong is stark.
Intentional or not, this film is a complete rebuke of Toho's antiquated mandate that "Godzilla does not Emote."
While Kong gets etched across his features experiences including the humiliation of defeat, the discovery of his roots and the fortitude to fight even in the certainty of death, Godzilla gets to... charge around... being angry. Just like we've seen in every Godzilla film since the nineties.
Now, director Adam Wingard understood these restrictions and still manages to inject moments of personality in Godzilla, but these are just moments, unlike Kong, any character arc has to be inferred, instead of being on the screen. Which makes Godzilla almost feel like a cameo in his own movie... but this is nothing new to the long history of the Godzilla film series.
[Tangent into the history of Script Structure within the Godzilla film Franchise]
Many of the best Godzilla films succeed because they follow the standard movie construction blueprint:
The Humans are the A) Characters in the A) Plot while the Kaiju are B) Characters relegated to being either plot devices or at best a minimal B) Plot.
While this worked in the early history of the series, once the Kaiju fully developed into being the stars of the films, they became the A) Characters but remained trapped inside the B) Plot, while the humans, who have only grown more uninteresting with each passing film remain the A) Plot, even when they add almost nothing to the plot or completely lack any kind of character arc.
This misplacement of priorities is why so many Godzilla films make for a strange viewing experience compared to standard films and possibly why mainstream audiences have always had difficulty connecting to these movies.
Godzilla Vs Kong is the first time the Kaiju has been the A) Character of the A) Plot while the Humans are the B) Characters of the B) Plot.
[End Tangent]
If it sounds like I hated the film nothing could be further from the truth.
The visual effects used to create Kong, Godzilla, their foes and their worlds are flawless and almost always incredibly beautiful.
While the musical score lacks the iconic themes (again, Thank Toho for that one people!) and thus is not quite as memorable as Bear McCreary's King of the Monsters score, it's still a solid musical backdrop. I especially appreciated picking out the little sections of Synthwave mixed in.
Everyone involved seemed to know that the fight was what had to live up to the hype, that the film would live or die based on how satisfying this clash between Titans was and they did not disappoint.
The fight is more kinetic and faster than previous fights, which is fitting because the original King Kong vs Godzilla was a very fast paced grappling match, so here again, Kong brings out a much more close-quarters style out of Godzilla. This is where the real story of the movie is told, not in intimate character drama, not in complex dialogue soliloquys, the story is told in the fight. Godzilla is actually allowed to be a little bit of a villain, seeming to actually enjoy inflicting pain on Kong while coming across himself like a tank, "no-selling" the obvious amount of punishment being dealt his way. Kong is basically John McClane, forced into a fight he didn't choose but despite enduring insane amounts of physical damage he attains final victory simply by refusing to quit.
It's a beautiful ballet of behemoths.
In conclusion, this is not a deep introspective story about the human condition, this is not even a mildly profound moral conflict, this is a "Rule of Cool" movie.
In this film, Godzilla charges up his atomic breath and blasts a tunnel thousands of miles straight down into the Hollow Earth.
If you cannot giggle with the glee of a child watching that... you simply won't enjoy this movie.
The Kaiju Plot is an easy 4 out of 5 Stars.
The Human Plot a 1 out of 5.
So all things even, I'll rate it 3 out of 5 Stars.
Thank You For Reading.
Sad as it is to say, Transformers has been on a decline ever since Transformers: Prime came to it's conclusion in Beast Hunters. None of the animated series that have followed have been able to reach the same quality.
The Bumblebee film was a valiant if flawed attempt to improve the film franchise, the fate of which remains in flux.
The less said about the comics the better.
Befitting their name, the Transformers have always managed to change and adapt, finding a new form for it's core story: the struggle of the Autobots against the Decepticons. This is why they have endured across decades and become iconic, if not always in the most ideal ways.
One of the stronger entries this last decade has been the “War for Cybertron Siege” toyline, which featured versions of the Transformers cast that were relatively close to their “G1 Standard” versions but with a greater degree of detail to evoke characters that have endured many centuries of war. Usually with Transformers, an animated series is produced first to create demand that is then met by the toys. This time it took a few years for the animated series to follow the toys.
So, was Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege Chapter 1 worth the wait?
Right now, with only the first of three “Chapters” released to judge by... it's at best, a mixed bag.
There's little reason to go into the plot, which is little different from any other that has been set on Cybertron: The war of the Autobots and the Decepticons have exhausted their resources and their morale but Optimus must rally his Autobots to one last desperate move to escape the planet and save the Allspark from Megatron's grasp.
First the positives:
The animation is quite beautiful, instead of the smooth, streamlined look of Transformers: Prime, the Cybertronians are back to their angular, cubic look, with battle damage ever present on their faded metal. The characters move smoothly but not weightless. Environment effects such as rain and fog are well done.
The character models are a nice return to form, with every character easy to recognize with few “quirky” modifications. The voice cast lacks the iconic voices for all of the characters and although there are a few weird voice choices, the acting is relatively solid.
That's about all I can compliment without reservation.
While the characters look good, because they are based, detail for detail, on the toy figures, they do at times have a “plastic” look to them rather than metal, creating the feeling one is simply watching an animation of the toys.
The real problem with the series is the writing, WITH the caveat that this is based on the first third of an unfinished story, so it is possible that the further chapters will bring the entire narrative together but it's unlikely for a second or third act to fix an issue in the first act.
First of all, it suffers from Transformers-The Movie syndrome, in that it expects the audience to already possess every intimate detail about each of the Autobots and each of the Decepticons, as it spends almost no time establishing the identities of many of them. Certain characters you expect to be core cast members don't appear until half-way through the story and often aren't even referred to by name immediately. It is understandable that this series will most appeal to the core fanbase but with ratings still remaining an important factor in “streaming television” it pays to be audience friendly. Not to mention, with so many different versions existing of these characters, it's still important to establish which one is being used even for your core audience.
The perfect example of this is Bumblebee, who generally in every version within the last fifteen years has been one of the most trusted and dedicated Autobot soldiers. Here, Bumblebee is introduced as an energon scavenger avoiding allegiance to both Autobot and Decepticon. It's a jarring reversal to say the least but one assumes that it will be used to give Bumblebee the character arc of a selfish individual to a selfless one... which kinda happens but it doesn't quite feel based on Bumblebee's own motives, it feels based on the wants of the plot.
(Spoilers Ahead)
After refusing to join the Autobot cause, Bumblebee leaves and presumably, would never have returned by his own choice. Only the plot device called The Alpha Trion Protocols motivates him to return and help the Autobots. Bumblebee never actually makes the choice himself.
This is not how Freedom is The Right of All Sentient Beings works.
This is a plot based story, meaning it's path is determined by events, instead of the internal motivations a Character Based Story focuses on. Either direction can make for a good story. A plot based story might not focus as much on the internal changes a character undergoes through the narrative but good characterization still requires clear motivations for a character's actions and satisfying payoff's to any Chekov's Guns lying around.
Even the one character who has a genuine character arc, Jetfire, can't even articulate his motivations:
Jetfire: “Megatron intends to commit genocide. That is not what I signed up for.”
Autobot: “What did you sign up for?”
Jetfire: “I don't remember but it wasn't this.”
Think about how not only uncreative that is but how disingenuous the writer's are being, “I Don't Remember...” How do you join a war where you watch comrades die and kill fellow beings who are the same make and construction as yourself, sometimes leading to victories, other times to defeats and not remember why?
When your viewpoint is that people don't have Agency in their own lives it's a very easy thing to disregard but the consequence is a flat two dimensional character.
How does a thirty-six year old cartoon show produced to sell toys have better character development than this?
The answer is simple: The creators of War For Cybertron: Siege were so obsessed with making a “Dark, Gritty, Mature” series they forgot to make their characters Likable.
When you watch G1, the characters, Autobot or Decepticon, don't feel like “soldiers” just grinding away at their duties, they feel like old friends. They goof around, they make jokes, they laugh together, they protect each other but doing that in this series would add too much Light to the “Grim-Dark” of it all.
A common pearl of wisdom in creative writing is: Show, Don't Tell.
An example would be: Your character can say to the Audience, “I am a brave and caring individual,” therefore Telling them what the character is and how to feel about them or you can create a scene where the character rescues a cat stuck in a tree, Showing through actions what kind of character they are and letting the audience judge from there.
Unfortunately, this series doesn't do Show or Tell very well at all.
The very first scene of the first episode the original Transformers series starts with Bumblebee and Wheeljack sneaking across Cybertron, gathering precious energon and fending off an attack from Decepticon Seekers as they return to base.
Siege seems to homage this with it's opening scene, except Bumblebee is not an Autobot and this time they are captured by the Decepticons, with Megatron offering them the choice of joining his side. When they refuse, he orders them executed... which is exactly what we expect Megatron to do.
Then Optimus Prime smashes in like a hero to rescue them... exactly what you expect from Optimus, an action showing him to be a brave and selfless hero and in any other Transformers series him and Megatron would fight to a dramatic standstill, showing the audience that the two are completely equal in both skill and power... but not THIS series....
No, this series has Optimus flailing against a Megatron who has him outmatched at every turn until a distracting laser blast from a Fembot allows the three of them to run away in defeat from the Decepticons, Showing us how weak the Autobots are and how their defeat is inevitable.
Seemingly every scene with Megatron throughout the series has him repeat the same monologue Telling us about how “victimized” him and his Decepticons were as a slave caste and that his only goal is to bring peace to Cybertron... while pictures of himself scowl down from the walls. Visually this hints that while Megatron preaches a righteous cause, underneath the surface he is still driven by ego.
Meanwhile Optimus Prime moves single-minded toward his goals of fueling the Ark and finding the Allspark regardless of all else, suggesting a fanaticism and an irrationality that are alien to Optimus's character.
Just like The Guardians of Cybertron, the individuals behind this show are incredibly reluctant to commit to a side... because of course, both sides have to be Morally Equivalent to each other.
Which is nonsense. Absolute Scrap Fraggin Aft-Backwards Nonsense.
For comparison, again with the original nineteen-eighty-four “Generation-1” series, Optimus Prime's primary objective was always: Keep His Autobots Alive. As long as his Autobots survived there was always hope to return freedom to Cybertron. Even at the expense of himself, Optimus Prime was always driven to protect the ones who followed his lead. Even leaving on the Ark was motivated by the necessity that they had to find new resources for energy or the Autobots would die. What made Optimus a hero was that he valued life and Megatron did not. G1 Megatron was driven by a single goal: Power. A single consuming drive. Power for the sake of power. No matter how many other lives had to be sacrificed in the process.
This is the central conflict of Transformers: Selflessness versus Selfishness.
{Warning! Incoming Rant!}
Ever since IDW's Megatron Origin (written be Eric Holmes) attempted to give the character a backstory, every new incarnation of Transformers has used it as their baseline when recreating Megatron. Subscribing to the idea that “Every Villain is the Hero in His Story” they tried to give Megatron a motivation that the audience could relate to, that he was a slave mining for energon who lead a “Worker's Revolt” for their rights and freedom.
So the utopian vision of a peaceful, united, free Cybertron that had been canon for over twenty years was tossed away for a corrupt, enslaving, stagnant bureaucracy... the kind of system that would “deserve” a monster like Megatron to destroy it.
Except... if that's true... WHAT is Optimus Prime fighting for?
If being an “Autobot” does not stand for Ideals such as Freedom, Unity and Peace, then what is the difference between them and the Decepticons?
In G1, Cybertron was an idealized society as a shorthand for what made the Autobots Good and the Decepticons Evil so that no exposition had to be wasted about Optimus Prime's “Tax Policy” or other unimportant legal minutia.
Ever since this change, the differences between the two factions have become increasingly surface level and more simplistic than they were in the Eighties toy commercials.
War for Cybertron Siege adds a new wrinkle to this with some modifications to the backstory: now it was Alpha Trion who was leading a movement (or a revolution?) to reform the corrupt Cybertron and two of his disciples were Optimus Prime and Megatron. Unsatisfied for unspecified reasons, Megatron betrayed and murdered Alpha Trion, apparently splitting his followers into the Decepticons and the Autobots, which became the war that destroyed Cybertron.
Now the “idea” here has some merit, giving Alpha Trion an increased significance is welcome and adds layers to the split between former friends Optimus and Megatron, which existed in the Transformers Prime backstory. However again, it emphasizes similarities, instead of differences and genuinely lays a culpability for the destruction of Cybertron right at the feet of the Autobots that Optimus never successfully refutes.
So if the differences are so insubstantial, WHY is Megatron the villain?
The theory behind an origin story for the villain is that it makes them more Interesting as a character, more layered and multidimensional.
This is simply my personal opinion but I have never felt this origin succeeded in that goal.
Is he supposed to be a “Sympathetic Villain?” Because that has NEVER been Megatron.
Magneto is a Sympathetic Villain.
Darth Vader is a Tragic Villain.
Megatron has never needed sympathy or tragedy to be interesting.
Three Qualities that make a Character Likable to an audience are:
Competence – The Character is Good at what they do.
Humor – The Character is Funny to Laugh With (only sometimes at).
A Code of Ethics – They Have Personal Rules They Hold to.
These qualities can be applied to either a Hero or a Villain and having even just one of them can give the Audience an investment in the character and none of them are reliant on “Sympathy.”
Megatron has always been a Competent villain (By cartoon standards).
Megatron's insults and comebacks to Starscream are often hilarious.
Megatron has occasionally shown himself to keep his word but even in other cases Megatron is at least Consistent in his actions.
So it isn't difficult to make Megatron “Likable” as a villain.
Megatron's core as a character is: Uninhibited Ambition. Very few villains can declare their goal to be “Conquest of the Universe” and actually sound credible. Megatron is one of those few. He shows how truly limitless an ambition unchecked by humility or mercy can be as it turns into a hunger that can never be satisfied by any success and THAT is exactly the kind of character that would drag a planetary utopia into war and destruction.
Attempting to gain “Sympathy Points” for Megatron is simply contrary to the entire character and sacrificing Autobot society for that cause invalidates the entire conflict between them and the Decepticons.
{Rant Over}
Nothing quite exemplifies the hollow fanservice and wasted opportunities quite like the Fembots. Finally... after over thirty years the fans were going to see the original Female Autobots again: Elita-1, Chromia & Moonracer (as well as the usual one: Arcee).
We would finally have a chance to really see them as part of the Autobots, as integral characters with their own part to play in the story... does that happen?
No.
Moonracer is killed off just as quickly as she's introduced (meaninglessly at that) and none of them are given any real character development, their interactions so fleeting it's easy to miss their names.
And poor, poor Elita....
Elita-1 is one of those characters many fans dismiss or prefer that her absence from many versions of Transformers be permanent canon.
I am not one of them.
If you want to add dimension to a character, you don't need a sappy sob story from their past, having a different character who creates a fresh dynamic is a much better way of doing it. In recent years, Optimus Prime has sadly grown rather stale as a character, with unimaginative writers completely unable to find a way to make a Heroic Paragon like Optimus interesting.
Elita-1 is how you make Optimus interesting.
Not solely through a “Romantic” angle, though that in itself would be something new and interesting but simply having a character who knew Optimus when he was Orion Pax, a character who looks at him, not as a symbol but as a person, who Optimus treats as a peer not as a subordinate, that can be interesting. Even exploring the angle that the two of them are trapped in this tragic romance that their responsibilities can never let them possess is something interesting.
So what does Siege do?
In every single episode, there is at least one scene where Elita argues with Optimus, he ignores her and does what he was going to do anyway.
One of these scenes might have served a purpose, SIX of them is worthless.
The only thing they accomplish quite successfully, is that they make you dislike both characters... which means when we get to episode six in another homage to G1 that sees the two parted, your nostalgia tells you to react with sadness but all you can react with is either relief or a disgust for the writers.
You could remove Elita-1 and the others from the series and lose nothing, which unfortunately sums up nearly the whole series.
Now, the series does have this last minute moment that is pure Transformers: when it appears Megatron is about to gain victory, one of The Guardians OMEGA SUPREME intervenes, declaring his actions to be his own and that he decides to protect Cybertron from Megatron.
A G1 Transformer acting In-character?
An individual choosing to obey their own conscience, even against the judgment of all of his peers and take a stand against evil?
More of this would've made this the Best Transformers series ever made.
If Chapter's 2 and 3 go in that direction they might at least save this show from being among the worst.
Thank You for Reading.
If this rant-filled ramble was satisfying, Please Favorite, Share with friends, perhaps even Comment below.
Rambo Last Blood (Review)
This review has been surprisingly more difficult than expected.
For the purpose of transparency, I must admit a personal bias.
I have always felt that Rambo (2008) was the perfect finale to the series. I think that sequel was the best fulfillment we could ever expect for a Rambo film almost two decades beyond it's prime era. However, ever since that film's release, Stallone has discussed making this Rambo film, that he had in effect one more Rambo story to tell. Personally I felt it was unnecessary, that no conclusion could top the one from 2008's Rambo.
So it's possible I might be coming to this movie unfairly, because for me, it has a very high bar to raise, so that it's existence is justified.
If you remember the conclusion to that movie, we ended with Rambo, returned to the States after almost twenty-five years, walking toward the house of a ranch, presumably the family home he hasn't seen since returning from Vietnam. Like me, you probably had a lot of questions from that ending.
After possibly a thirty year absence, how would his family react to his return?
Was his family even there?
What does Rambo's father look like?
This is a spoiler but I want to get it out of the way: NONE of those questions are really answered. We never see his parents. No discussion about how his decades long exile affected his family. No elaboration on if he had any siblings or other family. A Hispanic woman lives on the ranch as a housekeeper with her granddaughter, no context is given about how long they've lived there, what connection they had to Rambo's parents. None of this is explained.
Which is... frustrating.
It's understandable that a ten year gap exists between these two films and exposition is everyone's favorite complaint against a movie but the lack of worldbuilding within this film is almost criminal.
And that is in many ways, the worst thing I can say about this film: that in some ways, it barely feels like a Rambo film.
This is most evident in Rambo himself. With his hair cut short, his headband absent and moving through an environment of nightclubs and claustrophobic alleys instead of jungles swarming with enemy soldiers, you could easily change the character's name to Marian Cobretti and it wouldn't change the film at all.
Okay, all of that said, when the film is taken by itself, is it affected by those relatively minor flaws? Not really.
So for these past ten years, John Rambo has been living on his family's ranch, raising and training horses, with a greater sense of peace than he has ever possessed in his life. That peace for Rambo is of course very fragile, as evidenced by the network of tunnels he has dug underneath the property, obviously as an outlet for all of his violent energy.
Meanwhile, back on the surface, he has formed an adoptive family with Maria Beltran (Adriana Barazza) and her granddaughter Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal), a young woman preparing to leave for college, who's innocence unfortunately makes her very naive. Gabrielle's father abandoned their family years ago and now lives in Mexico, she wants to reconnect with him. Rambo of course asks her not to, that she is not ready for how dangerous the world is, predictably she ignores his warnings, which prove to be terribly accurate.
So Rambo journeys into the dark world of sex trafficking to rescue her.
Anything more would be a Spoiler.
Honestly, this film has left me feeling conflicted.
If I had to rate Rambo Last Blood, my personal biased rating would be 2 out of 5 Stars.
Objectively, on it's own merits, I can admit it is probably a 3 out of 5 Stars.
As an Action movie, Rambo: Last Blood is about as spare as it gets, containing only ONE big action scene, which is the one legitimate complaint noted by some viewers. Rambo is apparently past the point of fighting epic larger-than-life battles, instead the Rambo Formula is stripped down to it's essentials.
The Rambo Formula is a slow first act, a second act of Rambo retreating from his enemies, then a third act where Rambo unleashes all of his wrath upon them. This formula has been reasonably consistent throughout the series, with a “Kill Montage” planted somewhere in the 2nd Act and an Epic battle scene for the climax. Here, the battle scene has been removed and the Kill Montage substituted as the climax.
Interestingly, cutting down on the scale, makes the series feel like it has come back to the grounded action of First Blood, except this time, Rambo has no compunction about the harm he inflicts upon everything in his path.
In tone, this is the spiritual sibling of Rambo (2008), this is not entertaining violence, this is brutal, graphic and shocking. One disturbing scene in particular would make horror franchises like Saw blush, however while the film arguably does descend down to the level of an exploitation film, I would contend that there is a purpose to the gore in this film that elevates it above such fare.
Rambo is the hero of the story and yet, even when he does these explicit acts of violence that very few movie heroes would ever be seen committing, we are still supposed to consider him the hero. The point is this: violence is violence, no matter if it's the hero or the villain. When a man is blasted with a shotgun, his head is gone, no matter who pulled the trigger. Violence is a tool, it is never clean, it is always ugly no matter who uses it.
That's not to say it isn't sometimes justified.
The horrifyingly realistic glimpse into the hellish world of sex trafficking leaves no doubt about the vileness of the film's villains.
The Rambo sequels have always set themselves in an environment that exists beyond that line conventionally referred to as “civilization,” where the evil is so brutal only a “barbaric” hero is capable of conquering them. Despite that, the Rambo films up to this point have never been motivated by revenge, there have been moments of revenge but it's never been the driving force of the plot, making this feel more like a Death Wish film rather than Rambo.
This is where I feel Last Blood diverges from the other sequels.
It's ironic that for all their decried violence and Rambo's barbarism, Rambo has always gone into action for the sake of rescuing someone: the POWs in Vietnam, Col. Trautmen, the Missionaries.
And in every single case, he succeeded.
The first time we ever see him fail to rescue someone is his adopted daughter?
It is laudable they tried to avoid simply repeating the Taken formula but in this case, going against formula and having the girl die?
In any other film it would've been an acceptable choice but for the final Rambo film?
Nope. Bad call.
So instead of a “Rescue” film like the others, Last Blood becomes a Revenge film and just like the Death Wish sequels or any other revenge story, at heart, this is a bleak film.
As grim and unsettling as Rambo (2008) was, it's journey through the valley of darkness ended with a light that made it satisfying.
This chapter has no such relief.
Logan (2017) ended with Wolverine dead but his daughter and the other mutant children were alive, with a chance to live in freedom. It's a bittersweet but satisfying ending.
This ending for Rambo feels nothing but bitter.
There are two ways to look at this film's ending, because the film truly commits to neither of them:
One is with Rambo's fragile peace broken, his home lost, his family gone forever, alone, bleeding out on his front porch, nothing left for him.
This would be a tragic but logical ending for a revenge film. As an ending for Rambo, it does not seem a fit end for the hero.
The other way to look at the ending is through the montage of the film series, charting the legend of Rambo, as the veteran at war with his own country, the man who found the lost souls of Vietnam, who laid waste to the Soviet army, that rescued missionaries in Burma, the man that inflicted justice upon the scum that had murdered and violated countless young women. What happened to that man? Some say he was found among the dead on his family's land. Others say, he was never found. That he rode away into the wilderness and somewhere out there, he lives on....
With that context, it's almost satisfying.
But I think Stallone could have done better and who knows... maybe he will....
If this has been almost satisfying, please Share, Comment or Favorite.
Stranger Things 3 None Spoiler Review
After over a year-and-a-half of waiting, Stranger Things 3 is finally here, was it worth the wait?
(Warning: SPOILERS for the Previous Season)
Previous Reviews:
...Except all I can Write are Stranger Things.... Distraction and discouragement are the anti-work ethic. Sadly they are my only true actions of consistency, which is why I have allowed the entire summer to pass with hardly a word.
Not all is dark however, as I have managed to actually write and publish on the Amazon Kindle a short, simple story that no one wants to read let alone hate.
https://www.amazon.com/Mountain-God-C-J-Morrow-ebook/dp/B01H4ENA4C/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471594803&sr=1-4&keywords=the+mountain+god&refinements_n_feature_browse-bin%3A618073011
Such accomplishments befuddle the mind.
So to make up for my failures in fiction writing and Journal writing, I've been gathering my thoughts to write a little about Suicide Squad and the final results of the summer season, unfortunately that shall have to be for the next entry, because after last weekend my mind can't seem to focus, food has lost it's taste, walking down the street I'm startled by the wind and remain wary, my mind is
Stranger Things 2 the Review part 1For all of us, a long year has passed since the last quest our little party undertook.
My entry on season one: ...Except all I can Write are Stranger Things....
How is everyone coping?
Sheriff Hopper (David Harbour) seems to have been successful in deflecting efforts to find the truth about what happened and everyone seems to have settled into a normal routine.
Joyce Byers has found some normalcy in a relationship with Bob Newby (Sean Astin) but she still worries over her son Will (Noah Schnapp), who seems to have recovered from his experience or has he?
Everything seems to be normal with his friends, as they hang out at the local arcade and prepare for Halloween. While Dustin and Lucas (Gaten Matarazzo & Caleb McLaughlin) are curious about the new girl in school, Max (Sadie Sink), Mike (Finn Wolfhard) continues trying to contact Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), who hasn't been seen in nearly a year.
Is she dead? Captured? Somewhere in The Upsid
Stranger Things 2 the Review part 2SPOILERS
That will be your only warning....
Since it's premier over a year ago, Stranger Things has become a phenomenon that no one could have anticipated. It's too early to say but entirely possible that it is becoming the Star Wars of this generation. Because it manages to do what movies have forgotten to do: invests you emotionally in these characters.
As much as I loved Stranger Things, repeated viewings made me aware of some minor flaws that while not crippling, were rather annoying. These were small hangups that a second season could easily surpass but were instead repeated, and in some cases escalated.
Like any fan I also had one or two desires on my wish list for the second season to accomplish and despite all the fan service here, my great personal wish has not been granted:
No scene of Will & Eleven
As I stated earlier, Noah Schnapp had to remain benched throughout the first season, so my biggest worry was they would repeat their formula
Six months have elapsed since the Snow Ball.
The gate is shut.
The government spooks are gone. Everything in Hawkins has settled back to normal. Summer vacation is in full swing. A new mall has opened and the town is preparing for a big Independence Day celebration.
Mike and El are young, in love and driving the protective Jim Hopper up the wall!
Max and Lucas are a couple.
Dustin is returning from Science Camp.
Will seems a little lost and left behind.
Jonathan and Nancy are interning at the local newspaper.
Steve is working... in the mall... at an ice cream shop... in a sailor outfit... yeah Steve isn't doing so well.
Meanwhile, Max's unstable step-brother Billy has somehow secured the position of lifeguard at the local pool, giving Mrs. Wheeler the perfect excuse to ogle the young man.
At the same time, Joyce Byers is still recovering from the tragic loss of Bob Newby.
It seems like finally, the world of our heroes in Hawkins Indiana is at peace... or is it?
Is there a tension in the air? A subtle unease under the surface, of small things happening beneath notice that hint of... dangerous events about to happen?
Well... if that wasn't the case, it wouldn't be Stranger Things would it?
Out of the three seasons of the series so far, this one might be the most “Eighties” of all of them.
I'm not referring to the various references and dips into nostalgia, although all of those are welcome. No, if you were to strip the story down to a simple synopsis, it would read very much like a horror novel off the same shelf as Stephen King, Dean Koontz or Clive Barker:
Hawkins Indiana was a normal, quiet town, preparing for a spectacular Fourth of July Celebration, as unnoticed around them, THEY moved in the shadows....
Interning at her small town newspaper over the summer, Nancy Wheeler just wanted a chance to be a reporter, when she stumbled onto something more sinister than she ever could have expected.
Old ladies reporting strange sights in their basement. Lifeguards disappearing from their post. Mysterious voices on the air waves. What did it mean?
A nightmare was gathering, growing, preparing to unleash hell upon Nancy and everyone she loved.
While the first season, in both it's tone and it's story beats, drew very much from the government paranoia that started in the seventies and lingered into the early eighties, the new season dives into “Suburbia Paranoia,” of the normal surface of everyday Americans lives hiding something sinister under the surface, like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Stepford Wives, Halloween 3: Season of the Witch and The Stuff.
The monster this season, the latest incarnation of “The Mind Flayer” feels very much like a concept straight from the horror stories of the time but realized with modern effects.
Being set in 1985, the series can now draw from the trends of the time, not just fitness aerobics, New Coke et cetera, but the tone of the time, the optimism, the good natured humor, even a little of the patriotism as well as the undercurrents of cynicism and rampant consumerism. Balancing both the horrifying pessimism of Day of the Dead and the hopeful camaraderie of Back to the Future.
(Hopefully the next season will draw inspiration from the greatest movie of all time: Big Trouble in Little China.)
Overall, the story and the execution are all solid. Unlike some other recent television series, this season does not self-destruct, for anyone looking for engaging entertainment, there's still very little out there that can compete with Stranger Things, so it still gets a recommendation. It's worth watching.
All that said... the series has some issues that will become major problems the longer the showrunners don't address them.
I cannot discuss them without revealing Spoilers, so our Curiosity Voyage will have to be continued in part 2....
Thank For Reading, Please Watch, Comment & Share
Let's start with the hype.
Godzilla in 2014 proved to be a reasonable, though not spectacular, success, both fans and normies were appeased, for the most part, and anticipation for the sequel was positive. Then, after a tense four years, the first teaser trailer dropped.
It showed glimpses of Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah set to a version of “Claire de lune,” evoking a sense of beauty and wonder, two thing normies don't usually associate with “monster” movies, but to any knowledgeable kaiju fan... it was perfect.
The second trailer: fight hype. Setting up to this building crescendo as Godzilla and King Ghidorah RUN at each other.
From there it only got better. Director Michael Dougherty, at first a questionable choice, proved himself to be a genuine and learned fan of the genre. Poster drops, music drops, teaser clips etc. The marketing was absolutely perfect to appeal to the hardcore Godzilla fanbase.
A fanbase, I should point out, that HAS NEVER BEEN CATERED TO, EVER.
Frankly, one could be forgiven to wish the film would never be released, if it only meant one could live perpetually in this hype machine. Because, once the film was released for all to see, THEN the division would begin. Some will love it. Some fans will hate it. The reactions of the critics and the normies would take it's toll, the precarious future of the series gambled on a big box office total despite very stiff competition.
If the film is flop, then it's back to the status quo of having to defend your love for the series to the regular people who write it off as “silly.”
If the film is a success, then you have to defend your love of the film to the “genre snobs” who INSIST that America cannot do Godzilla right.
It used to be there was “No Rest for the Wicked,” if true, social media must be turning us all wicked, because there never seems to be any rest.
Has it lived up to the hype? Nothing ever really lives up to it's own hype. Did Godzilla: King of the Monsters live up to what all this marketing promised?
Absolutely.
Is this the best Godzilla film ever made? No.
Is it better than Godzilla '98? Absolutely.
Is it better than the anime Godzilla films? Absolutely.
Is it better than Godzilla 2014? Depends on your taste.
G-2014 was an introduction, for none-fans to the character and lifelong fans to this new version of Godzilla's story. So Godzilla's more modest amount of screentime makes sense. It's a baseline fully intended to be escalated by any movies that follow. So complaining that there is less “buildup” and the the monsters have “too much” screentime... is ridiculous to say the least. Still, some people are going to prefer G-2014's more “man on the ground” perspective over KOTM's straight leap into kaiju fantasy and that's fine. But, as is part of point of the film, once a giant monster strides through, the world is inevitably forever changed.
After five years, that fallout is very much what Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Dr. Graham (Sally Hawkins) are dealing with, as more kaiju continue to be discovered and a panicking world insists they must all be destroyed. Meanwhile, Monarch continues to study the creatures, including a certain giant caterpiller, where Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) may have discovered the key to controlling them. Only for the bad guys (lead by Charles Dance) to reach them first.
Bringing in estranged husband and father, Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler), a man seething in bitterness over the loss of their son in the first kaiju attack, it isn't long before they figure out what the bad guy's first stop is... the location of a kaiju code named: Monster Zero.
From there, the kaiju action virtually never lets up, as more monsters are released and Godzilla struggles against his two most dangerous opponents: King Ghidorah and Mankind.
For those who have been wanting a kaiju monster brawl made on the scale of a 200 million dollar budget, featuring the three headliners of the genre: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah, this film is a sixty year dream come true.
The visual effects are incredible, blending in seamlessly with the beautiful cinematography to create some of the best images of the entire series. Unfortunately, they are still computer generated visual effects, which means some scenes do suffer from a lack of clarity. Shots in bright sunlight are avoided in favor of nighttime or stormy skies. With each second of the monster scenes costing tens of thousands of dollars, the editing can be very choppy, combined with the often ground level view of the action, the kaiju combat is not always as clear as it could be if it were done with suits. But if after Cloverfield, Pacific Rim and Godzilla (2014) you expect absolute clarity in a modern CG kaiju film, you are clearly deluded.
The complaints about the human character's are also perfectly valid. The performances are all perfectly solid, everyone delivering a good performance of what's given them, which just is not very much. The humans don't really have a “story” so much as they have a “plot.” While the Russell's have a skeleton of an emotional arc, it almost seems to be there by accident. While it's clear their marriage was destroyed by the loss of their son, we never even get a real scene with that son or even a scene showing us the damage it caused to them. As far as movies are concerned, Hollywood seems completely unable to “human” anymore in their storytelling, to really flesh out characters or connect them to the audience.
However the personalities of the monsters all shine bright. Mothra is feminine and protective. Rodan is an unpredictable whirlwind. Godzilla is his usual charming self but the star that shines brightest, is King Ghidorah. While Ghidorah has been a mainstay of the series for over fifty years, the films never really gave him a personality or even ascribed to him an “aura,” a weight of emotion. This film treats Ghidorah as the villain he is supposed to be, a malevolent force asserting his dominance over the earth. FINALLY we get a Ghidorah where each of his three heads shows a personality, each one competing to be more vicious, more evil than the others and a Ghidorah that truly gives Godzilla a fight for his title. If nothing else, this is the best King Ghidorah we have ever seen.
And the score by Bear McCreary is spectacular. While Alexandre Desplat's score was serviceable, it is difficult watching a Godzilla film without THE theme. Now, we get to hear it, layered in with taiko drums and further orchestration to create the epic sound this series deserves.
But really, while all of this fanservice is always appreciated, why should that matter if you can't see through the “muddy” visuals, what compensation is there for the fan to overlook that?
Well, if nothing else, how about an American adaptation that pretty much sticks to the of sixty-five years of lore for this series. All of the monsters are exactly who they are supposed to be, even this more benevolent turn by Godzilla is not unprecedented. There are even some interesting new ideas added to the mix I'm sure fans will be debating the merits of for years to come, but none honestly feel alien to the material.
What about for the casuals? What good is the underdeveloped human story for them?
Well, it may be starved, but at least as a plot it isn't broken, unlike G-2014, which killed it's main character in the first act, leaving the movie with no narrative at all. I call that a definite win.
So, yet again like every Godzilla film ever made, it has certain strengths and certain weaknesses. It's an empty calorie blockbuster, a fun time on a Saturday afternoon, just like the vast majority of the series.
And I Love This Movie.
Thank You for Reading. Please Comment, Follow and Share around with anyone who doubts the quality of this movie.