GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS Reviews Are Mixed; Is Great Action Enough To Make Up For A Bad Story?

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS Reviews Are Mixed; Is Great Action Enough To Make Up For A Bad Story?

After initial Twitter reactions, Godzilla: King of the Monsters seemed to be a big hit with critics, but with the Tomatometer saying otherwise, it may come down to how much people love monster movies...

By Dragonsfoe - May 28, 2019 11:05 PM EST
Filed Under: Godzilla
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
Godzilla: King of the Monsters has had one of the best marketing campaigns in recent memory, with striking and beautiful trailers to accompany the film's brilliant character posters.

The cast is full of star power as well, with Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown catching the attention of general audiences. That being said, the mixed reception to the film was something that no one saw coming, especially with so many positive reactions from press screenings over the past few weeks.

With the review embargo now lifted, critics have gotten the chance to write their extensive thoughts on the film. Check out some highlights below:

Alonso Duralde - The Wrap

Yes, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is ultimately a Saturday matinee writ large, but that’s nothing to sneeze fire at; countless big, expensive action movies fail at making their way into a viewer’s pleasure center, but this one knows exactly how to be, in the truest sense of the word, sensational.


Ben Travis - Empire

What you’re left with is a catastrophically dumb, thunderously boring blockbuster as numbing and unsatisfying as the worst Transformers movies — even one hilariously nutty sub-aquatic development can’t liven things up. King Of The Monsters should be monster fun — instead, it’s a bit of a monstrosity.


Chris Nashawaty - Entertainment Weekly

Before anyone reading this starts complaining that I just don’t get what movies like Godzilla: King of the Monsters are all about, that I’m the sort of killjoy who should just relax, let me say that it would be a lot easier to take it less seriously if the people who made the movie cared enough to take it more seriously.


Scott Collura - IGN

Unfortunately, the film’s plot is needlessly confusing, and not all that smart at times, and the lead characters could’ve used a little more fleshing out. Still, King of the Monsters course corrects from the 2014 film by giving audiences an abundance of monster action, proving that Hollywood can do right by Godzilla and his fellow kaiju.


Mike Ryan - Uproxx

It’s a movie with a convoluted plot and makes no sense (having no plot would have been much better) with nonstop, barely comprehensible monster fights that just go on forever and keep happening. There were times when even Godzilla looked bored. At one point he just goes away for a big part of the movie so he can take a nap and “recharge.” (I’m not making that up.)


Make up your own mind about the movie when Godzilla: King of the Monsters stomps into theaters this weekend.
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TheTick91
TheTick91 - 5/28/2019, 11:12 PM
Wow! Have they seen a Godzilla movie in their life? Humans and plot were never the strong point in these movies.
kylo0607
kylo0607 - 5/28/2019, 11:15 PM
@TheTick91 - True that, but if it's 2 hours of edited monster v monster action (that according to critics is hard to see) and nothing else glues it together, then there might be a reason for concern.

Either way, seeing this in 12 hours and I am hyped!
tmp3
tmp3 - 5/28/2019, 11:20 PM
At this point Brightburn's gonna be the only film I (regrettably) saw in cinemas between Endgame and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. What an insanely dry summer for movies.
AnthonyVonGeek
AnthonyVonGeek - 5/28/2019, 11:21 PM
I dont watch Godzilla movies for the human drama, I watch them for the crazy monster on monster action!!!
Matador
Matador - 5/29/2019, 4:46 AM
@AnthonyVonGeek - DAMN STRAIGHT!!!

(That house had it coming)
Kurne
Kurne - 5/28/2019, 11:23 PM
Before people online start going crazy after a movie got bad reviews for the billionth time, just please consider this -

"Before anyone reading this starts complaining that I just don’t get what movies like Godzilla: King of the Monsters are all about, that I’m the sort of killjoy who should just relax"... just RELAX.
xBandit
xBandit - 5/28/2019, 11:44 PM
@Kurne - Maybe these types of people shouldn't review the movie; "Oh the movie wasn't made for my tastes, might as well go shit on it anyways."
LongMayHeReign
LongMayHeReign - 5/28/2019, 11:57 PM
@xBandit - What is a review if not an expression of a person's certain tastes? If we only let certain people review certain films then we would get nothing but 100% reviews for all films because people who are fans of that particular type of film will love it regardless.
Matador
Matador - 5/29/2019, 4:49 AM
@LongMayHeReign - But at least a fan of the genre would review it by it's merit than a person who loves Mama Mia would review it just to review something.

Who the [frick]s loves Mama Mia?!
Skrull
Skrull - 5/28/2019, 11:25 PM
Sometimes, you just wanna see big-ass monsters beating the shit out of each other. Godzilla promises to give me that. My ticket is bought.

godzilla83
godzilla83 - 5/28/2019, 11:42 PM
Coming from a site where last jedi got 91%, I've always have and always will be my own critic thank you
Humperdink
Humperdink - 5/28/2019, 11:55 PM
@godzilla83 -

I love cheesy Godzilla flicks and I'm going to see this film too, but...

Coming from a site where last jedi got 91%, I've always have and always will be my own critic thank you


1. You do know that the site only aggregates the reviews? Technically they didn't "give" Last Jedi that score, the critics did. Many thought it was an accurate score, too.

2. A film critics job isn't to tell you what to see. If people just followed what critics said Bay's Transformers wouldn't have made so much money and Booksmart would be number one at the theater right now not Aladdin.

If you respect the reputation and relate to the tastes of a specific film critic(s) then they can act as a useful guide. That's about it. Always be your own critic and if you have the money to spare on what could turn out to be a trash film spend it fi you want.



asherman93
asherman93 - 5/29/2019, 12:50 AM
@Humperdink -
"You do know that the site only aggregates the reviews? Technically they didn't "give" Last Jedi that score, the critics did."
Sweet, merciful Christ, THIS!
ThorArms
ThorArms - 5/28/2019, 11:45 PM
Yeah. Seems my prediction is about right. This just didn't look good to me.
CurlyBill
CurlyBill - 5/28/2019, 11:51 PM
Damn.. I don't know about you guys but I was going to see a Godzilla film for the human storyline.
bkmeijer2
bkmeijer2 - 5/29/2019, 12:05 AM
Hey as long as it has monster action, I’m down for it
csims1885
csims1885 - 5/29/2019, 12:18 AM
because that's what made everyone just love tf out of the first Godzilla... The plot.
Kumkani
Kumkani - 5/29/2019, 12:25 AM
I don't know why some people can't think a movie needs to substitute great action for a good plot. It's not as if the best action and comic book movies for the last decade plus.

If Godzilla has a shit plot and great action (and even some are saying that isn't great) then it might not be a good movie. Sure, watch it for the visuals. That's fine. I think it looks stunning. That doesn't mean a script has to go down the toilet.
THEDARKKNIGHT1939
THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - 5/29/2019, 12:27 AM
I'm not too surprised to be honest. Visually it looked beautiful, but all the human elements always gave off bad vibes. I can totally see a situation where the action actually becomes draining too.
LadiesmanBumble
LadiesmanBumble - 5/29/2019, 12:28 AM
I got my ticket for a Saturday matinee showing anyways, so [frick] what the critics say, I want to see kaiju fighting and shit getting destroyed.
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