Wait Aren't The Monsters Gonna Fight?

[BlankAccount]

I've noticed a problem with the general audiences and the daikaiju genera. When they do give these films a chance they seem to go in with a misconception that the whole movie is gonna be nothing but monsters fighting and seem confused that the movies try developing the human characters and their side of the story before monsters even show up.

[NSZ]

It's truly a baffling misconception that I personally would love hearing the origins of.

[Mr_Goji_and_Watch]

"Why do people watch these movies when the characters are so boring? Surely there's a long giant monster fight scene that makes it worth it, right?"


When the majority of giant monster movies have boring characters, people are going to just want to watch the monsters fight and get it over with.

[BlankAccount]

"Why do people watch these movies when the characters are so boring? Surely there's a long giant monster fight scene that makes it worth it, right?"


When the majority of giant monster movies have boring characters, people are going to just want to watch the monsters fight and get it over with.

But most movies, nah, story telling mediums, good or bad, boring or exciting, do try to develop the characters. You should go in expecting that from any movie regardless of the genera it fits in and be surprised when it doesn't try that.

[eabaker]

And, really, how many movies have just exactly one plot point, repeating over and over for the entire duration?

[edgaguirus]

The kaiju are only one part of the film. The humans carry most of the plot, and when you have good, well developed characters it makes for a better movie. Look at G vs the Sea Monster. The main cast is well defined and fleshed out before the monsters ever clash, and that is part of what makes G vs tSM a great movie.

[BlankAccount]

The kaiju are only one part of the film. The humans carry most of the plot, and when you have good, well developed characters it makes for a better movie. Look at G vs the Sea Monster. The main cast is well defined and fleshed out before the monsters ever clash, and that is part of what makes G vs tSM a great movie.

That and the humans figure everything out since the monsters can't really tell us who they are, what they want (outside of killing/beating each other) and what the motive is.

[Rody]

I wonder if people's standards for monster movies are just so low that they expect every movie to be mindless mayhem. It's stupid, but I bet that's part of it.

[Ivo-goji]

People who grow up watching monster movies as kids only remember the monster action and quickly forget about the human drama in those films, which colors their expectations.

[Pkmatrix]

People who grow up watching monster movies as kids only remember the monster action and quickly forget about the human drama in those films, which colors their expectations.

That's got to be at least part of what drives thinking like this. It's probably related to how non-fans will casually cite movies and scenes that don't exist based on half-remembered viewings from their childhood - like how my father was convinced he saw a Godzilla vs Rodan movie on TV as a kid (I'm now certain he was misremembering GTTHM) or how an aunt argued with me insisting that she'd seen Godzilla vs. Gamera as a kid. So not only will some people just completely misremember what they saw, they'll forget the parts they found boring too and just remember the fights leading to these bizarre false memories of Godzilla movies being JUST monster fights or "Godzilla destroys Tokyo and dies every time!"

[LSD Jellyfish]

Well, Godzilla vs Megalon, is mostly like 40 mins of fighting.

And let's also be clear here, many people, especially the fans, love the films specifically for the fights. And a lot of the human plots are mediocre compared to compelling dramas.

[BlankAccount]

Well, Godzilla vs Megalon, is mostly like 40 mins of fighting.

And let's also be clear here, many people, especially the fans, love the films specifically for the fights. And a lot of the human plots are mediocre compared to compelling dramas.

Yes but when the human side of the story is done well, we appracite it and say so.

And yeah we have films that have lots of fighting (Godzilla vs Gigan, Godzilla vs Hedorah, Godzilla vs Biollante, the Kiryu films, Gamera: Advent of Legion) but those are the exceptions, not the rule. Really I think those movies get away with having lots of fighting because they are sequels/reboots made after god knows how many movies, so they don't need to spend time to establish Godzilla (or Gamera) when a previous movie already did that work for them.

[eabaker]

^Sorry to tangentialize, but I would not cite Biollante as a movie with lots of monster fighting; it's only got two pretty brief encounters between its monsters. SpaceGodzilla is easily the Heisei flick with the most screen time devoted to monster on monster action, probably followed by Mechagodzilla or Destoroyah.

[BlankAccount]

^Sorry to tangentialize, but I would not cite Biollante as a movie with lots of monster fighting; it's only got two pretty brief encounters between its monsters. SpaceGodzilla is easily the Heisei flick with the most screen time devoted to monster on monster action, probably followed by Mechagodzilla or Destoroyah.

Well, I mean Godzilla does fight the military a lot in Godzilla vs Biollante, not just the two fights with Biollante and Super-X2.

[eabaker]

^Sorry to tangentialize, but I would not cite Biollante as a movie with lots of monster fighting; it's only got two pretty brief encounters between its monsters. SpaceGodzilla is easily the Heisei flick with the most screen time devoted to monster on monster action, probably followed by Mechagodzilla or Destoroyah.

Well, I mean Godzilla does fight the military a lot in Godzilla vs Biollante, not just the two fights with Biollante and Super-X2.

Gotcha. I was thinking just in terms of monster vs. monster action.

[edgaguirus]

Which is what this topic is about.

Taking the Hesie era, we do get plenty of kaiju action in G vs MG2 and G vs SG. In G vs MG2, the humans do a fair job of building up the story and creating some drama. The monster fights puncuate the film, with the big end fight being an exciting climax. G vs SG doesn't do so well with characters or plot building. Half the movie seems to be the big battle between the three kaiju, trying to cover the lack of compelling people and story with monster combat and visual effects.