Re: Kaiju Fan Confessions
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 9:08 pm
I must say at the very least the new films are reminding me of what I enjoyed (and sometimes am missing in current films) about the genre.
For the most part, the best film have a good mix of destruction, but also other action (ie monster fights) to keep things interesting.Tyrant_Lizard_King wrote:For me a large part of my enjoyment in kaiju films is the destruction and watched the might of man's military fail miserably in the face of the kaiju's overwhelming power. Sadly most recent kaiju films have eschewed most of that to focus purely on monster fights. I love a good monster fight but there's way more to kaiju films that just that. Sadly that's all most recent films seem to care about.
Heck someone at Toho was toying with the idea of having an entire Heisei movie be all about naval battles.Tyrant_Lizard_King wrote:Yeah Heisei loved to have those big naval battle setpieces. Practically every film of the era has one.
The most egregious part is that the Monsterverse repeatedly sets up big monster-military battles but never delivers, oftentimes having them happen offscreen. In G2014 we see the immediate aftermath of a battle with the FeMUTO, with destroyed Abrams tanks being washed down a river, and the script originally contained some more scenes of Godzilla sparring with the military at the Golden Gate Bridge (specifically a strike by F-35s targeting Godzilla's gills, drawing him onto Alcatraz Island).Tyrant_Lizard_King wrote:For me a large part of my enjoyment in kaiju films is the destruction and watched the might of man's military fail miserably in the face of the kaiju's overwhelming power. Sadly most recent kaiju films have eschewed most of that to focus purely on monster fights. I love a good monster fight but there's way more to kaiju films that just that. Sadly that's all most recent films seem to care about.
I agree about the Rodan vs. Mothra fight, although the ending of the fight with Mothra bringing her stinger into play was pretty awesome. That somewhat redeemed it for me.Living Corpse wrote:There's also a serious lack of onscreen destruction. At least Kong and Rodan gave us some.
Also as much as I love KOTM I am pissed most of Rodan and Mothra's fight is offscreen or both being entangled in a ball of destruction like Bayformers. After how well the fight between Rodan and the fighter jets was done, there is no excuse for why his fight with Mothra wasn't at least equal to Gamera and Iris' air fight in Gamera 3. You're getting your ass beat by a 20 year old Japanese film made with less money and older tech, come on Hollywood!
I'm glad they had one fight in Hong Kong. We may not have gotten much in the military fight but damn the city being wrecked was fun, cool visuals too with the neon lights.Tyrant_Lizard_King wrote:Even Pacific Rim, which I love, is all about the fights. Though it was a very concious decision by Del Toro to not focus on those things.
Closest thing I can think of is Bio-Major hiring mercenaries to steel Godzilla cells and all the other corporate espionage in Godzilla vs Biollante. The idea a secret war breaks out between what is the equivalent of everyday companies like CVS and Walgreens is so ridiculous that is awesome.Jetty_Jags wrote:Really I didn't know that. The one thing that I do love about Pacific rim, is the world building. While not groundbreaking, ideas like the kaiju black-market are pretty interesting (I'm pretty sure this has never been done before but I can't tell).
It really isn't. Pacific Rim is about humanity more than anything. Most of the movie's runtime is dedicated to building the relationship between Mako, Stacker, and Raleigh and the trials and tribulations of a world coming together despite their geographical differences to save the planet.Tyrant_Lizard_King wrote:Even Pacific Rim, which I love, is all about the fights.
I think he means in terms of the kaiju action it’s primarily focused on fights as opposed to city destruction or monster vs military scenes. And it’s true that Del Toro tried to avoid things like that - while Hong Kong gets thrashed pretty good del Toro intentionally makes it clear that the buildings are abandoned to make the destruction “guiltless,” and he’s ideologically fairly anti-military in general hence why the only monster vs military scenes are brief flashbacks at the very beginning and he intentionally portrayed the PPDC as a fairly non-militarized organization (Stacker is seen in a uniform exactly once and wears a civilian suit for the majority of the film, use of titles like “Ranger” as opposed to real military ranks, etc.)UltramanGoji wrote:It really isn't. Pacific Rim is about humanity more than anything. Most of the movie's runtime is dedicated to building the relationship between Mako, Stacker, and Raleigh and the trials and tribulations of a world coming together despite their geographical differences to save the planet.Tyrant_Lizard_King wrote:Even Pacific Rim, which I love, is all about the fights.
I agree wholeheartedly, Pacific Rim is the best American film of the Kaiju Renaissance and the best US kaiju film in generalHedorahIsBestGirl wrote:Let's be serious, Pacific Rim is way, way better than all three MonsterVerse films. Better characters, better action, better world-building. It's a damn shame the sequel was such a letdown.
Oh, I don’t know, I think it could work as a comic series like those old Dark Horse crossovers or an animated spinoff. Have a whole idea about how it might work. A full-on film or series might be a hard sell.That said, I really don't want a Pacific Rim/MonsterVerse crossover like some others do. I'm still not entirely onboard with Legendary's Godzilla and Kong sharing a universe, I don't think we need to mix in another franchise with its own separate mythology.
Ah, now I see. Yeah, that makes sense. I really think PR's fights are the best monster-vs-monster action we've gotten from the Kaiju Renaissance. Visually dynamic and easy to follow, even with visual noise like rain and neon lights.G2000 wrote:I think he means in terms of the kaiju action it’s primarily focused on fights as opposed to city destruction or monster vs military scenes. And it’s true that Del Toro tried to avoid things like that - while Hong Kong gets thrashed pretty good del Toro intentionally makes it clear that the buildings are abandoned to make the destruction “guiltless,” and he’s ideologically fairly anti-military in general hence why the only monster vs military scenes are brief flashbacks at the very beginning and he intentionally portrayed the PPDC as a fairly non-militarized organization (Stacker is seen in a uniform exactly once and wears a civilian suit for the majority of the film, use of titles like “Ranger” as opposed to real military ranks, etc.)UltramanGoji wrote:It really isn't. Pacific Rim is about humanity more than anything. Most of the movie's runtime is dedicated to building the relationship between Mako, Stacker, and Raleigh and the trials and tribulations of a world coming together despite their geographical differences to save the planet.Tyrant_Lizard_King wrote:Even Pacific Rim, which I love, is all about the fights.
Add me onto that list as well.G2000 wrote:I agree wholeheartedly, Pacific Rim is the best American film of the Kaiju Renaissance and the best US kaiju film in generalHedorahIsBestGirl wrote:Let's be serious, Pacific Rim is way, way better than all three MonsterVerse films. Better characters, better action, better world-building. It's a damn shame the sequel was such a letdown.