Human Level Antagonists in Godzilla 2?

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Quite simple, should there be human level antagonists in Godzilla 2. One of my biggest complaints in the film is the lack of anything for the human characters to do thus making their scenes tedious to sit through. In many a Godzilla movie the main characters usually have a human or alien threat to give them something to do in the film, the Red Bamboo, the Kilaaks, the Selgina assassins, the Saradian agent etc. Even something like a smaller scale monster like the Meganuron or the juvenile Destoroyah. I'd personally love something like a doomsday or satanic cult worshiping Ghidorah as the multi-headed dragon of the Apocalypse. Or maybe some rogue military unit or subdivision of Monarch obsessed with trying to use the monsters as weapons. Not only would it give the human characters something to do but add some much needed action when the kaiju themselves are not on the screen.

[Noble Saber]

How about the leader of a private security company who plans to militarize Kaiju by creating a Kaiju that's let loose on a city, and then have that Kaiju be defeated by a gang of smaller Kaiju, in order to reduce military casualties?

[G2000]

Terrorist groups and foreign governments trying to use kaiju to their advantage make for good foes.

[Space Hunter M]

I guess I'd like rioting and looting to be explored or just shown in passing. You always have the evacuation scenes, and Raids Again DID have the awkwardly staged convict transfer subplot, though the script apparently went into detail about the plundering that went on in Osaka. There was also that played for laughs bit in the 1998 film.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

I guess I'd like rioting and looting to be explored or just shown in passing. You always have the evacuation scenes, and Raids Again DID have the awkwardly staged convict transfer subplot, though the script apparently went into detail about the plundering that went on in Osaka. There was also that played for laughs bit in the 1998 film.

It's the smaller details like that which I would love to see that have been mostly unexplored in kaiju films.

[Breakdown]

I like the idea in the OP of a cult that worships Godzilla or another kaiju. You have to consider the kind of immense impact their presence would have on religion across the world. They'd scramble to incorporate Godzilla into their version of the bible. Some would think he's a god, others a demon.

Another idea for a human antagonist would be a government official that doesn't care for the scientific value Godzilla has, and only wants him destroyed; even if human lives are lost in the process. A ruthless, no bullshit type of person. A rouge nation attempting to use the monsters as weapons (Luring them to enemy positions via sonar calls, pheromones, etc) would be interesting and plausible as well.

[Mechagigan]

The cultists and riot ideas are both really cool ones, I think.

I imagine they'll probably look at the whole 'Tragic' aspect of Godzilla a bit more in G2, maybe bringing back the whole study vs. eliminate debate from G2K. Done the right way, it's a really smart clash for a monster movie; On one hand, the monster can and probably will try to kill everyone and destroy everything it can, but on the other, something so strange and powerful should be fully studied and understood to prevent it's destruction from happening again. That conflict itself could be the 'antagonist', if the people on whatever opposing side aren't.

My only problem with that idea is that, as with G2K, usually one view is right(The Godzilla Network guys) and one is wrong(Mr."I'll-Send-Flowers"). It'd be better if neither groups were completely stable and had an equal amount of ups and downs, but maybe one major player on one side was corrupt and took it too far.

Just to be clear, G2K did try to explore this, but it didn't take it as far as it could've.

[Breakdown]

The "study vs eliminate" thing was in Gojira too. In fact, I recall the room going silent when Dr. Yamane fired back at the military guy saying that Godzilla cannot be killed, and that if Godzilla survived a nuclear fallout then our weapons won't even scratch him.

Just imagine in our hysteria filled world today how people would react to hearing that. A 108 meter tall prehistoric monster that, as far as we're concerned, cannot be killed. The only thing that comes close is ANOTHER giant monster of equal or greater destructive potential.

[Tyrant28]

I would like to see terrorist organization using the upcoming threat of kaiju to their advantage.

I feel in the sequel we will have an ordeal similar to what Batman v Superman is doing: The world is going in to conflict over to either consider Godzilla a deity or a devil.

[Space Hunter M]

Terrorists are dum

[Jomei]

One of my biggest complaints in the film is the lack of anything for the human characters to do

Well, that's possibly because you didn't pay attention to the film.

+breaking into exclusionary zone
+traveling to Japan to get father out of jail
+protecting kid separated from his parents
+helping transport a nuke (and then diving off a bridge to escape a MUTO attack)
+skydiving into a virtual war zone between two kaiju
+removing nuke from MUTO nest
+destroying MUTO nest
+fighting and dying against MUTO, attacking (and failing to stop) Godzilla
+taking nuke on a boat out into the sea away from a city

Uh, while I still think it's valid to say ATJ and the human cast were not super compelling, it's pure silliness to say they had nothing to do. They did a lot; it just didn't amount to much except where they were undoing previous reckless actions. The problem with the human characters wasn't lack of something to do; it was blandly-written characters and dialogue (post-Cranston).

Anyway, I would like to (and suspect we will) see more of Monarch in the next film.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Yeah all the Monarch cover up stuff and the viral marketing is what really got me interested. It was a huge shame the film did barely anything with them.

[LegendZilla]

Pardon me if I stated this before, but maybe after the events of the first film, the Monarch group gets into deep shit for not handling the monsters properly and are forcibly disbanded. A new faction is established to fill in their void, but this new group is much more sinister and corrupt.

[Gojira1604]

What about a cult of Mothra worshipers, with two high twin priests who get kidnapped by this antagonist human. Maybe an assassin like in Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster.

[Legendary Gojira]

How about the leader of a private security company who plans to militarize Kaiju by creating a Kaiju that's let loose on a city, and then have that Kaiju be defeated by a gang of smaller Kaiju, in order to reduce military casualties?

Ah...I see what you did there.

[BlankAccount]

One of my biggest complaints in the film is the lack of anything for the human characters to do

Well, that's possibly because you didn't pay attention to the film.

+breaking into exclusionary zone
+traveling to Japan to get father out of jail
+protecting kid separated from his parents
+helping transport a nuke (and then diving off a bridge to escape a MUTO attack)
+skydiving into a virtual war zone between two kaiju
+removing nuke from MUTO nest
+destroying MUTO nest
+fighting and dying against MUTO, attacking (and failing to stop) Godzilla
+taking nuke on a boat out into the sea away from a city

Uh, while I still think it's valid to say ATJ and the human cast were not super compelling, it's pure silliness to say they had nothing to do. They did a lot; it just didn't amount to much except where they were undoing previous reckless actions. The problem with the human characters wasn't lack of something to do; it was blandly-written characters and dialogue (post-Cranston).

Anyway, I would like to (and suspect we will) see more of Monarch in the next film.

So essentially they did nothing.

They're on the west coat, the wind blows east a lot of times. There's gonna be fallout. All they did was stop the city from blowing up, there's still gonna be irradiated dust being blown into the city.

And after seeing the Muto get harmed by electricity the military....just used rockets instead of a trap using electricity or even napalm or chemical weapons.

[kamilleblu]

^ I can't remember at the moment. Was the nuke still counting down while in the MUTO nest?

[Jomei]

One of my biggest complaints in the film is the lack of anything for the human characters to do

Well, that's possibly because you didn't pay attention to the film.

+breaking into exclusionary zone
+traveling to Japan to get father out of jail
+protecting kid separated from his parents
+helping transport a nuke (and then diving off a bridge to escape a MUTO attack)
+skydiving into a virtual war zone between two kaiju
+removing nuke from MUTO nest
+destroying MUTO nest
+fighting and dying against MUTO, attacking (and failing to stop) Godzilla
+taking nuke on a boat out into the sea away from a city

Uh, while I still think it's valid to say ATJ and the human cast were not super compelling, it's pure silliness to say they had nothing to do. They did a lot; it just didn't amount to much except where they were undoing previous reckless actions. The problem with the human characters wasn't lack of something to do; it was blandly-written characters and dialogue (post-Cranston).

Anyway, I would like to (and suspect we will) see more of Monarch in the next film.

So essentially they did nothing.

They're on the west coat, the wind blows east a lot of times. There's gonna be fallout. All they did was stop the city from blowing up, there's still gonna be irradiated dust being blown into the city.

And after seeing the Muto get harmed by electricity the military....just used rockets instead of a trap using electricity or even napalm or chemical weapons.

Not having ideal outcomes =/= not DOING anything. One of the themes of the film is that mankind's efforts are relatively futile in the face of bigger natural forces, but I know that basic level of analysis is challenging for a lot of fans. And, for the record, in a fictional context, you can really only interpret what is shown to you in the film--not what you assume will happen after the events of the film based on even good science. The film shows the removal of the nuke to be relatively successful, so, pending a second film depicting fallout, it doesn't really matter what the actual real-world outcome of such a plan would be.

Also... "a trap using electricity"? I think you're confusing this with the Showa series. Why don't they try dropping an anvil on the MUTOs next? MEEP MEEP

[KManX89]

I'd love to see a modern-day take on the EDF (Earth Defense Force) in this, reimagined a bit to fit the grounded setting of this franchise. A Monarch subdivision, too. Who knows? Maybe they could give us the Muto Research Team from the G14 viral vids on YouTube and have that be the Monarch subdivision, just an idea.

[EmperorGhidorah]

I find human level antagonists to be rather unnecessary in kaiju movies. I am not necessarily opposed to the idea of having them but if there weren't any human antagonist in Godzilla 2, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.