Godzilla, King of the Monsters

[Lord Liaden]

Kong in the Skull Island movie was already over 100 feet tall, and by the standards of his species was a child. It was mentioned in the movie that he was still growing. And that movie was set nearly fifty years in the past.

 

To match Kong to Godzilla for their first movie meeting in 1962, Kong's height was set at 45 meters, or 148 feet. So "Kaiju Kong," as zslane puts it, was already precedented.

[Starlord]

That's a lot of plant stems and bananas to forage and eat everyday....

[death tribble]

There is a clip on Youtube which goes through the trailer and suggests that Mechagodzilla is in the clip. It is when people are running into the subway, what you see above them may be MechaG

[zslane]

These things have the Square Cube law to deal with (i.e., ignore) and food source insufficiency is what you focus on?

[Starlord]

3 minutes ago, zslane said:

These things have the Square Cube law to deal with (i.e., ignore) and food source insufficiency is what you focus on?

 

At that particular moment?  Yes.

[Lord Liaden]

1 hour ago, zslane said:

These things have the Square Cube law to deal with (i.e., ignore) and food source insufficiency is what you focus on?

 

Kong's also carnivorous. Like in the scene where he ate the giant river octopus. And there are plenty of big packets of walking protein on that island.

 

The square-cube law actually makes logical sense when compared to standard kaiju durability against modern artillery and bombs and such. For things that size to move under their own weight, their flesh and bone has to be stronger than steel and diamond.

 

1 hour ago, death tribble said:

There is a clip on Youtube which goes through the trailer and suggests that Mechagodzilla is in the clip. It is when people are running into the subway, what you see above them may be MechaG

 

There's also a brief view in the trailer of a young Oriental man when an offscreen voice says, "These are dangerous times." If you freeze that view you can see what look like schematics for MechaG in the background.

[zslane]

5 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

For things that size to move under their own weight, their flesh and bone has to be stronger than steel and diamond.

 

Right, and if we are willing to give that implausibility a pass, as we must, then we should also wave the food source problem through the gates as well.

[Pattern Ghost]

As LL pointed out, there's plenty of meat on Skull Island, and Kong is an omnivore*, like all apes.

 

 

*There are more technical terms for ape eating habits, that I can't remember, but they eat a little of everything so I'm just running with the blanket term. Apes tend to mostly eat plant matter and supplement with meat, though some chimp groups hunt a lot more. Usually other primates. Not hard to assume that Kong's species has leaned more toward animal protein given their caloric requirements.

[slikmar]

I also thought that the first movie established that like the MUTOs, Big G lived off of some form of latent radiation. I believe they theorized that most of the titans did.

[zslane]

I don't know if radiation is theorized as their primary form of sustenance or if it is only meant to be the rubber science magic that explains their huge size, longevity, and any superpowers they might have (like atomic breath). I suppose if magic radiation can do the former it can also be the latter. *shrug*

[Lord Liaden]

Hey, don't diss magic radiation. Without it we'd have no Hulk, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and a whole bunch of other cool folks.

[Spence]

On 1/27/2021 at 6:02 PM, Duke Bushido said:

I don't think I've ever seen a Kong that big or a 'Zilla that short.

 

On 1/28/2021 at 11:32 AM, Duke Bushido said:

I don't think I ever realized that 40 feet tall and 400 feet tall were so similar....

 

Yep, and the sad thing is people will go see it and suddenly Hollywood will think Godzilla versus Alvin the Chipmunk is a good idea.

 

But remember, there are people that actually liked Dances with Smurfs. 

[Lord Liaden]

Precedent-wise, it might not be that big a stretch.

 

 

[Dr. MID-Nite]

I'm keeping my expectations low for this one. I had high hopes for KOTM and was let down. In theory, this means it should be easier for Godzilla vs Kong to impress me.

[death tribble]

I like the original. It has charm. It also has Mie Hama who played Kissy Suzuki in You Only Live Twice.

[Lord Liaden]

Personally, I've yet to be disappointed by Legendary's "Monsterverse" movies. By several of the standards of general film making they could definitely have been better, but they gave me plenty of what I go to movies like these for: awesome looking giant monsters in awesome fights.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

14 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

Personally, I've yet to be disappointed by Legendary's "Monsterverse" movies. By several of the standards of general film making they could definitely have been better, but they gave me plenty of what I go to movies like these for: awesome looking giant monsters in awesome fights.

 

To each their own. I found several elements personally disappointing...

 

1) Unfunny one liners dished out by every character throughout the movie.

 

2) Rodan's scenes are almost all in the trailer.

 

3) Mothra is barely in the film at all (after the hype over the additional monsters being in the film).

 

4) They didn't use Ghidorah's classic roar (or even a variation of it).

 

5) Washington is destroyed and they don't show us ANY of it. For that matter, we see almost no actual destruction for such an apocalyptic event. That was unforgivable to me. Even 1968's Destroy All Monsters (made on a miniscule fraction of this film's budget) showed us actual landmarks being destroyed and a superb attack on Tokyo.

 

And for the record, there's always more to the best kaiju films than just monsters fighting.

[Lord Liaden]

As you say, to each their own, and I can't call any of your objections unreasonable. For my part,

 

1) Some of the dialogue was cringe-worthy, but I give full credit to the cast for selling their lines with conviction.

 

2) Many snippets from Rodan's appearances were indeed in the trailer, along with other bits I would have preferred they not reveal in advance. However, seeing the whole 'plane chase in sequence, with Bear McCreary's driving Rodan theme, made it my favorite scene in the movie.

 

3) Mothra's appearances were few, but when she was on screen she made quite an impact. And she proved crucial to the plot.

 

4) I didn't miss Ghidorah's Toho cackle at all. I always found it silly and undercutting to him as a serious menace.

 

5) We didn't get to see Washington being destroyed, but Boston was pretty thoroughly trashed on screen, and that Mexican town was utterly flattened by Rodan. I would have liked to see more, but I was satisfied.

 

"The best kaiju films" is kind of a self-defining category. Aside from the very first Gojira, all of them have featured varying helpings of clumsy plot, thin characterization, clunky dialogue and lame humor. Without the kaiju most of them would be mediocre in those areas. And this is coming from a fan.

[death tribble]

For the record the best Kaiju film is 1974s Godzilla vs Mechgodzilla.

It has Gorilla Aliens. It has King Caesar. It has Anguirus. It has Akihiko Hirata who was in the first Godzilla film.

It is the gold standard

[Dr. MID-Nite]

19 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

As you say, to each their own, and I can't call any of your objections unreasonable. For my part,

 

1) Some of the dialogue was cringe-worthy, but I give full credit to the cast for selling their lines with conviction.

 

2) Many snippets from Rodan's appearances were indeed in the trailer, along with other bits I would have preferred they not reveal in advance. However, seeing the whole 'plane chase in sequence, with Bear McCreary's driving Rodan theme, made it my favorite scene in the movie.

 

3) Mothra's appearances were few, but when she was on screen she made quite an impact. And she proved crucial to the plot.

 

4) I didn't miss Ghidorah's Toho cackle at all. I always found it silly and undercutting to him as a serious menace.

 

5) We didn't get to see Washington being destroyed, but Boston was pretty thoroughly trashed on screen, and that Mexican town was utterly flattened by Rodan. I would have liked to see more, but I was satisfied.

 

"The best kaiju films" is kind of a self-defining category. Aside from the very first Gojira, all of them have featured varying helpings of clumsy plot, thin characterization, clunky dialogue and lame humor. Without the kaiju most of them would be mediocre in those areas. And this is coming from a fan.

 

I could name a half dozen or more kaiju films off the top of my head that are just fine in the areas you seem to think they're deficient in. And clunky dialogue comes mostly from dubbing. Most of the original Japanese dialogue is fine in the majority of these films. "shrugs" We obviously view films completely differently.

[Lord Liaden]

I wouldn't say we necessarily view films, in general, differently. We just have differing perceptions and expectations of these. Helps keep life interesting.

 

[Bazza]

I’m waiting for the crossover King Kong vs Mario & Luigi. 

[Lord Liaden]

1 hour ago, Bazza said:

I’m waiting for the crossover King Kong vs Mario & Luigi. 

 

Along those lines:

 

 

[Bazza]

Yes please.  

[Logan D. Hurricanes]