#So... it's like I have to sacrifice the real-world impact of the most invasive species on Earth to avoid it. Yknow? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sepublic · 5 years

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Just watched Godzilla: King of the Monsters last night...

My general feelings are the same as the fans- It’s pretty good, and the critics are honestly forgetting to have fun. Sure, you can go on about how the film had a basic plot or whatever, but by the end of the day it had amazing Kaiju action, screen time, and love for the source material.

I particularly like how King Ghidorah was handled. When I first heard about Tywin Lannister- I mean, Jonah, and his role in the film, I was worried Ghidorah would take a backseat to him. I had concerns he’d just be a controlled minion and lackey of a human, and while Ghidorah admittedly has tended to be in the control of smaller species before, I was still hesitant.

The film, lo and behold, assuaged all of my concerns. Ghidorah was presented full-force as the true antagonist of the film, with the human villains’ actions basically amounting to just waking him up, which was what I’d hoped for the film. Otherwise, Ghidorah is his own master, and he is a genuine beast of a villain and a true contender towards Godzilla. He was his own master, which honestly reflects the whole theme of man not being able to control nature better than my feared alternative.

Another thing I appreciated about Ghidorah was how they embraced his alien nature. I noticed in both the source material and the film that while the other Kaiju (I prefer to call them that over Titans) are given typical Latin-y, science names, thus providing the idea that they’re natural creatures... Ghidorah is instead referred to exclusively as Monster Zero.

I mean, not only is this a wonderfully fitting homage to the source material, but it really sets up Ghidorah as thematically different and alien from the rest of the Kaiju, even before the literal revelation that he’s a space invader. Likewise, I like how the writers used this part of his backstory not only as a thematic, character-related realization, but also as a means to set up Ghidorah thematically as a rival against Godzilla.

Godzilla is naturally from Earth and defending others, and while a little hostile, ultimately means well and is the true King of Monsters. Meanwhile, Ghidorah is a space imperialist, an invasive species and a false king. He’s an usurper, and so alien that something like the Oxygen Destroyer, which relies on some fundamental rules of Earth’s life, has no effect against it. Ghidorah seems to defy the laws of nature (well, moreso than the other Kaiju if we’re being honest) and is very clearly not meant to be there. The fact that this just contributes to the challenge of the human antagonists’ assertions of Ghidorah being needed to ‘balance’ nature is just the cherry on top.

(Also, I love how Lefty is the one that gets bullied by the Middle Head... yet by the end of the day, Middle Head dies the most brutal death of the heads while Lefty outlives the others and is slated to more or less continue Ghidorah’s legacy of rampage in some fashion. The meek shall inherit the earth, after all!)

So, yeah- Film was good, and the humans I actually liked. At worst they’re just THERE, in my opinion- Even Emma Russell, whom I’ve seen others criticize as kind of a traitor (not too wrongfully), at least means well and tries to be as practical as possible with her actions. She makes a point of wanting to wait for Isla de Mara (Marra?) to be properly evacuated and only releases Rodan amidst the presence of human lives when pressured to do so, under the belief that it’s her only chance. The Kaiju are shown to have a positive impact on nature in the form of some Life Radiation or something- Ridiculous by real world standards, but it’s a freaking Kaiju film. Who cares if it’s dumb?!

Regardless, this point of Kaijus’ contribution to nature makes Russell’s actions make more sense. This, and the fact that she, again, is very deliberate on sparing humanity as much as she can, is horrified when Ghidorah acts otherwise, and ultimately realizes the error of her ways and willingly sacrifices herself to at least TRY to fix things, kind of makes her better than the MCU’s Thanos, in one regard.

(I love Thanos and all, but my admittedly biggest disappointment in his film portrayal is the fact that we never see him get humbled and be forced to learn his lesson. He never realizes the error of his ways and criticizes himself for his foolishness like in the comics- Which sucks, because if he had then the Avengers would have not only beaten him physically in Endgame but also ideologically as well.)

That aside, I’m pretty excited to see what direction the films will take. I like that the Muto is able to return, and while I was a bit hesitant and disappointed with the Titans being new characters, I’ve definitely warmed up to one of them, Behemoth.

I’ve also noticed that there are technically nine Kaiju we never see on film, which opens up the possibility of introducing some of the more classic monsters to the Monsterverse. While we already have codenames for them based on mythology, the films can always just explain it away by saying that the mythological names were given based more on location of the Kaiju and less on actual appearance, or whatever.

I think the whole ‘not revealing the remaining nine Kaiju’ was a smart move by Legendary. This way, if they ever feel like introducing a new monster, they can just as easily explain it as one of the remaining nine- And that isn’t even taking into consideration the idea that there are other Kaiju that Monarch didn’t locate, which is no stretch considering the whole Hollow Earth reveal.

Speaking of that- I wonder if the Hollow Earth, as well as the revelation of humans who once worshipped the Kaiju and even had an underwater city, will be used to introduce the Seatopians... Or Atlanteans, as the films would probably call them for obvious reasons. The Seatopians in their debut lived underground (which fits with the Hollow Earth in KOTM) and worshipped Megalon (which fits with the whole ‘ancient civilizations worshipped Kaiju’ approach).

I could see the films potentially introducing the Atlanteans as having been living underground during all this time in the Hollow Earth. Their reasons for summoning Megalon to attack the rest of humanity could be the same as in their debut, or be related to accusations of heresy towards humans not respecting the ‘gods’, or maybe a bit of both.

Of the nine unrevealed Kaiju, I’d like to see Megalon (as discussed above), as well as Anguirus (a classic), Baragon, Ebirah, Manda, etc. Maybe Kumonga could be introduced, or they could just retcon Scylla as Kumonga (Scylla comes from its scientific name Titanus Scylla, and as we all know the Kaijus’ scientific names aren’t always accurate to their current names, so...).

Other Kaiju I’d like to see are Biollante and Hedorah, who both work as natural extensions of the world-building and themes established in the films. Biollante can easily become an extension of the humans’ black market of Kaiju DNA and desire to have their own monster they can control. Either way, I’d still like for the tragic aspect of Biollante’s origins (as a misguided attempt to preserve one’s daughter) to be kept, as I think it just works in general.

Hedorah can, again, be set up as a thematic opponent to Godzilla. Both were created as allegories for human destruction of the environment, and seeing as how KOTM discussed pointedly how humans have polluted Earth, this could easily be seen as a plot point; Perhaps humans are polluting even more now, under the assumption that the Kaiju will just clean it up. Alternatively, the remaining waste has been piled up into one spot...

Either way, Hedorah comes into being as a monument to mankind’s infection. Godzilla, who has already been framed as a paragon of Nature and one who sets the balance right, is a clear opponent for Hedorah. Likewise, a film about Hedorah can also continue the discussion of humanity’s placement on Earth, perhaps musing that like Ghidorah we too are invasive and terraforming the planet to our own desires.

So that’s already a LOT of potential Kaiju and films to keep into account (not to mention King Kong’s fated match with Godzilla next year), but there’s still more with the post-credits scene! Jonah survives, and as a faithful Ghidorah stan he buys Lefty from some fishermen with obvious plans for the future.

Now, I’ve seen people discuss as to what the head will be used for- Perhaps it’ll be nurtured back to health (or partial-health, bringing in Mecha Ghidorah). Ghidorah IS Godzilla’s true arch nemesis, so more films with him certainly sounds nice.

Alternatively, his cells, in combination with the Oxygen Destroyer’s effects, could be used to create Destoroyah. And there’s also Bagan, who was born of Ghidorah’s cells and Godzilla’s as well.

Personally, I think the best scenario is to do... all of the above. Cells CAN grow and regenerate, and Ghidorah already has plenty of regenerative prowess. While Lefty is properly nurtured back to health, I can see Jonah taking DNA samples to experiment with, thus leading to the aforementioned Kaiju. Eventually, Ghidorah returns but in a weakened Mecha state, thus allowing him to fight alongside other villains without making things too hard for Godzilla, before he finally casts aside his metal shackles and fully recovers, leading to a true rematch.

So those are all of the potential Kaiju discussed- But now I want to get into baseless territory and do some wild speculation. If there’s one Kaiju I’d really like to see, its Gigan.

With Gigan, I’d really like to see the films full-on embrace just how WEIRD he looks, because Gigan doesn’t really look like any particular animal. I mean, he does bare a passing resemblance to a penguin, but otherwise he’s an unmistakable alien, with his red visor, metal hook-claws, and buzzsaw chest.

I think embracing this alien nature of Gigan and making it more obvious will help differentiate him from Ghidorah, alongside one other achievement- Making Godzilla bleed.

I noticed that Godzilla didn’t bleed in this film, which I was personally happy about. If Gigan does appear, I’d prefer that honor to be reserved for him, like in the source material- Because if one thing has been established about Gigan, it’s that he’s one of Godzilla’s most VIOLENT enemies.

And I’d really like for the filmmakers to emphasize that, too, as a contrast to Ghidorah. I want them to show Gigan brutally cutting up his enemies, bathing in blood, and a bunch of other edgy stuff. Perhaps he’ll be commanded by aliens like in his debut, but his bloodlust will be so strong that he’ll occasionally veer from his orders so he can kill an extra few hundred humans, just because he wants to. I think this’d characterize Gigan as violent and a little unhinged, in contrast to Ghidorah.

Ghidorah is still, of course, very violent himself- But he can still be sensible. While Ghidorah is the reserved, stoic villain, Gigan could be the cackling mad murderer who relishes in the sport and gets distracted by it.

Further discussing Gigan, I wonder if the films can embrace the whole ‘alien invader’ aspect of the films by having an alien race attack Earth. They could be commanding an unruly Gigan (further differentiating him from natural leader Ghidorah) as they do generic evil-stuff... I can see the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens (or Nebulans) being his masters, although if Legendary wants to streamline the whole Alien invader thing, they can just have one species; Probably the Xiliens, or maybe the Kilaaks.

Likewise, these aliens can be recurring antagonists (with Zaguresu from Godzilla Island being a major villain), perhaps responsible for sending creating Ghidorah and sending him to Earth in the first place. Alternatively, it’s just Gigan- Either way, I’d like for aliens to also play a role in Mechagodzilla.

Briefly going off on yet ANOTHER tangent, I like that while the humans had a role in KOTM, the film ultimately recognized that the fight against Ghidorah was the monsters’ fight, and didn’t have humans hogging the action (like in Bayformers). Like in the source material, I’d prefer for the Oxygen Destroyer’s first use to be the most effective human attack on Godzilla- From there on, the humans just kind of have to play a support role amidst the Kaiju battles, in the spirit of the franchise.

I say this because I’d prefer the conflicts to primarily be between Kaiju (although Manda dying by the human creation Gotengo is fine). Likewise, if Mechagodzilla is made, it makes more sense (to me at least, if they introduce aliens) that it’d be made by aliens, what with its complex AI and overall effectiveness in battle. Of course, I can see the films incorporating the concept of Kiryu through the use of human tech combined with Kaiju remains. But for the most part I don’t want humans interfering or messing with Kaiju- the Kaiju are the bigger, badder kings of the planet and the franchise and the films have already made a point of humanity needing to co-exist, not fight, the Kaiju. Having them be on equal footing kind of bothers me, personally.

All in all, Godzilla: King of the Monsters was a great film. It did a lot of effective world building that helped pave the road for so many stories, and I’m excited for more!

(Also, on one final tangent- I hope King Kong makes effective usage of his intelligence and wielding of tools as an advantage against Godzilla in the next film)

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