La Ron S. Readus
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The MonsterVerse Movies NEED Humans (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2021-04-12 20:01:00 +0000 UTCI was originally afraid I was gonna lose subscribers over this video. Then I remembered I made THIS. So this is fine...
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Readers, I’m just gonna go on and get this out of the way right now. The “human element” in the Legendary MonsterVerse movies -- considering what inspired it -- is necessary for these films to work.
Ever since 2014’s Godzilla came out, one of the main critiques I’ve heard about the MonsterVerse started with “we don’t see enough of Godzilla and the MUTOs,” which -- while debatable in its own right -- is a fair one.
But ever since then, it’s evolved to just not caring about the human side of things for the sake of seeing the monsters fight, when half the time it's the actions of the humans IN THE MOVIE responsible for you getting your desired monster fights, and I’m just trying to figure out why y’all are like this...
Now, I want it on record that I, in no way shape or form, am looking down on those who just want to see monsters cause destruction and mayhem with no narrative reason as to why.
We all had toys growing up. We all had them fight each other, even if they were good guys. And...I’m absolutely sure most of y’all were content with not needing a narrative to explain why they were fighting in the first place.
/And while the majority of you who wanted this had your wish granted with the release of Godzilla Vs. Kong, the movies that came before it in Legendary’s MonsterVerse -- specifically the Godzilla titles -- were, in my opinion, unfairly shunned for not meeting the expectations for a goal they were NEVER trying to achieve in the first place/
Because at the end of the day, the MonsterVerse is both inspired by and takes pages from the the first installment of a franchise that doesn’t really allow you to turn off your brain and just enjoy some dumb fun, despite it having those capabilities. And we have the similarities that the 2014 Godzilla movie shares with the 1954 Japanese classic to thank for why the MonsterVerse is the way it currently is.
No matter how you look at it, the original 1954 Godzilla was a HORROR movie.
Yes, it featured a giant monster wreaking havoc on Japan, but it also featured humanity coming to terms with something it didn’t understand.
/And because it was initially crafted to be an allegory for Japan’s inner trauma for the nuclear fallout they experienced at the tail-end of World War II, we see the impact thats left on the people and how it motivates Dr. Serizawa -- the hero of the film -- to create the oxygen destroyer in order to stop the monster./
Even the 2016 remake of that movie -- Neon Genesis Shin Godzilla -- shows the importance of a monster’s human characters, all while not losing sight of the massive intimidating threat that is Godzilla.
Because at the core of the movie, Shin Godzilla is a political thriller.
/It heavily criticizes the state of the Japanese government, along with the steps that have to be made in order to enact decisions ultimately becoming ineffective in the face of a threat that’s outside of their grasp of control./
/It also criticizes how ready they’re willing to expose the country to decades old trauma for the sake of both economic and infrastructural assistance, when it agrees to the United Nations terms of leveling Tokyo with nuclear bombs to kill Godzilla once they learn he can reproduce asexually, with the promise of supplying the country with the funds and help to rebuild./
/It's these decisions the government makes over the course of the film that drives it’s protagonist Rando Yaguchi -- along with his ragtag team of scientists -- to search for a way to stop Godzilla that doesn’t involve reintroducing the country to nuclear fire, while also trying to solve a problem past the barriers of bureaucratic red tape./
The human condition in the face of the threat of monsters like Godzilla -- and even Kong in the MonsterVerse despite his capability of empathy with lesser species LIKE humans -- is an essential one that is hardwired into this genre, and you can’t really have one without the other.
Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla, the movie that started this whole MonsterVerse experiment, realized this and made something pretty spectacular with it for western audiences.
/It took the essence of the 1954 original -- humanity presented with a devastating threat outside of their control in the form of something both figuratively and literally bigger than them that they don’t understand -- and found a way of tastefully applying the horror caused by these creatures in a way that does justice to the original movie, with the monster-mash spectacle audiences craved, even WITH establishing Godzilla as a destructive enforcer keeping other Titans in line./
/And while Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Ford Brody wasn’t necessarily a PREFERRED main character considering who else on the human side was in the movie, I’d be lying if I said that the character’s POV of a military grunt trying to get home to his wife and child didn’t bring home both the gravity of the situation, and properly illustrate the panic and horror being in the crosshairs of a scenario like this./
I also defend the screen time that was dedicated to both the MUTO and Godzilla himself.
While people critiqued that the cutaways from the monsters to the destruction they left were annoying, the mystery of the destruction leading up to the MUTO’s reveal helped establish how serious of a threat they were.
/And the first time we see Godzilla was so beautifully executed and gave him all of the gravitas he deserved./
It also made his fight with the two MUTO in San Francisco all the more engaging, because those same cutaways and the small snips of the destruction they left in their wake only increased the hype for the actual showdown, which was definitely worth the wait. Unfortunately, a lot of people -- regular moviegoers and critics alike -- didn’t necessarily agree, and wanted more of the spectacle and less of the buildup.
We received a pretty decent compromise in the form of Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
/There were three full bouts between him and King Ghidorah. And not only were both those fights and the horror element from the destruction from releasing the likes of Rodan brilliantly executed, but the roles the human cast had to play felt perfectly integrated into the story and didn’t get in the way of what that aspect of the fanbase wanted to see./
Because if you think about it, human involvement is how the story of King of the Monsters came to fruition in the first place.
If 2014’s Godzilla represents humanity’s sudden introduction to a force it not only doesn’t understand but falls out of their aspect of control, 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters shows what happens when humanity tries to get a foothold of control back, now that its ego has been shattered by the Titans very existence only for it to blow up in their face.
/Some, like Dr. Emma Russell and Colonel Alan Noah, think they can utilize the Titans to their advantage, only for things to backfire when they realize they’re meddling with forces they only have a limited understanding of, while others like Doctors Ishiro Serizawa and Vivienne Graham are in a constant battle with others who refuse to believe that their sudden lack of agency is the new norm and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it back./
Like King Ghidorah depicted in King of the Monsters, these two aspects of humanity create a perfect storm that result in the overall reason why Godzilla has to fight him, why Mothra’s metamorphosis happens, and allows the events of Godzilla Vs. Kong to happen in the first place.
And not only is there an appropriate amount of story presented regarding how humanity’s ego and obsession for control is the catalyst, but it also has provided some of the most visually stunning fights and cinematography that have ever come out of the MonsterVerse
But that’s only humanity’s impact on the MonsterVerse on a larger scale. The smaller side that is Kong Skull Island is ALSO just as important.
Kong: Skull Island is what I’d imagine a Kaiju movie written by Michael Chrichton would be like if given the opportunity. One half Jurassic Park, one half Congo, and a splash of Apocalypse Now; a very intimate action/adventure tale of survival somewhere completely out of the main characters element.
/Because you’re focused on a select group of individuals -- each with their own unique personalities and goals that both stand out on paper and in the actors portrayals of them -- the stirring emotions watching them try to traverse, survive and even fall to the dangers of the island makes their plight just as engaging as Kong’s bouts./
/Skull Island makes you care when one of them dies, and makes you worry for the others when one of them applies previous trauma to their current situation that may endanger their lives./
/And all the while it’s able to do this, Skull Island never takes away from Kong’s presence or the struggles he faces being the only “alpha” Titan on an island filled with alpha killers. It’s the main proof within the MonsterVerse that not only are humans necessary elements to tell these stories, but also make the movie stand out so much more when done right./
And, to a certain extent, key players in Legendary’s Godzilla franchise do this as well. And I say “to a certain extent,” because for as many times as they score a touchdown, they also tend to fumble the ball just as much...
Bryan Cranston and Ken Watanabe were HUGE selling points to Godzilla 2014.
Even before we found out what roles they were going to play, the star power between these two alone showed great promise for the human element of the movie. Then, all of a sudden, they weren’t.
/Cranston’s Joe Brody -- who audiences connected with regarding the loss of his wife, the mania he gained in trying to expose the cover-up of the MUTO as a result, and would’ve made a great addition to team Monarch due to personality and trauma alone -- died upon the male MUTO’s awakening, instead of accompanying his emotionless-ass son back home to San Francisco to see his daughter-in-law and grandson and find enough closure with Godzilla’s destruction of the MUTO responsible for his trauma to move on; possibly even become a prominent voice for Monarch alongside Serizawa and Graham./
/Speaking of which, Watanabe’s Ishiro Serizawa -- a character directly inspired by the hero of the 1954 Japanese original and is the glue that holds Monarch together and displays its importance in every solo film -- became a secondary character that’s constantly overshadowed by both the unimpressive and mediocre performances of the films leads, who most of the time feels like his only purpose in these films are to butt heads with the military and the government regarding how to handle the Titans, until his big moment to sacrifice himself to rejuvenate the titular monster comes along./
On the other hand, Millie Bobby Brown’s Madison Russell in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, not only delivers on the energy and personality that both Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Ford Brody and the character’s father Mark Russell played by Kyle Chandler lacked in Godzilla and King of the Monsters respectively, but like the human characters in Kong: Skull Island, I was both invested in and cared about her well being.
/I was hoping King Ghidorah didn’t find her with the Orca at Fenway Park. I was hoping she wasn’t gonna get crushed by debris when she went to hide from the final battle between Godzilla and Ghidora in the bathtub of her childhood home./
And the more I thought about it, all it did was make me think about how compelling the human story of both these films would be -- even to audience members who don’t care about the human element -- if these characters portrayed by brilliant performers that can breathe life into the scenarios the movies presented itself, were just given the same chance and opportunity the ones Kong: Skull Island had.
Because while both the Godzilla and Kong properties within Legendary’s MonsterVerse have shown the importance of the human factor in their separate franchises, the only one that has succeeded in showing the ENTIRETY of the MonsterVerse audience that its necessary to tell these stories is Kong: Skull Island, despite the narratives providing bountiful opportunities for them to shine.
/Yes. Even in Godzilla Vs. Kong/
So maybe it’s not JUST the fact that no one is interested in the human element of the MonsterVerse movies. Maybe it's the fact that the ones who COULD’VE made them interesting on Godzilla’s end -- ones like Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Charles Dance, and Shun Oguri -- either weren’t given the opportunity to do so, or were killed off before they had the chance to contribute something substantial.
ESPECIALLY Shun Oguri, but that’s a topic for another video. Because I have PLENTY of opinions about how that was handled.
Nevertheless Readers, your homework assignment for the day:
Write in the comment section below what YOU think about the necessity of the “human element” in Warner Brothers and Legendary’s MonsterVerse movies.
Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, what you would do to make them stand out more on Godzilla’s side of the MonsterVerse.
Whichever you decide to answer, I’d love to know your thoughts.
