Godzilla II-King of the Monsters (4K Blu-ray) (2019) |
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Godzilla II-King of the Monsters (4K Blu-ray) (2019) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Monster |
Featurette-Making Of-Loads Audio Commentary Deleted Scenes |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2019 | ||
| Running Time | 131:43 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Michael Dougherty |
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Studio
Distributor |
Legendary Pictures Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Kyle Chandler Vera Farmiga Millie Bobby Brown Bradley Whitford Sally Hawkins Charles Dance Ken Watanabe Ziyi Zhang |
| Case | Standard Blu-ray | ||
| RPI | ? | Music | Bear McCreary |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Atmos 7.1 German Dolby Atmos 7.1 Italian Dolby Atmos 7.1 English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 5.1 German Dolby Digital 2.0 Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 Polish Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 2160p | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English for the Hearing Impaired Spanish Danish Finnish German for the Hearing Impaired Italian for the Hearing Impaired Norwegian Swedish Polish |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Over the last 50 or more years, many Godzilla films have been made including two major US productions. A casual search for Godzilla on IMDB reveals 200 or more titles that include the word. Many of these are television episodes but regardless the number of feature films is huge. The first film, Godzilla, was made in 1954 by Toho Studios in Japan, and was then cut differently and released in the US under the title, Godzilla - King of the Monsters in 1956. This then spawned a huge series of films over the following decades in Japan although with a cult following around the world. Godzilla really came to Hollywood in 1998 with a much reviled (although commercially successful) version starring Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno and Hank Azaria. More recently the first film in what is referred to as the Monsterverse came to cinemas in 2014, also called simply Godzilla. That one was commercially and critically successful and has now been followed by 2 sequels with another on the way. The first sequel (although really a separate story in the same universe) was Kong : Skull Island released in 2017 which actually bested the first film at the global box office. Now released is the film which is the subject of this review, Godzilla II : King of the Monsters or just Godzilla : King of the Monsters in the US/Canada (and on the discs and the film itself). It did reasonably well at the global box office without coming close to the takes of the first two films. Already in post-production is the next sequel which brings the two storylines together, Godzilla vs. Kong which is expected in early 2020. Just in case there was not enough Godzilla in the market, there is also a recent Japanese film, Shin Godzilla, released in 2016 which did well at the Japanese box office and did get a local theatrical and home entertainment release.
So, lets talk about this film. The human story here focuses on the Russell family, two scientists, Dr Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) and his ex-wife, Dr Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) who got caught up in the 2014 problems as documented in the previous film (although the characters are not in the 2014 film). They had two children in 2014 and one of them Andrew was killed during Godzilla's rampage. The other one Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) now lives with her mother as the parents have divorced. Mark has become a wildlife photographer instead of continuing to work for Monarch, the secretive organisation that works with the Titans, as the huge creatures like Godzilla are known. Emma on the other hand continues to work for Monarch monitoring one of the many creatures they have under wraps, Mothra. As is quickly revealed, she has become convinced that the only way to save the world is to release the creatures to return balance to the environment, even though this will mean the deaths of potentially millions of people. To do this, she has developed a technology referred to as Orca which uses audio frequencies to control the Titans. She also joins forces with radical eco-warrior, Alan Jonah (Charles Dance). Meanwhile, Monarch, led by two of very few characters to transition from the first film, Dr Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Dr Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) are focused on protecting Godzilla as they believe he has the world's best interests at heart. When Godzilla and Mothra appear, followed closely by three-headed dragon, King Ghidorah, and flying fire demon, Rodan, all hell breaks loose. Godzilla and Mothra team up against the other two Titans with Serizawa, Graham and Mark up against Emma and Jonah amongst the humans. Havoc ensues!
Other characters include Ziyi Zhang as another Monarch scientist, Dr Ilene Chen, and Bradley Whitford as Dr Stanton plus other well known faces like David Strathairn (also returning from the first film), CCH Pounder and Joe Morton.
I found this film surprisingly enjoyable and certainly a stunning visual spectacle. Obviously, it is not great art but it is a very enjoyable and entertaining popcorn film. None of the human actors turn in Oscar worthy performances although Millie Bobby Brown is probably the pick of the bunch. It is obvious from the film and certainly the extras that the production team love the material and wanted to do something great with it whilst paying homage to the Japanese films. The direction is assured and the film does not overstay its welcome despite a couple of dialogue scenes which were probably a little long. The music by TV stalwart Bear McCreary is great adding to the overall experience. He is probably best known for Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead. As I mentioned above the visual spectacular is the real star here, magnificent in 4K. The creatures are beautifully realised and with their colourful bio-luminescence or attack effects they really stun on the screen. The creature fights are awesome. The human story is quite cliched but this film is all about the monsters!
Recommended for lovers of creature features!
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The menu features music.
This is an enjoyable commentary with the three men having lots of fun but making it funny for the audience too. There is lots of interesting information about links to the Japanese films, the actors, use of CGI, character and creature design, trivia like links to the Marvel films and more. Well worth a listen.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This film is available in the US in the same format except for some minor differences in foreign language soundtracks. Buy local.
The video quality is excellent despite being an upscale to 4K.
The audio quality is excellent.
The extras are of good quality and there are lots to choose from.| Video | |
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Sony UBP-X700 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player, using HDMI output |
| Display | LG OLEDC8PTA 55”. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 2160p. |
| Audio Decoder | Built into amplifier. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
| Amplification | Marantz SR5012 |
| Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer |