Godzilla: King of the Monsters (3 Stars)

This is a sequel to the 2014 Godzilla reboot, and the third film in the Legendary Monsterverse franchise after "Kong: Skull Island". Despite being disappointed by the 2014, I was determined to enjoy this film. In the end it disappointed me as well. I was tempted to give it a two star rating, but after thinking it over I had to accept that it's faithful to the atmosphere of the Japanese Godzilla films, which deserves to be rewarded.

Godzilla has remained inactive since the last film. People still fear him after the destruction that he caused in San Francisco. (Is it just me, or does the city destruction look worse in the photos than it did in the last film?) The military organisation called Monarch has grown in size. It now has bases all over the world, where it's observing dormant monsters they call Titans. These are giant creatures that once ruled the Earth. Godzilla and Kong were Titans, and there are supposedly 15 others.

Dr. Emma Russell is a Monarch scientist who has helped invent a device which can send messages to the Titans. It's unclear whether it speaks to them or controls them. It effectively acts like a dog whistle, getting the Titans' attention and calling them to go somewhere or do something. She is directly involved with the observation of the Mothra, a giant moth-like creature. She has her own agenda, which disagrees with the aims of Monarch. She sees the Titans as essential to the Earth's survival. The human race has grown too large. The Titans should cull the Earth's human population and create an ecological balance. Her ex-husband Mark opposes her. Their daughter Madison is caught in the middle.

Starting with Mothra, Dr. Russell intends to wake the Titans one at a time, but all 17 (including Godzilla) are woken at the same time, causing destruction throughout the world. We see most of the Titans only briefly. The featured monsters are Godzilla, Ghidorah, Mothra and Rodan.

Everyone who's a fan of the Japanese Godzilla fans knows that Ghidorah, better known as King Ghidorah, is Godzilla's biggest enemy. If the film had only been a showdown between these two monsters it would have been better. The problem is that the company Legendary hasn't learnt the lessons from the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It's all about patience. In the MCU the heroes were introduced one at a time, before they were teamed up in "The Avengers". After this, new characters continued to be slowly introduced, until they were finally all thrown together in "Avengers: Endgame". Legendary started the same way: first Godzilla, then Kong. Then they got impatient and threw all their Titans together in the third film. Couldn't they have waited until the 22nd film? 17 Titans is way too many for the third film. Even the four main monsters are too many.

I was also disappointed that the Mothra Twins were made too human in the film. Zyang Ziyi plays the scientists Dr. Ilene Chen and Dr. Ling Chen, but in the original films they were tiny singing fairies, only six inches tall. Why did this important feature in the Godzilla canon have to be changed? Also, why are the Mothra Twins Chinese in this film? It might not matter much to western viewers, but Japanese fans must consider this an insult.

To be fair, not all of the 30 Godzilla films made since 1954 have been good. "King of the Monsters" is an average effort. There have been far worse films. I just hope they will improve over the next few years. The franchise has so much potential. The next film will show Godzilla meeting Kong, who was missing from this film. Let's hope it will be an epic battle.