Godzilla II: King of the Monsters is a fantastic action movie with a lot of special effects. It will appeal to those who, in principle, love stories related to Godzilla or other giants, and those who like to watch monsters fighting in the rain for more than two hours. And, of course, for those who are interested in seeing Millie Bobby Brown outside of Stranger Things.

In cinema, the story of the giant monster Godzilla began in 1954, when a film was released in Japan about the awakening of a prehistoric reptile that was at the bottom of the ocean. The picture became a cult, and after it there were about thirty attempts to re-tell about Godzilla. During this time, the kaiju (as the Japanese call it and other monstrous creatures) went through a mutation, increased in size and began to spew heat rays. From film to film, the character changed character – at the request of the scriptwriters, he became either an antagonist or a protagonist. Only the ability to destroy everything that came under its large paws remained unchanged.

The first films about Godzilla were special due to the specifics of the shooting of those years. The monster was played by actors (dressed in voluminous costumes, which made the kaiju clumsy) who smashed miniature city models. For close-ups, hand puppet models were used, thanks to which the audience could see the semblance of Godzilla’s facial expressions.

Over time, computer graphics were connected to the screen image of the monster. The real restart of the franchise happened in 2014, when the multimillion-dollar American film Godzilla (starring Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen and even Juliette Binoche) was released on the big screens. In this tape, the appearance of the kaiju no longer seemed funny, on the contrary, it inspired fear. According to the plot of the picture, a group of scientists discovered a cave in which Godzilla had been for a long time. Before their appearance, he fled to the sea, but returned to land years later when other awakened monsters attacked San Francisco. Godzilla defeats them and swims into the ocean, and people are left alone with the destruction and loss of loved ones.

The new film “Godzilla II: King of the Monsters” is a continuation of these events. It shows the world years after the tragedy in San Francisco, during which the Russell couple lost their son. Now Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) works for the Monarch cryptozoological organization, studying the monsters that once ruled the Earth. She and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) witness the birth of a new kaiju called Mothra and take the opportunity to test her invention on it – a device with bioacoustics that can control giants. After this event, an organization of eco-terrorists takes a mother and daughter hostage, hoping to awaken all the monsters with the help of Emma’s invention. The criminals want them to destroy everything around, returning the natural balance to Earth. Upon learning of this, Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) tries to save his wife and daughter, and at the same time the whole world. He and the employees of the Monarch are unlikely to succeed without the help of Godzilla, who has not appeared from the ocean for a long time.

The director of the new film was Michael Dougherty, who also took on the duties of a screenwriter (previously worked on the scripts for X-Men 2, Superman Returns, X-Men: Apocalypse). Dougherty tries to balance between fantasy action and family history, adding to all this reflection on whether people can be stronger than natural forces. In many ways, storylines with people become a background (not always interesting) to the main scenes of the picture – battles between kaiju. Among them appear the monsters already known from Japanese films: the flying Rodan and the three-headed monster King Ghidorah, capable of controlling the elements.

Moments that define Monarch’s action sometimes seem boring due to sublime dialogue. But the special effects are what really keeps the attention of the two-hour film. A lot of screen time is devoted to battle scenes in which monsters are revealed from all sides. Hollywood-famous Roger Barton (World War Z) and Bob Ducsay (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) worked on editing such episodes.

Due to the specifics of the plot, clouds are constantly gathering over the Earth, so the most epic fights take place in the rain. Sometimes the storm darkness makes it difficult to consider all the nuances of what is happening, but if you go to a movie in 3D or IMAX, then more details will still appear.

The film “Godzilla II: King of the Monsters” will be of interest to those who watched the previous part, released five years ago. Familiar characters appear in it, including Dr. Ichiro Serizawa, played by actor Ken Watanabe. But even without knowing the background, you can watch the picture without problems.