Review Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle film review by The Legend of Brian
Written By The Legend of Brian on 2018-07-20 18:17:02
This one is certainly better than the first, even if it's pretty much a copy/paste Monster Planet.
Firstly, the pacing feels much better, with the film being longer this seems a bit off, but compared to first, there's not as much techno-jargon and most of it is saved for the end as the first one front loaded it. The new Vulture mechs are also a nice addition to the series and their fast movement seems to reflect the movement of the story. This isn't me saying the pacing is actually good, it's just better than the first one.
Now to address the elephant in the room, or lack thereof. Yes, MechaGodzilla is not in the movie. Now did knowing this beforehand temper my expectations? Yes, it did. Still doesn't mean an actual fight wouldn't have gone unappreciated, but I do have to admit, this film does scratch one thing I've always wanted to see. Not a cyborg, but a completely robotic version of MechaGodzilla that is somewhat sentient and alive. Ever since I heard about a scrapped MechaGodzilla movie featuring living metal that replicated the dominant form of life, in this case Godzilla, I've always wanted to see something like that. This movie doesn't technically get all of that, but it's close enough in my opinion.
Also, Godzilla really isn't in this movie. Oh to be back to the days where everyone complained about G14's screen time.
Now to where this movie really does top its predecessor, the characters. Now I've only watched 1 1/2 times, but I finally feel like I can start to follow and root for these people. It's not a ton of development and it's not particularly deep, but it's something at least! The Bilusaludo culture is expanded upon and how they see fit to deal with Godzilla and the conflict with the other races is intriguing. The idea of Haruo battling with himself, what will he become to defeat Godzilla is really hit home during the finale. Again, it's been done before and better, but compared to the first film it's something.
Overall, the movie is full of ups and downs that I didn't really get into, it's just OK.
