GODZILLA (2018) VOL.2

                         Godzilla: City On The Edge Of Battle;

Following the events of Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, the Aratrum is unable to contact Haruo and the rest after their encounter with the original Godzilla. The Captain orders that if drones do not find survivors by forty-eight hours, the Aratrum will withdraw from Earth.  Haruo Sakaki is rescued by a native girl named Miana and has his wounds treated with a strange powder. She belongs to an indigenous tribe called the "Houtua", surviving descendants of humans. The Houtua recover Haruo's surviving team and hold them for questioning. Miana and her twin sister Maina use telepathy to communicate with their guests to understand their reasons for burning their lands.  The opening sequences set the stage for yet another encounter against Godzilla, this time around, the original beast that conquered earth thousands of years ago....

The sequel to the hit 2018 anime movie hit the screens with a lot of anticipation and suspense. We were all very much very interested in how the principal actors would deal with the re-emergence of Godzilla, and the annihilation of the elite Force. With the way the first movie concluded, we had very very high hopes for the sequel, it promised to Yet again be another epic battle, another show of Force by the human elites and the king of beasts, but oh my God did the writers get it super wrong! How did they get it so wrong you might ask!?
  Let's begin with the story, the story continued from where the first left off, the decision by commander Sakaki to resume hostilities with Godzilla, gathering the remaining troops and ultimately the discovery of human presence on Earth. Our descendants? Or yet another evolution from the impact of Godzilla on the eco system?

 We would have preferred that hostilities resumed as with the first movie, let the human forces take it to the Beast, in a man versus monster epic battle. The introduction of the nano metal( perfect) and the discovery of MechaGodzilla city however turned this story on its heads. The Bilusaludo and their decision to utilise the remains of MechaGodzilla (MechaGodzilla city) to combat Godzilla itself seemed destined to fail especially with the history between both. We felt a better and more compelling narrative would have been to have the Human troops of Sakaki join forces with the Houtua and deliver an all out human assault on Godzilla. It would not only have presented drama, it would also have inculcated human elements into the story.
   Utilising MechaGodzilla city as part of the war efforts against Godzilla not only turned out to be Rigid, but further revealed the folly of mankind and taking advantage of it once again. It did seem as though the humans had not learnt their lessons, the same mistakes we always make with machines always being our downfall. I think it will be right about time that stories are told in a way where we as humans don't rely overly on machines.
Enough said about the story and the mistakes of the writing team, the story telling is however once again brilliant. In essence, whereas we had a problem with the story, plot theme and conflict presentation and resolution, we were quite impressed with how the story was told. The misdirection in plot was was absolutely deceitful, MechaGodzilla city was definitely Devious and the narrative devices employed with the Houtua was intense.
    As with the first movie, the CGI was great, the action sequences were top notch, the fight scenes were amazing, but we still had issue with motor movement and delayed responses, perhaps if they had taken time to refine it and released the sequel in 2019, it'd have been better? I certainly think.
    Where it did seem like a well put together movie, the movie is however rushed. The haste in releasing the sequel may seem like an economic masterplan, the decision to release it too soon did not create enough anticipation or pull from the previous. We also understood the decision to introduce something more sinister than Godzilla. That perhaps is the singular most amazing thing about the movie. After their defeat once again, it is revealed to viewers that there is a thing more deadly than Godzilla, the king of Kings, King Ghidora,the sworn enemy of Godzilla.
   Could this perhaps set the stage for an epic end to the franchise being a colossal battle between Godzilla and King Ghidora? Or will it be the Combined human forces that finally reclaim earth? Or will earth face a new threat after Godzilla is vanquished?
 Ad much as we love our predictive game, we don't know which way it'd go thus time around, and we honestly don't know which of the three(3) scenarios we prefer.
 
A movie with a good concept but poor and hasty execution. I will still recommend this to people interested in following the franchise, for the action, in respect to the first movie and most importantly for what the future holds. I definitely can't wait to see king Ghidora in action.
We'll rate this one a 7.6/10 FCA AppR.