LAS VEGAS – Warner Bros. had quite a Tuesday afternoon at CinemaCon. They debuted footage for theater owners from Todd Phillips’ “Joker” before the trailer dropped on Wednesday and they ended their presentation with a very scary first look of “It Chapter 2.” In between was a mixed bag. Melissa McCarthy and Will Forte did a “We thought we were at Comic-Con” bit for their comedy “Super Intelligence.” Warner Bros. Animation teased footage from the new “Scooby Doo” movie in a filmed piece that made sure to mention “Space Jam 2” and “Tom and Jerry.” Shoot, Samuel L. Jackson even got in a “mother f-er” debate with his young “Shaft” co-star. But, there was only one other big gun on the dais and, boy, it was a monster.
Simply put, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” looks pretty. It also has about as much logic as a Roland Emmerich disaster movie, but it’s filmed in faux Roger Deakins “Blade Runner 2049” style so that knocks it up a notch, right? The premise, if you haven’t heard, is that ancient Titans have awoken from their centuries-long slumber and are ravaging the earth destroying city after city. Who will stop them if the human race can’t? (Wait for it, we’re not there yet.)
The sneak at CinemaCon featured a military group freeing King Ghidorah (the one with three heads and wings) from a gigantic ice prison. I’m not sure if this group thought Ghidorah was going to be on their side or not, but, uh-oh, it’s not. Luckily, Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) uses a device that looks like a sophisticated pager to contact – you guessed it – Godzilla for help. Her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) is also with her (according to Wikipedia they’ve been kidnapped by a nefarious group trying to use the monsters for their own means but you’d have no clue from what was shown). The preview then cut to trailer-esque footage before Godzilla and King Ghidorah could even lay a scale on each other. Oh, there was one shot when Godzilla shoots an energy blast out of his mouth and another Titan does something similar. Might have been King Ghidorah. Might have been a different Titan. It was hard to tell, honestly. Again, pretty effects.
Oh, and there was a shot of pilot escaping from his aircraft in a battle and a monster’s mouth swallows him up right after he ejects. That was memorable.
Oh, right and there were some shots of O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Kyle Chandler, Bradley Whiteford, Ken Watanabe and a very concerned looking David Strathairn.
You might detect a lack of enthusiasm about all this from this particular writer and, hey, it happens. If you’re a huge Godzilla fan and love the mythology of the monsters, er, Titans then the footage shown will likely make you giddy with excitement. If you’re a summer movie fan looking for a few hours of escapist entertainment this certainly appears more visually interesting than last year’s “Rampage,” “Mortal Engines” or “Pacific Rim: Uprising.” But if not, the mythology Legendary has tried to build with their MonstersVerse is so genre movie 101 it’s frankly a big ol’ bore. You’ve seen it all before in other contexts and, in all seriousness, more compelling storylines.
But, hey, great effects…beautiful effects…
“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” opens nationwide May 31.
