Screenwriter Max Borenstein has pulled off a monstrous feat. As part of a storytelling team on Legendary Pictures’ “Monsterverse,” he’s had a hand in crafting an epic, entertaining and enthralling reinvention of a beloved classic franchise, capturing awe-inducing wonder for a whole new generation. GODZILLA, KONG: SKULL ISLAND and GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (which he earned a story by credit on) all feature big battling behemoths duking it out for world dominance, laying waste to cities and their citizens. However, the latest chapter in the series GODZILLA VS. KONG contains its most audacious element yet: a metric ton of heart mixed with its ingenuity.
Was it clear from the jump how you wanted to work in homages and references to KING KONG VS. GODZILLA and KONG?
My involvement with the franchise, starting with Godzilla, which was to reinvent that franchise for an American audience with Legendary Films. From there on, once we started to realize this was gonna work and be cool, the head of Legendary, Thomas Tull, who loves Godzilla films and loved KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, asked “Do you want to do a Kong film with the goal being to eventually do Godzilla versus Kong?”
I knew there was a KING KONG VS. GODZILLA film, but I had never seen it. We needed to get Kong big enough and then started engineering the whole franchise that way. The main goal to get this franchise to this place in a way that would feel organic and fun. In terms of the homages, the idea behind getting these two characters to face-off in a way that would be satisfying and we have investment in each of them and we’d be rooting for our two favorite boxers that we don’t want either one to lose.
What do these big showdowns look like on paper? I’d imagine it’s more than “Insert fight here.” What was the process collaborating with Adam (Wingard) to make sure character is at the forward of these fights and still looks cool?
I wish they would share more script of movies like this. The scripts that usually get shared are the ones that get touted and respected for Oscars and stuff – dramas. Here, you have dialogue on the page and action. The way we write these scenes – and I come from the world of drama and do that more than anything else – but the action scenes are written really the same. It’s talking about the objectives for these characters and the obstacles and the moment to moment escalations in the same way you would if you were writing an argument in WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? You’ve got these two different characters throwing jabs at each other. They’re not punches, but they might as well be. One person gets the upper hand and then it flips. It’s set-ups and pay-offs.
That’s the same way to do action scenes. They take shape where we come up with a larger scenario. Adam looks at concept artists and has his own vision and it kinda filters through. I came into this process where some set pieces and tentpoles had been put in place, like we’re gonna have Godzilla and Kong fight on the water amongst the ships. But then it was, “What specifically?” and we start to imagine it. Where are the people? Sometimes it’s on the creatures. What are the identifying moments where just as you think a character has the upper hand, the boat flips over and suddenly they’re under water in Godzilla’s terrain. So it’s, “What are the different ways we can use these characters and their specific actions to build a set piece and action piece that will have its own integral drama?” If you look at the page, you would read something that’s a lot like what we see, moment to moment to moment. It takes you on that experience in much the same way.
It would be great to have those pages out there to show folks, this is how to write an action scene.
It would be fun! As a young writer, it’s the kind of thing I would’ve loved to see.
Godzilla and Kong’s fight in Hong Kong seems more animalistic and scrappy than the first fight on the ship. Did you put yourself more in an animal mindset when writing how they fight?
Yeah. The great thing in the franchise is that they are animals. We’re treating them as… Godzilla’s not a primate, but a gigantic animal that’s so big and unhuman that it almost translates to being a force of nature. There’s an intelligence there, but it’s not an intelligence you can comprehend or connect with, or connects with us in a deeply empathetic way. He’s furious and unknowable.
Like a cat and a dog, they are ancient rivals. Kong, as a primate, is a bit more empathetic – you can connect and he has that connection point to a human being we understand early on. That’s the way to look at them. They have different personalities and the way that they’re going to interact would be similar. What would happen if you had a giant ape fighting with a velociraptor? There’s their personalities and instinct and this visceral quality to the way they absorb a blow and take these scrapes and get back up again.
Sequences in the HEAV crafts in the way the camera swirls around kaiju look and feel like they could potentially be theme park rides. Was that something that was ever considered or pitched to you?
I hadn’t heard that. Adam had such a strong, specific vision from the moment I became involved on this project. The aesthetic he was going for and the tonal references were very clear. He was really excited about the mission into Hollow Earth and what that would entail experientially – that it was drawing on this 2001-like feel and then that translated into the feel of the Hong Kong battle, really playing into the neon. He really brought to it a beautiful, specific vision that felt like it packaged the DNA of the entire franchise while at the same time, in a way each of the films has, really painting a new stamp on it.
Kaylee Hottle in GODZILLA VS. KONG, courtesy of Warner Brothers Pictures.
What were some of the challenges building in the heart of the story with the relationship between Jia and Kong so we care about both AND have it retain the Toho films’ legacy with its ecological message?
Totally. The Jia relationship is very essential to that. When you lock into it, it felt like it unlocked a whole new trove of riches. Part of the challenges to these films are, “How do we interact with the creatures that makes the human beings have agency, and not just be running away, or reacting?” Jia was the perfect solution to that. The fact that she communicates with Kong in sign language and that others discover that. And then, the moment in the creative process that unlocked things, was that they then decide to initiate Kong to go to lead them into Hollow Earth.
There’s an emotional component to that. It’s not they’re dragging him there, but that they’re lying to him and asking Jia, who has a relationship with Kong that’s paternal-like, asking her to tell Kong there’s more like him down there, which they don’t know to be true. In that moment, you’re creating an emotional carrot for Kong and it’s complicated. It’s a screwed up thing to do for people to lie, but they’re doing it for the greater good. That little moment of them grappling if it’s okay for them to do it or not. It’s wrong, but it’s probably justified and it’s heartbreaking to see. I thought it put us in Kong’s shoes emotionally where you stop thinking about the logic and feel that journey. I want them feeling, “Oh no! They’re lying and manipulating Kong.” They’re not doing it in an evil, classically Kong gets dragged to New York City in chains, but doing it for the greater good. It would be nice for them to trust him more. I thought that was a nuanced emotional beat you were able to discover.
How have you matured as a writer working on these films over these past 7+ years, evolving these characters? What have these giant monsters taught you about yourself?
(laughs) I’ve matured as a writer in a trillion ways, because of this and in spite of this and in conjunction with this. One thing I think the characters teach all of us is how small we are. We live in the world right now where that feels like a lesson that’s been utterly drummed into us by current events. It’s been obliterating devastating over the course of a year and it often times becomes depressing. But in that smallness, in that magnificence, there’s a collective thing that’s beautiful.
These characters are so much larger than life and represent things that are bigger than us and out of control. But they also have this lesson of humanity coming together in its worst moments, being able to find a way to overcome our worst natures and improve and find a way toward healing and toward hope. When this happens, Godzilla and Kong, go from being scary to our last best hope to save the world. It’s an interesting way to think of the challenges we face; They can tear us apart and they can create horror, but they also are able to come together and not let our own failings get in the way – and they’re capable of incredible survival.
GODZILLA VS. KONG opens in select theaters and premieres on HBOMax on March 31 (in the United States).
As movie theaters slowly begin to open back up and streaming services continue to hold their ground in an ever-changing industry, Warner Bros. is building up the hype for the upcoming blockbuster GODZILLA VS. KONG—which is set to release in theaters and stream on HBO Max on Friday. To gear up for the big showdown, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has re-released the first film in the franchise, 2014’s GODZILLA, for the first time on 4K UHD.
Movie Grade: B
After Roland Emmerich’s GODZILLA (1998) failed to live up to its franchise potential, the great beast would have to lie in wait for nearly twenty years before studio execs felt like giving it another try. What we got in 2014 from director Garreth Edwards (ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY) was definitely an improvement, even if it was not without its flaws. GODZILLA is in many ways Warner Bros.’ answer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in that it lays the groundwork for subsequent giant monster films in the aptly named Monsterverse. Whether or not it will ever live up to its competing cinematic universes is yet to be seen.
The film follows Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a demolitions expert for the U.S. Navy who must leave his wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) at their home in San Francisco to track down his estranged father, Joe (Bryan Cranston), in Japan. Joe is determined that Japan’s leaders are responsible for covering up the true reason his wife was killed in a nuclear accident years earlier.
As it turns out, of course, the government was covering up what really happened because the accident was caused by none other than a giant four-legged monster referred to as a M.U.T.O., which literally feeds on nuclear radiation. The M.U.T.O. is eventually awoken once again, leaving humanity utterly helpless to its unprecedented destruction. That is until another monster known only as Godzilla reveals itself to take on the M.U.T.O. and bring balance to nature once again.
The film’s human characters do their best to give the audience reasons to care about their survival. The marriage between Ford and Elle feels grounded and believable despite just a few scenes that actually feature these characters in the same room together. This is undoubtedly due to the existing chemistry between Taylor-Johnson and Olsen as they’ve worked together in other films before.
However, the rest of the cast is more of a mixed bag. Bryan Cranston is, unfortunately, left to a minor supporting role for the film’s first act, which is a shame because the man is clearly invested in his character and doing his best to add depth to a relatively straightforward character with limited screen time. Similarly, Ken Watanabe’s Dr. Ishiro Serizawa is given little purpose to exist other than spout exposition about Godzilla’s history. Yet, in spite of some characters feeling more shallow than others, the film as a whole is effective in creating at least some stakes and a genuine sense of danger for the audience to sink their teeth into.
Edwards takes a cue from another classic monster movie, JAWS (1975), in that he constantly teases the audience with barely a glimpse or two of the film’s titular big baddie. It’s only when we’ve arrived at the climactic showdown in the third act when Godzilla can fully be seen and appreciated. This technique is certainly effective for first-time viewers. It builds tension as we are able to see just a little bit more of the action as the film goes on until we’re given an all the more cathartic payoff when Edwards stops holding back and lets his monsters fight. The problem is that this method tends to feel more annoying and less suspenseful upon repeat viewings, but it cannot be understated just how much fun things become once things finally get going.
GODZILLA is ultimately a perfectly fine and entertaining monster flick. Edwards’ effective use of suspense and excellent visual effects make for a vast improvement over its 1998 predecessor and effectively lays the groundwork for what could be an enjoyable series of sequels to come.
A screenshot from the 4K release.
Video/Audio Grade: B+
Because GODZILLA was captured in a 2.8K source format and mastered as a 2K Digital Intermediate, we are left with an upscaled 4K presentation. The visuals in this higher resolution version are certainly an improvement over the 2014 Blu-ray release, but there’s hardly anything to be considered reference quality. Computer-generated effects are serviceable and make excellent use of the darker environments to mask any trace of aging. Godzilla’s presence as a computer-generated character feels excellently realized among live-action elements. Textures for creatures and humans alike are given a pleasant boost in clarity and interior scenes are a great showcase in detail for set design. The bombastic showdown between Godzilla and the M.U.T.O. is chaotic in all the right ways and is undeniably enjoyable with the added visual clarity.
One major criticism from the film’s theatrical and initial home release was that this is just a very dark movie. With the majority of its runtime taking place at night (and lit in a mostly naturalistic style), there were many times when it would feel like an absolute chore to understand what was going on. Things are definitely way easier to make out this time around, thanks to the inclusion of HDR10. With virtually no clouding instances or noise to speak of, this is far and away from an improvement and the best way to watch the film. That being said, black-out curtains are still practically a requirement to make out the darkest of scenes.
As for the audio side of things, the 4K disc comes packed with a new Dolby Atmos mix which does not disappoint. The 2014 Blu-ray already had a fantastic DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio mix, and the Atmos track makes for an even more immersive viewing experience. Godzilla’s thundering roar will shake the rafters, helicopters zoom through the overhead channels, and crumbling buildings make excellent use of the side and rear channels as well. Dialogue comes through perfectly clear in the quieter character-building scenes, and Alexandre Desplat’s score is mixed wonderfully throughout.
Extras Grade: D+
There are no special features included on the 4K disc. The included 2014 Blu-ray has all the same features it did upon its initial release, so first-time buyers may enjoy the extras, but they’re hardly worth a second visit. A digital copy is included for Movies Anywhere or Vudu.
Special features listed below:
MONARCH: Declassified (1080p):
Operation: Lucky Dragon (2:44)
MONARCH: The M.U.T.O. File (4:29)
The Godzilla Revelation (7:25)
The Legendary Godzilla (1080p):
Godzilla: Force of Nature (19:18)
A Whole New Level of Destruction (8:24)
Into the Void: The H.A.L.O. Jump (5:00)
Ancient Enemy: The M.U.T.O.s (6:49)
Final Grade: B-
If you’re like me and haven’t given GODZILLA another look since it first hit theaters, there’s plenty of reason to pick this one up. Fans of the film will definitely appreciate the increase in resolution and improved brightness in this new presentation, but the lack of new bonus material to build up the hype for GODZILLA VS. KONG is particularly disappointing. Extras aside, GODZILLA in 4K may just be the B-movie audiences need right now.
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