<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Michael Dougherty. Starring Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford, David Strathairn, Thomas Middleditch, Charles Dance, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Aisha Hinds, Ziyi Zhang

Running time: 2 hours 12 minutes

I love the fact that the last Godzilla film brought us a monster who saved the day, just as I remembered from the cartoons! Godzilla 2 brings in more ‘monsters’ both animal and human to do battle and destroy cities on an epic scale. Perfect for the single, nerdy guy to go and watch it alone or with his geeky friend.

Godzilla isn’t the only Titan on the planet and the shadowy organisation Monarch has dibs on all of them since they think the monsters are part of a grander plan. Dr Emma Russell and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) have discovered a way to communicate with them but the evil Colonel Jonah (Charles Dance) abducts them and their ORCA device for nefarious purposes. To the rescue comes Dr Mark Russell, the husband and dad who hasn’t done enough for his family and only things of them when their life is in danger. But, do they want to be rescued…

Godzilla plays more of a role in this movie as he battles the evil King Ghidorah and his cronies. The humans do get crushed like insects and whole cities are laid waste but we’re used to seeing all that and forgiving these giant beasts who we learn we must live with in harmony to restore balance with nature. Hmm…

I do think humans are far worse than any ‘monster’ and what we’ve done to the planet certainly doesn’t entitle us to rule of this place we call home. Beasts would value it more than we have. Such is the little message of motivation in this film that we’ve been seeing quite a lot of in recent movies. Humans are the real virus, and whether half the universe needs to be turned into dust or population needs to be curbed by natural extermination, something desperately needs to be done before it’s too late. We can’t rely on Titans or Thanos (Avengers) for this though.

The few times we see a connect between Godzilla and a human are touching. The times we see Godzilla rescue a human (wroth saving) are certainly cheer-out-loud moments. At points you do wonder what’s going on in this mess of monsters battling it out amidst tonnes of rubble. But it’s a movie about ancient giant animals and mutant creatures arising from the earth to battle each other.

Of course, there’s a set up for the next movie: Godzilla v/s King Kong but I wonder how Kong fits into this group of fire breathing, dinos and dragons. Will it be a fair fight with one clear winner and who will we choose to support? Or will a third character unite the two? I for one will be cheering for good ol’ Gojira and hoping his little Godzuki nephew/son will make an appearance.