In 2017, "King Kong: Skull Island" was released in China, with a box office of 1.1 billion.
At the end of the film, it was linked with the "Godzilla" series through an easter egg - the members of the Emperor Project said to the hero and heroine, "This island is just the beginning, King Kong is not the only king."
A new threat emerges. On the murals of the ancient caves, four giant beasts are presented one by one: Godzilla, Mothra, Radon, Ghidorah.
This easter egg follows the plot of "Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters". The "Monster Universe" jointly created by Warner and Legendary Pictures has begun to take shape. So far, Monster Universe has completed four films: "Godzilla", "Kong: Skull Island", "Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters", and "Godzilla vs. Kong" which will be released in North America on May 21 next year.
Among the four movies, the one Uncle Goose is going to talk about today is the most shocking and ambitious - Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
All the movies in the Monster Universe are based on the same worldview. Even if you haven't seen "Godzilla 1", the audience can easily understand this sequel.
In response to the ancient monster "Godzilla", Hollywood has successively produced three works. As early as 1998, disaster film director Roland Emmerich once put it on the screen. However, because the 98 version of Godzilla is too different from the original version, it is not recognized by mainstream fans.
It wasn't until 2014 that Warners plucked up the courage to restart "Godzilla" again. "Godzilla 1", which came out this year, established the main story line on ecological balance, making Godzilla act as the incarnation of the power to "protect the balance of nature". After the film came out, it was also criticized a lot. The main reason is that Godzilla appeared in the movie for too short a time, and the scenes were not enough to watch at all-the opening hour was almost all literary drama, and Godzilla did not appear until the second half.
Most of the time, it is the two Mutos who are madly showing their affection.
After absorbing the shortcomings of "Godzilla 1", Warner Bros. optimized and upgraded "Godzilla 2" in all aspects. Nearly half of the film's time is spent fighting. Whether it's epic special effects scenes or bursting visual effects, it's enough to make the adrenal glands run wild and overwhelm the monster addiction. It is said that the production cost of the light special effects part of the film is as high as 200 million US dollars, which is obviously a lot of money.
At the same time, the cast of the film should not be underestimated: Vera Farmiga ("The Conjuring" series), "Little 11" Millie Bobby Brown ("Stranger Things"), Zhang Ziyi, Du Bian Qian, Sally Hawkins ("The Shape of Water") and so on. It is worth mentioning that although Dr. Chen played by Zhang Ziyi is not a female lead, the number of shots and lines is extremely large, far surpassing Jing Tian's role of soy sauce in "King Kong: Skull Island".
"Godzilla 2" itself tells the story, in fact, is not complicated. The core of its story still revolves around common propositions such as human insignificance, uncontrollable ecology, and monsters competing for supremacy.
The film continues the "ecological balance concept" in the previous work as the main narrative. It emphasizes that the earth, as an organism, can release "antibodies" when it is destroyed, and the ancient titans are the antibodies of the earth. In the movie, the female scientist, played by Vera Farmiga, has the same thinking as Thanos, trying to use ancient giants to restore the earth's ecology, exchanging destruction for new life.
As a result, the stories of "humans vs. monsters" and "monsters vs. monsters" in the movie were triggered.
As for the literary drama in the film, Uncle Goose doesn't want to say much. Here I mainly want to focus on popularizing the ancient monsters that appear in the film. Because the biggest attraction of "Godzilla 2" is mainly reflected in them.
In order to study the ancient giants, countries around the world have joined hands to form the "Emperor Organization". The Emperor Organization found that there are at least 17 monsters in the world. These monsters are all deployed in the film, but only a few are specially given close-ups, such as the mammoth Behemoth, the giant spider-shaped Scylla, and the huge mountain-shaped Methuselah.
In addition to the above-mentioned monsters that suddenly woke up and returned to sleep, the biggest contribution of "Godzilla 2" is to let the four classic monsters under Toho of Japan complete the historic same frame in a Hollywood blockbuster for the first time. ——Godzilla in the ocean, Mothra in the pupation stage, Raton in the rebirth of Nirvana, and Ghidorah in the frozen state.
Let's talk about Godzilla first. Godzilla is originally from Japan and was first born in 1954. It is a classic product left over from the "special photography era". It was co-created by directors Eiji Tsuburaya and Inoshiro Honda.
Godzilla is an important opponent of Ultraman, and the two have fought against each other many times.
In Japanese, Godzilla's pronunciation combines the two pronunciations of "gorilla" and "whale". If it is literally translated, Godzilla should actually be translated as "gorilla whale". The advent of Godzilla also alluded to the shadow of nuclear radiation faced by Japan at that time. In March 1954, the U.S. military conducted a secret hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Roundabout in the Pacific Ocean. As a result, the leaked nuclear radiation polluted hundreds of fishing boats nearby. This accident is known as the "Fifth Fukuryu Pill Incident".
The birth of Godzilla was based on this accident. Its appearance can be regarded as a concrete expression of human fear and awe of nuclear weapons.
How powerful is Godzilla? I'm afraid many people can't imagine it. In terms of qualifications, it has played all over the world, and even broke through the dimension and fought against the Avengers.
In terms of fame, it is even more famous in history, becoming the second virtual character to enter the Hollywood Walk of Fame after Mickey Mouse.
In modern times, it has set off a "monster frenzy" countless times. Many directors, including Guillermo del Toro, Spielberg, and George Lucas, are its loyal fans. It can be said that a history of "Godzilla" is almost a history of popular culture.
In "Godzilla 2", the "Atomic Breath" used by Godzilla is its most important basic skill. This skill requires the use of two organs, the "reaction bag" and the "uranium bag", to absorb the radiation dust in the air into energy, and then spit it out.
In the movie, humans try to use the air destruction device to kill two giant beasts at the same time by blocking the air. As a result, Ghidorah was unscathed, but Godzilla was seriously injured. The lethal weapon "Oxygen Destruction Device" is actually not an original movie, but is based on the 1954 version of "Godzilla". Its developer, named Serizawa Daisuke.
In "Godzilla 2", the corner of Serizawa (Watanabe Ken) also appeared. However, in the 54th version of "Godzilla", Serizawa appeared in the image of the destroyer. He took the button of the starter to dive into the deep sea and perished with Godzilla. When leaving, he left such a sentence, "There will be more Godzillas, and they will be indistinguishable between friends and foes."
Serizawa in "Godzilla 2" appears as a savior. After Godzilla was injured, Serizawa personally embedded a nuclear bomb into the seabed and helped Godzilla recover his physical strength by detonating the nuclear bomb. Before dying, he said the most tearful sentence in the whole film, "Goodbye, my friend". Through this content replacement, "Godzilla 2" and film history have completed an interesting reverse echo.
Like Godzilla, Mothra, who appears in the film, is also a popular ancient monster. Mothra is a large female moth that flutters and dazzles.
This image first appeared in the monster movie "Mothra" launched by Toho in 1961. In the movie, it inhabits a baby island in the South Pacific used for nuclear testing, and has guarded the island's aborigines for generations. Therefore, it is also called the ancient moth goddess. Mostly, it is a symbol of tranquility and meekness. It will only attack humans when the eggs and followers are attacked.
Its deadly tricks are mainly "scale powder" and "spinning silk". In "Mothra vs. Godzilla", which came out in 1964, it launched a "scale powder" attack on Godzilla.
In addition, it also has an important ability that other monsters do not have - mind communication. It can communicate with humans through a pair of twin priestesses. And the role played by Zhang Ziyi in "Godzilla 2" carries this skill.
Like Mothra, Radon, who appeared in Godzilla 2, also has flying skills. Raton first appeared in Raton (1956), co-directed by Inoshiro and Eiji Tsuburaya.
Unlike Godzilla, who attacked from the bottom of the sea, Raton mainly lives in the magma of the volcano, and has the names of "fire demon" and "reborn from ashes". Because of this, Raton's appearance in "Godzilla 2" looks very cool.
Raton's unique trick is supersonic flight and mouth-spitting radioactive heat beams, which are extremely destructive in themselves.
However, compared to Ghidorah, Mothra and Raton can only be regarded as a drizzle. Ghidorah is a monster that delights in destroying alien civilizations. Since its birth, Ghidorah has always stood on the opposite side of Godzilla as a super villain. In 1964, in "The Biggest Battle of the Three Monsters on Earth" directed by Ishiro Honda, it officially invaded the Earth after destroying Venus.
It is shaped like a dragon, has three heads, huge wings and a strong tail, and has golden scales all over its body, and can shoot lightning-like gravitational rays from its mouth.
According to head scans, all three of its heads have different densities of the frontal lobes of the brain. This means that each of its heads has different levels of cognitive function, and may even have the ability to think independently. Moreover, in terms of stature, it is also quite advantageous. At 393 feet (119.8 meters) tall, Godzilla is already huge, while Ghidorah is 521 feet (158.8 meters) tall. In front of Ghidorah, Godzilla is like a junior high school student.
In the movie, every time a monster appears on the stage, it gives people an extraordinary aura of the gods descending from the earth and the gods descending from the sky. All of them highlight the lowliness, insignificance and powerlessness of human beings. After watching "Godzilla 2", Uncle Goose is already gearing up and looking forward to "Godzilla vs. King Kong".
However, compared with "Godzilla 2", "Godzilla vs. Kong" has a different meaning. Because Godzilla and King Kong represent the two totems of the East and the West respectively. The duel between the two is actually a duel between the Eastern monster and the Western monster. Moreover, in terms of attributes, they are also a mixture of good and evil. It would be a bit hard to lose face to let which one lose, but a tie would be a bit too cliché. In the end, how will Hollywood look at this century war? It is really exciting and curious!
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