Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2019) CGI Anime Movie review

Overall verdict: 7.5/10

Fanatical space cults, philosophy, and proof that a giant monster movies can be deeper than the average blockbuster. 

The Good: Believable character development, great cast and acting, intricate artwork, improved CGI animation, numerous social and philosophical themes to unpack, deconstructive slant, compelling atmosphere of suspense, creative reinventions of classic kaiju. 

The Bad: Light on traditional movie action, lots of unnecessary verbal exposition for events happening onscreen.

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Defeat! The latest mission to destroy Godzilla has ended in failure when Captain Haruo Sakaki made a life or death decision choosing his friend Yuko over the chance for victory.

Mutiny! Haruo is branded a traitor by the Bilsaludo people, former allies of humanity, who stage a coup on board the colony ship Aratrum.

Despair! With all hope lost, humanity turns to the Exif religion led my the charismatic Metphies who manipulated events to bring their Dark god into this plane of existence! The dreaded golden avatar of destruction: Ghidorah.

Ever wondered what a Cosmic horror styled Godzilla movie would be like? This comes complete with fanatical cult, a charismatic religious leader, human sacrifices, and an extradimensional dark deity that defies all laws of physics. In this story, Ghidorah has evolved beyond being just a three headed space dragon. He is now a living time space anomaly, existing in our reality on the combined beliefs of fearful fanatical followers. The ultimate pinnacle of extraterrestrial evolution; a dark mirror to how Godzilla had been portrayed as the pinnacle of earth’s evolutionary development.

That being said it is important to approach this movie with the right expectations and in this case it is not for giant rubber suit wrestling matches. The battle between Godzilla and Ghidorah, both representing the evolutionary peak of their respective natures, is the the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. That’s it. A force meeting an object, and the fight is exactly as it sounds. 

Instead, GODZILLA THE PLANET EATER is a feature length clash of metaphors and philosophical concepts, each one building on the last. Drawing heavily from the likes of Nietzsche and other perspectives on nihilism, this movie is a biting critique of human nature, motivations and actions; of our flawed sense of superiority and self righteousness. 

The nebulous comforts humanity cling to in times of desperation such as seemingly advanced technology or the faint solace of false religions are harshly deconstructed. Deconstructed too is the nature of the messianic narrative as it is being twisted into crafting a figurehead for advancing a hidden agenda. 

At its core, it is a cautionary tale against single minded obsession to the point of sacrificing the qualities that make us uniquely human. This has been portrayed in a deeply metaphorical sense, through the Godzilla destruction Mission in the first movie, the nanometal in the second movie, and now the Exif’s dark god in this third movie. 

But it’s themes are not all darkness storm and stress. In our main character of Haruo, we are given a tragic tale espousing the virtue of letting go and moving on from past emotional baggage; hatred, anger, fear arising from past trauma and failures. On a greater scope, the state of humanity and Haruo can be seen as a commentary about Japan itself; a country still paying for its misdeeds of the past (given form as Godzilla), who's traditional ways of life are being replaced by "alien" (western) norms, beliefs and mindsets (the Exif religion and Bilusaludo technology), all the while asking the question "how far do we go until we lose who we are?".

Visually, the style of this movie fits the narrative. Desolate post apocalyptic landscapes complete with perpetual overcast skies and creatures that come in varying shades of grey. This all contributes to the serious, bleak and often tragic tone of the story. There seem to be some improvements in the animation, with characters having more dynamic range of expressions compared to the first movie. And all this is complemented with a fine cast, both for the Japanese and English dubs. 

GODZILLA: THE PLANET EATER is easily one of the darkest entries in the Godzilla franchise and one of the deepest with tone and themes hearkening back to the original 1954 classic. Like the original GOJIRA (1954) this movie thrives on atmosphere and suspense. It is relatively light on traditional "blasts and beatdowns" kind of action, but if one was expecting that all the time, a Michael Bay movie might be a more suitable alternative. For those of us who like stories that get you thinking, this one has tons to unpack.  

It is highly recommended that one watches all 3 of the GODZILLA anime movies back to back. Some of the revelations in the third lend themselves to having a deeper appreciation of certain events in PLANET OF MONSTERS and CITY ON THE EDGE OF BATTLE as well as clarifying some initially vague plot points. On a whole, the trilogy of GODZILLA ANIME movies might have had a slow start and is not flawless. It is however "true Godzilla" in spirit and a respectable addition to the franchise.

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Entertainment: B+
Art: B+
Animation: A-

Story: B+
Voice Acting (Japanese): A
Voice Acting (English): A- 

Characters: B+

Music: C+

Replay value: A-
"Brains": A-

Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) movie review

Overall verdict: 6.5/10

That YA Remake of Resident Evil The Final Chapter

The Good: Clearer directing in action scenes, good cast chemistry, presents themes that explore grey morality,  fitting music score, magnificent special effects, many emotional moments.

The Bad: Derivative and cliched plot, mediocre scripting, some wooden acting.

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Thomas and friends have survived the treacherous Maze, one of many experiments by the WCKD organisation to find a cure to a virus which turns humans into rage filled savages. They have survived the Scorch, the desolate wastelands which were once mankind’s greatest cities. Now they have to take on WCKD itself and the vengeful overseer Janson () who has captured Thomas’ buddy Minho hoping to extract a cure from his immune cells. They also have to deal with Theresa, Thomas’ former Girlfriend, who turns out to have been working for WCKD all along and betrayed the group in the last movie.

THE DEATH CURE is the final part of the MAZE RUNNER trilogy and at first glance it seems to carry on the derivative nature of the preceding entry THE SCORCH TRIALS. WCKD conducting questionable experiments for a virus cure? Rage filled human husks who would cannibalise survivors? A rag tag band of freedom fighters going up against a corrupt corporation? A hostile takeover from within that same corporation? Yup it definitely sounds like a rehash of Paul WS Anderson’s RESIDENT EVIL movie franchise. Even some of the designs used in this movie like WCKD’s flying vehicles The Bergs, look almost like Umbrella corporation VTOLs.

Looks can be deceiving however as once you get deeper into our story we see these familiar tropes given a fresh portrayal. All opposing forces in the ongoing conflict are just as morally questionable as the next. WCKD’s experiments may be brutal but it is revealed that their intentions are noble and altruistic, hoping to save the remnants of humanity without a single thought about profiteering from the cure. 

The rebel group comes complete with some familiar faces. Are they really opposing an oppressive government or are they just anarchists motivated by jealousy and adopting a “taking you with me” attitude towards what they see as the privileged class of people protected behind the walls? All of this is kept grey and it is nice to see such lines of good and evil blurred to this extent. Gives one quite a bit to think about.

Thomas,Theresa, Newt and Minho all receive a surprising amount of character development along with some startling revelations. The actors have become so comfortable portraying their characters and this shows through the chemistry especially in the emotionally tense moments. The action seems to be shot a lot clearer now with less of the jitter cam and quick cuts that made THE SCORCH TRIALS a chore to watch. The special effects are magnificent considering the movie’s Budget and the music by composer John Paesano (Superman/Batman: Apocalypse) complements the action perfectly.

When seen through the context of its young adult target audience, one could derive a “brothers before romantic partners” theme underlying the whole narrative of the trilogy. Whenever Thomas develops feelings for any female character or vice versa, trouble is soon to follow. Whereas the single minded determination to rescue a fellow “glader” (term used to denote the original band of allies who escaped the maze), this “leave no man behind” mindset is shown to be the purest of motives and the highest of moral obligations. So remember kids, Bros before babes ok?

That being said, THE MAZE RUNNER trilogy is a fun though slightly derivative series. Some liberties are taken from the original source material, like the removal of psychic powers, but these aid the transition to film. If you can overlook a weaker second instalment , then this third one THE DEATH CURE will make it all worthwhile.

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Entertainment: B+

Story: C+

Acting: B-

Characters: A-

Music: B-

Replay value: B+

"Brains": B