and you can’t tell anyone when you’re in hell or they’ll think you’re crazy and being crazy is being in hell and being sane is hellish too. those who escape hell, however,
never talk about
辻
and nothing much bothers them after that.
I mean, things like missing a meal, going to jai, were oing thursar.
when you ask them,
‘how are things?’
they’ll always answer, ‘fine, just fine…’ once you’ve been to hell and back, that’s enough
it’s the greatest satisfaction known to man. once you’ve been to hell and back,
you don’t look behind you when the floor creaks and the sun is always up at midnight and things like the eyes of mice or an abandoned tire in a vacant lot can make you smile
once you’ve been to hell and back.”
-Charles Bukowski, “Lost” from Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame (1974)
Just as Japan is making thoughtful monster movies, America is still pitching various themes on the same theme: Wrestlemania on Film.
Sometimes it’s in space (“Star Wars”), in cars (“Fast & Furious”) or a suit (“John Wick”). This time it’s at the zoo!
As “Godzilla Minus One” still streams on Netflix, Warner Bros has answered with its latest flushable action flick, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.” It’s a shameless cash grab, with no regard for storytelling, character or even an original twist for kaiju flicks.
The plot is nonexistent, serving only to string together a series of overblown fight scenes. Godzilla and Kong duke it out in a CGI spectacle that quickly becomes as tiresome as the 386th lap of the Indy 500.
The dialogue is laughably bad. In one scene, a scientist shouts, “Do you have any idea how to stop a 300-foot lizard and a giant ape? Because I’m all ears!” Try catching “Minus One;” they have great ideas. Alexander Skarsgård and Millie Bobby Brown are wasted in roles that give them nothing to do but react to the carnage around them.
Mothra’s appearance is a travesty, a gratuitous addition that adds nothing to the story but WB merchandising hopes. Her design looks like a reject from a children’s cartoon, completely out of place in the film’s already incoherent aesthetic. The CGI is inconsistent, with Mothra looking particularly unconvincing and out of scale compared to other monsters.
The blatant product placements are obnoxious. Do we really need to see Kong chugging a Monster energy drink and Godzilla stomping through a city plastered with Samsung billboards?
The special effects are impressive but hollow, lacking any real sense of wonder or awe. It’s all style and no substance. The climactic battle in Hong Kong is a neon-lit mess, more concerned with looking cool than making any narrative sense.
In an era where monster movies can be thoughtful and engaging, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is a disappointing reminder of Hollywood’s worst tendencies. Save your time and watch something with heart and brains instead.
“Nobody will protect you from your suffering. You can’t cry it away or eat it away or starve it away or walk it away or punch it away or even therapy it away. It’s just there, and you have to survive it.
“You have to endure it. You have to live through it and love it and move on and be better for it and run as far as you can in the direction of your best and happiest dreams across the bridge that was built by your own desire to heal.” ~Cheryl Strayed
