Looking Back On 2019

Happy New Year, everybody and welcome to the new decade! I hope all of you had fun over the holidays, but now it is time to move forward. However, I want to look back on 2019 one last time before we say "SAYONARA 2019!" While 2019 does not seem like a whole lot happened, there have been some major events that took place this year for Godzilla and the franchise. Events such as witnessing an end of one era and the beginning of a new era, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters came to the big screen, and the reveal of TOHO's plan of expanding the Godzilla brand to other international countries.

Ever since the first trailer at San Diego Comic Con in 2018, we all knew that 2019 was going to be a big year for Godzilla as the marketing was in full force and never ending news for Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. January really kicked off the 2019 with a big surprise of toy leaks and one of the toys having a big spoiler revealing Burning Godzilla. Also in that same month, Godzilla: The Planet Eater was released on Netflix and turned out to be just as disappointing as the previous two animated Godzilla movies that were released in 2018.

From January all the way up to May 31st, advertising for Godzilla: King Of The Monsters was just non-stop with trailer after trailer, TV spot after TV spot, and news article after news article trying to build excitement for the movie.

My thoughts as a fan it was one of the most amazing spectacles and loved every moment. Godzilla's screen time in the film was about as much as the first movie, yet it was more evenly spaced out and never felt like I was being blue-balled for most of the movie. I wanted to see Godzilla and the movie delivered on that end. However, no movie is without their flaws.

There were easter eggs in the movie that were used as a device for the movie's story only to be under utilized or not explained enough. For instance, the introduction of the weapon called the oxygen destroyer came out of nowhere. It was originally introduced in the original 1954 film as a chemical weapon that killed the first Godzilla, but with dire consequences. In Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, however, there was a lack of explanation of what this version of the weapon could do and just seemed as though it was used as just another nuke.

The story itself was kind of weak where it stepped away from the realism aspect that Godzilla (2014) and Kong: Skull Island had and became more Sci-Fi. I did see Kyle Chandler's character (Mark Russell) as sort of a "Gary Stu" (a male character that has no flaws). Mark seemed to know a lot more about Godzilla than Ken Watanabe's character (Dr. Serizawa) and Dr. Serizawa is suppose to be the character that has studied Godzilla for most of his life working with the government organization, Monarch. The comedic timing in the movie had moments that were awkward. It mostly happens when an a serious or intense scene is happening and suddenly Thomas Middleditch or Bradley Whitford would say something witty or sarcastic just to be awkward and I kind of shake my head when those parts happen.

In my review for the movie, I said that these things were not as bad as others made them out to be and at times it isn't, yet in other times it is kind of that bad as there are parts that could have been done better or made a stronger impact. My final complaint is that I wish Rodan and Mothra had more time to interact with each other or with the other monsters. Rodan was hyped up to be this threat towards Godzilla from Michael Dougherty until he is on screen. He was so ridiculously weak that I felt bad for the monster not getting to show off how tough he really is. He is just getting his butt kicked left and right by Mothra and King Ghidorah. As for Mothra, she could have done a lot more in the final battle. At that moment when she sacrifices herself, she could have put the smack down on Ghidorah or at least used her stinger a few times before she died.

Overall, I enjoyed the Godzilla: King Of The Monsters. It was an improvement over Godzilla (2014), but there is a lot of room that could have been improved. It's definitely a movie I get a lot of entertainment from and I definitely put this up there in my top 5 favorite Godzilla movies.

When it comes down to the rest of 2019, it was definitely Godzilla centered with Godzilla: King Of The Monsters being the main event of the year. The third and final animated Godzilla film, Godzilla: The Planet Eater, was released on Netflix in January and the result was mixed with most people that watched all three animated movies would rather forget they even exist rather than acknowledge them. Fast forward to April where the new emperor of Japan, Emperor Naruhito, has ascended the throne. This ended the Heisei era and began a new era for Japan called the Reiwa era (Reiwa meaning beautiful harmony). This had many Godzilla fans debating which current Godzilla movies were considered part of the Reiwa era until TOHO's appearance at SDCC 2019 in July had an official listing.

News and marketing for Godzilla vs Kong was next to none until November when the movie was officially announced to be delayed. With the movie pushed back to November 2020, we may not see or hear about any news and marketing for Godzilla vs Kong until SDCC 2020 in July. Although there is always a possibility for news as early as March or April.

My wish for 2020 is that I hope Godzilla vs Kong and all of the other monster movies releasing this year turn out to be good films. Underwater is releasing on January 10th, then A Quiet Place Part II in March. I regret not doing a review for the first A Quiet Place movie because I did see it in theaters back in 2018 and I thought it was an amazing piece of film. So expect a review of A Quiet Place as we get closer to the sequel's release date.

As for Godzilla vs Kong, I had some worries about the movie not living up to expectations like Godzilla: King Of The Monsters and that Adam Wingard directing the movie was considered a mistake. While I am still not a fan of his films I am now looking at this movie in a different and more optimistic light after following its production. Wingard knows he isn't the biggest Godzilla fan, but he reached out to Michael Dougherty (director of Godzilla: King Of The Monsters) for some guidance. So that made me feel more cautiously optimistic than I was in 2018. While having Dougherty help write out the screenplay has people on edge we have not really seen anything outside the leaked two second footage from CCXP2019. For all we know, Dougherty has said that he just made some tweaks to make sure the movie stayed with the flow like the previous movies.

On the plus side, I really love how fans established sides on which monster should win with #TeamGodzilla and #TeamKong. Sort of like the rivalry football fans have. However, there are those that do take it a little too far saying if their favorite monster doesn't win then the movie automatically sucks. So I really hope that when the movie comes out that everyone knows that this rivalry is just for fun and not to be taken seriously.

What did you think of 2019 overall? What do you hope for 2020? Leave your thoughts in the comments section on what you thought of 2019 and what you like to see happen in 2020. Make sure to follow me on my Facebook, Twitter, and Minds pages for more news, reviews, and discussions and I wish all of you a Happy 2020.