Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle review

I sat and watched this the day it premiered on Netflix. I went into it pretty sure I would not enjoy it. I did not like the first entry at all, and based on what I saw in the trailer (and some brief plot synopses I had read about online), my expectations for this one were significantly lowered.

Perhaps it’s because of that that I actually enjoyed this one. I found that many of the elements that I disliked from the 1^st entry were improved upon here (I found the main character Haruo extremely annoying and one-note, the other characters were dull and did not stand out, too much drawn out tech babble that made the dialogue uninteresting, the story seemed unfocused and uneven, the monster action seemed like more of an after-thought, making it dull, etc.). Haruo seemed to have more depth instead of just being angry and screaming all the time, Yuko and the rest of the characters actually had personality, the story was more interesting, and it all seemed to have a better build up that made the climactic fight feel exciting. If anything, it kept my attention for the entire running time.

I will say, though, that the promotional material for these films aren’t doing Toho studios any favors in bringing in fans. The first film, titled Planet of the Monsters, left me (and many others)wondering, where the hell were the monsters??? This one’s poster prominently features Mechagodzilla, so what are fans going to think? A fight between Godzilla and MechaG! Wrong. We not only NOT get that fight, Mechagodzilla doesn’t even appear in the film. So with that said, having Ghidorah teased in this film doesn’t generate any excitement, as I fully expect the 3-headed titan to NOT show up in the final installment, or maybe have a 2 minute scene.

I also couldn’t help but notice how the fans are more apathetic to this entry. When the first one premiered on Netflix, everyone in my social media Godzilla and kaiju groups were talking non-stop about it. This new installment has been out for 3 days and I barely saw like 2 posts bringing it up. It also premiered the same day that SHMA and NECA both revealed pics of their upcoming Godzilla 62 figures, so that could’ve stolen the anime’s thunder, but I have a feeling that the bad taste this series has left in most fans mouths has led to disinterest.

I will watch the 3^rd one, as I’m now curious as to where this story leads. Had the 1^st film been stronger I might be more psyched about this series, but as it stands, I’m only moderately interested, and that’s sad coming from a long-time Godzilla fan.

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