The MonsterVerse needs to embrace a darker tone

sonictiger

Even though the MonsterVerse has been perfectly fine dealing with a light-hearted tone with Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla Vs. Kong, Warner Bros and Legendary have tried and failed to replicate the dark tone that was used in Godzilla (2014), with it's sequel Godzilla: King of The Monsters having HUGE tonal issues.  I think the MonsterVerse should continue on, but now as I'm currently doing a rewatch on HBO Max this week I realize that the MonsterVerse needs to embrace a dark tone.  Sure, I already said WB handled the light-hearted tone fine with KSI and GVK.  But if that tone continues it'll most likely be like GVK with it's over-used comedy at the worst times.  But I think the MonsterVerse needs to be darker, deeper, more emotional, and definitely more thought-provoking.  But not R-rated darkness.  It just needs to be that level of darkness and emotion present in films like Godzilla (1954), All Monsters Attack, and Shin Godzilla (2016).  The films also need to be longer in order to handle this tone better, as it applies to human characters and delving in the Titans.  Runtimes for future MonsterVerse movies need to be 2 hours and 30 minutes at the very least.  The maximum runtime I'd go up to is 3 hours and 20 minutes.  All of that is needed to make MonsterVerse movies more fleshed out.  The human character development would also benefit from a more somber tone and the development used in a fleshed out runtime could make future human characters in this series better to get behind.  Honestly, I don't think a light-hearted tone is going to work anymore and it's for the best.  Legendary needs to go back to what made so many of Toho's movies beloved among fans around the world.  The MonsterVerse needs a darker tone moving forward.

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

sonictiger

This needs to happen for real...

Djdndnejwnwn

The way it going, I don’t think that will happen

Mebo

I agree. Only one thing: 3:20 is a bit too much in my opinion. 2:00 - maximum 2:20 should be enough. You can see that in the Justice Leage (synder cut). The hardcore fans like to sit in the cinema for 4 hours, but the rest?

For a comparison: Dune, the new version. I'm really looking forward to that. The director has already announced that there will be 2 parts, because the story is so complex. sometimes less is more!

sonictiger

For god's sake, Gamera vs Jiger was 2 hours and 50 minutes and Peter Jackson's King Kong is 3 hours and 20 minutes (extended edition, the theatrical cut is 3 hours and 2 minutes).  Justice League could have easily been 3 hours and 45 minutes in my opinion, but Dune Part 1 could be 3 hours and so can Dune Part 2.

Djdndnejwnwn

Mebo

I disagree. More is more. 
Although actually I agree with that.

sonictiger

Keep in mind The lightheartedness is what made GVK successful. People don’t take giant monsters seriously anymore,

sonictiger

Uh, people are hating the COMEDY, ALL OF IT.

Djdndnejwnwn

I didn’t mean the comedy

sonictiger

Sure, we can keep the bombast and the crazy fun action but give the story a darker tone.

Djdndnejwnwn

No, the fact that the movie wasn’t dark is what people liked.... it didn’t take itself seriously, people wanted that rather than a serious story.

Mebo

SarcasticGoji

you that is already in order, would be bad if we were all of the same opinion.

Djdndnejwnwn

Mebo 
what?

sonictiger

Geez SarcasticGoji, what do you want from future MonsterVerse movies????

Mebo

SarcasticGoji my translation was bad ... I meant that this is the case from your point of view, but I don't quite share this opinion. Of course Peter Jackson has an overlength (after all, I have the film here). But these are exceptions. You can't apply that to all films.

I think as a director I don't just want to make films for the fans alone, but I also want to win new fans.

sonictiger

True, but you need to indulge new ones in a way they'll get behind your product as Disney has always done it with the Marvel Cinematic Universe even though they're interconnected to the max.

SasquaDash

I would love to see the MonsterVerse take on a much more serious and darker tone, unfortunately most critics and general audiences often criticize and bash monster movies for taking on a serious tone.

The Return of Godzilla/Godzilla 1985 suffered from that, with critics bashing it for being "Too straight to be funny"

Godzilla 2014 was even criticized for taking itself too seriously and not being a "goofy monster action movie", which is why the later MonsterVerse installments have focused more on fun monster action than having a serious tone.

sonictiger

which sucks, as I prefer this series tackles a serious tone...

Mebo

A film can have humor, but then this humor must be placed in the right place. "Godzilla on a beer to be invited", is in any case not one of them to call an example! I would have liked to see more seriousness in this genre.

sonictiger

YES THANK YOU

Mebo

One thing should not be forgotten: Godzilla is a Japanese brand. The japanese tell stories differently. Many of their traditions seem strange to us "from the West". The Japanese certainly feel the same way about us.

Toho has a lot of anime in their program that are great stories. "Akira" is one of them, for example. It's not everyone's story, but I love the film.

SasquaDash

Mebo

Honestly, I felt the sarcastic "Sure, let's bring him in for a beer" line in King of the Monsters actually worked in that situation because it felt like a genuine reaction. I mean, when you have an angry 390 ft monster threatening your base and then someone tells you to disable weapons and to open the shield how else are you going to react? 

it was some of the other attemps at humor that didn't work so well...

Mebo

SasquaDash that is, of course, difficult to portray. So if I were in this base and I saw a 390-foot monster, I'd be scared and wouldn't even think about a beer. It's always easy to criticize. On the other hand, you can't please everyone. There will always be someone who has something to criticize.

sonictiger

ha, yeah.

But unfortunately it did not work when the TAP WATER joke was used in GVK 

Mebo

I can well imagine. Unfortunately, I still haven't seen GVK. But the stories here in the forum let me suspect nothing good ... special effect, fights top but the others ...

sonictiger

Godzilla Vs. Kong is overall a good movie.

There were just some things that irked me though

Mebo

I hope that I still get to see GVK. That is a problem here in Germany with our government, how the pandemic situation is handled. Believe me when I tell you: we are annoyed without end ...

Djdndnejwnwn

Mebo

I was just kidding when I said more is more, I was just remembering something funny. I didn’t make that clear.

Mebo

SarcasticGoji that's ok, unfortunately it always takes me a little while to understand. But I try to do my best

sonictiger

We all try to understand things, don't take it hardly...

Mebo

not so anyway. if i don't understand something, i'll ask.

Foreverwing

I agree. That "cheerful" tone ruins several scenes in the movies. Inside the Monsterverse, we have the infamous "gonorrhea" scene in GKoM (I can't understand what kind of writer thought that line was a good idea).
I would go further, and make R-rated kaijus movies, in order to have more visceral fights, and to be able to pose more complex plots, without fear of "the children who only want to see GODzilla raping the monster on duty", and then they They complain with arguments like - "Humans are in the way" -, - "I went to see Godzilla, not humans" -, or the worst - "The plot is unnecessary, I just want to see monster fights" -. Children who ignore what Godzilla is, demand to see a disaster at the level of Michael Bay's Transformers, and complain when the product has something of quality, saying that it is boring.

Although of course, the type of Godzilla movie that I would like to see, I don't know if it suits Hollywood interests, I don't even know if Toho's, although I trust that if "World of Godzilla" is ever made, it will be fairly similar to what I hope, but better.