Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Dramatic Cut

First of the music alone makes even the disclaimer appear terrifying and the manner in which it carries on up until the start of the movie makes for a truly ominous and atmospheric experience especially the chanting and the way it rises in intensity and crescendo’s at the end but speaking of audio the majority of the 5.1 Surround Sound audio gives a great sense of immersion to the majority of the chaos and desolation as it truly felt I was among such destruction and carnage unable to escape in some instances well barely being able to escape in others.

I’ve never understood why this movie and similar movies to this often seem to be littered with jokes as there often intrusive and diminish the tension that many of these life threatening situations could have had, it almost feels as if the people behind the production of the theoretical cut were afraid to instil tension into both the product and their audience despite it being a kaiju movie. Thankfully with the vast majority of these tension killing jokes atomised into oblivion the kaiju’s feel much more threatening and dominating in comparison to the human meatsacks where it is made much more apparent that they are treating this globalised threat with more caution and gravitas thanks to the removal of most of the jokes.

The removal of the multiple exposition dumps also helps to make the film feel not only more intelligent but more trusting in it’s audiences ability to figure out and understand the overall plotline though I will say I do think more of the films dialogue should have been cut particularly the parts where certain characters state the obvious or utter things that break immersion such as ‘’Jesus it’s like the whole skies alive’’ ‘’That’s because it is’’ or where a scene telegraphs what’s happening and what someone is going to do or what there thinking based on there body language only for others to spell it out and diminish the subtlety with obvious statements and intrusive dialogue.

The deleted scenes relating to Andrew Russel’s birthday and Maddison’s use of the radio are a great addition to the edit as they successfully expand on the familial aspect of the film pertaining to both Mark & Maddison giving them more humanity and relatability and making them easier to root for especially Maddison who I consider to be the most sympathetic and routable character within the whole film minus the incident where she chooses to stay with her mother though she thankfully redeems herself of that mistake later, even in the theoretical edition I not only felt great pity for her but wanted her to survive the kaiju attack unlike most of but not necessary all the other human meatsacks in fact speaking of said meatsacks.

Your version of Emma Is much better handled due to the subtle audio implementation and the removal of some of her forced attempts at sympathy by the film makers as such she is much better established as a delusional Anti Villain driven insane by grief with a lot more emphasis on the villain part of the trope, though the bit about Maddison claiming that Emma was gonna restore balance does feel like it comes out of nowhere due to said balancing line from Emma in a much earlier scene being cut.

I love the use of the first song that plays during the ending credits as the tension and crescendo increases alongside the imagery that flashes by maintaining the tension and fear that is brilliantly instilled into this edit, the fact the ending credits listing implies that Godzilla along with the rest of the monsters are played by themselves and not human meat sacks (though I think that was part of the theoretical version) brings a smile to my face as does the use of Joker’s theme from the Dark Knight. I truly felt the escalating sense of tension and dread in that sequence.

Well, I Just watched again….(since I was a previewer/approver for this)

It Rocks!!!!

This is Superb work and all the more remarkable from a first time faneditor.

By the time myself and Artisdead saw this for the first time a few months back, the edit was in a near final state and frankly for many viewers, would have been just fine. However, INIGHTMARES wanted to polish this from a "nice shine" to a "highly polished finish" and my word has he achieved that in spades.
The amount of back 'n' forth with those tiny refinements, adjustments, (12 sets of doubleframes appearing randomly in one place) and more, were diligently addressed...with real enthusiasm to boot! And this is your reward viewers...

I'll confess to not having viewed the original since the movie theater and even being confused on Blu Ray ownership...I recorded it off-air AND THAT DOES NOT COUNT (but I knew "I had it" somewhere). So Blu Ray in hand (purchased of course), I watched THIS edit and was impressed by just how well this movie does play with the execessive jokes and 12 rating humour removed (and so much more).

What is even more impressive, is that apart from some minor things I noticed and pointed out (all adressed), I DID NOT NOTICE ANY OF THE SOUND OR MUSIC WORK...and that was on the preview version. In fact, I was so doubtful that a first timer could "FOOL US" a la Penn & Teller, I went back and finaly re-watched the original. "Well I'll be damned"! There really is a ton of work in this, and the result is a masterful upgrading of a really devise 'Zilla movie into a great and enjoyable Dramatic Cut.

The charachers now are believable, more serious and credible all round. In turn, the plot gains credibility too and thus as a viewer, one is immediately more invested. Everything benefits and when you then lay over the scoring adjustments as well, this just shines IMHO.

Are there flaws still. YES, but that is NOT a problem with the edit itself in any way. I crave more Charles Dance, whose role is fully intact but which no longer jarringly diminished by quips and the random utterances of other protagonists that used to pull you out of the movie.

The flow benefits as well, especially with some surgical excisions in a few places that keep the pace and anticipation pitched just right.

And DON'T get me started on the opening....BREATHTAKING choice and execution.

So lets get into the categories....

AV Quality 10 - Near flawless and not enough to drop this a point. There were some audio sync issues in the source material, and even these were corrected.
Visual Editing - 10 Nothing to note save one odd cut which I challenged and it turns out to be in the source material with no remedy.
Audio Editing - 10 Again, nothing to note and as I said above, I missed a bunch of stuff that was done to this.
Narrative - 10 (coz there is no 11, and this now does what it says on the tin).
ENJOYMENT - Derrrrr... 10

What was a popcorn fest now demands your serious consideration; This is the real deal finally (and yes, I've lost count how many times I've watched this, and the opening gets me EVERYTIME).
I for one cannot wait to see what other movies INIGHTMARES will turn his imagination and skills to next.

One word ….
REDEMPTION

I just have to say, I watched this movie in theathers, and feeling good for me, but not for the others, and just watching the movie, and then watching everyone after it was over, no one felt good about that, I was like ''my god, was it so bad'', but this guy right here save it, and made like a really good movie, like ''why we won't put some Drama on it?'' and he did it, it was like less jokes and more action, really you really need to see this, forget the theatrical, watch this one.

This is way more darker and serious than the original which I really like . Many good cuts removing the silliness !
Also for audio similar situation had to vol. up and down sometimes.
For now , this tops all Godzilla/Titan movies and is my go to version. .

Thank you !

If you're like me, and you adore Godzilla and already enjoyed this film for what it was, I think you'll have a blast with this edit. If you like Godzilla but the jokes in this movie were unbearable, I think this edit will still work much better for you. But if you already weren't a fan and disliked the character's stories and the overall plot, then there's really nothing here for you. Highlights were definitely the new opening which set a captivating tone that unfortunately, a lot of the movie just doesn't completely support, which is no fault of the editor. But the work he does in the opening is really something. I also was surprised how much I liked the inclusion of the Dark Knight music, it really heightened the tension. If you know the Dark Knight soundtrack well, it might take you out of the movie, but even I was impressed.

My only editing issues were the opening breakfast scene which I think just doesn't work in the truncated way here, it's so obvious we're missing a beat. There was also a noticeable audio cut during the scene where Emma is about to blow the ice wall, I think there were too many new audio sources going on at once that all cut out at the same time.

Honestly, my biggest issue with the film has always been the way the score has been mixed. Bear McCreary's music is probably the best Godzilla score, and in my opinion, one of the best scores of the last decade. But the original mix loses so much of it under heavy sfx and poor leveling. My dream KOTM edit would be someone fixing the audio levels and prioritizing the wonderful music buried underneath it.