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.

INIGHTMARES has done a good job of streamlining "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" and removing unnecessary humor and exposition. This edit is a faster-paced, more streamlined version of the story. In most respects, it is an improvement over the original, with a superior tone.

As for cons, I did find myself missing a few bits from the original movie that were cut (like the part where one character asks if they will "Let them fight" before Mark replies that this time they will join the fight). Also, while there were arguably problems with the scene of Emma explaining her motives in the original movie, I felt that the amount that INIGHTMARES removed from it made what she was trying to achieve a little too confusing, as she doesn't give any meaningful explanation of her plan in the edited version.

The video quality is mostly excellent, save for a little banding here and there in a few scenes.

The audio quality is also mostly excellent, except for a part in which the audio volume drops for a few seconds starting around 51:14, and a noticeable audio cut when transitioning from one scene to another at around 1:26:20.

Excellent video quality, audio occasionally a little muffled and appears to lag slightly but this may be an issue with my playback rather than the edit itself.

Despite having seen the original film from 2014 I never bothered watching the sequel, perhaps a consequence of getting bored out of my mind by Kong: Skull Island. Seeing this edit’s listing prompted me to visit it at last and try it before the theatrical cut so I would have no prior knowledge or expectation, thus while I cannot comment on how much of an improvement this cut is the stated aim of achieving tonal consistency has certainly been achieved.

While some moments of the drama do feel a bit overwrought, the sense of dread is unbroken throughout by the described “lighter” moments present in the original: an exception would be presence of the news pages during the end credits, after the somber ending I found it a bit jarring to see the comparatively upbeat proclamations of how the monsters are the solution to the world’s ecological issues!

While not a film I am personally interested in revisiting, it is a decent piece of work and an amazing achievement for a first time editor!

A much, much more palatable experience than the original cut, with dumb jokes reduced and a sense of menace maintained throughout. It still feels like a story written by 10 years olds and populated with adults with the intelligence of 5 year-olds, but that's par for the course in most monster movies. The beasts/titans/kaiju are the stars and are afforded all of the emotional maturity, leaving the human actors high-and-dry. In all, a shelf-replacer for sure for the original movie, although I have to admit having to turn the volume up and down between the dialogue and the special effect (edit: this may have just been my basic-ass audio set-up, so "grain-of-salt"). Still, a taut entry in the Titanverse (or whatever we're calling it) series and I look forward to seeing what this editor does next.

Let me preface by saying that Michael Dougherty's Godzilla King of the Monsters was the most fun I had at the movies in 2019 and is easily my favourite kaiju flick in the new Monsterverse. My only quibble with the original cut is it has too much humour at inappropriate moments that undermined tension or a character beat.

So when Inightmares announced his DRAMATIC CUT, I was delightfully curious, as his cut/goal list sounded very boldly ambitious. And now, having watched his final version (1080 stereo), I can safely say this First Time Fan Editor has achieved something special.

The new opening credits -- which have a very Kubrick/Nolan style/feel -- are BRILLIANT. It immediately sets a very intensely different tone from the original that completely mesmerized me. But I do have a nitpick with it. The editor artistically chose to have the credit play out backwards (starting with the Director credit first) which works great, and is very common in many movies now. However, the credits do not roll out in proper traditional order... from Director to production staff, writers, composers cinematographer and finally with the cast from bottom to top tier... instead, the credits start the director and some production names, then lists all the actors starting with the lead and then goes back to listing production names. I know this is a small thing, and a creative choice, but it did pull me out of the moment.

Pretty much all the ill timed humour (sorry, Whitford & Middleditch) is seamlessly and expertly cut. Strangely, for me, while this maintains, even ups the dramatic tension, some of the "fun popcorn" quality of the original is now gone. So depending where you are on the Monsterverse spectrum (Edwards to Wingard), your mileage may vary.

The character of Emma has been extensively reworked, and while I think it meets the editor's set out goal, I personally felt she was over edited. For me, Emma was one of the best characters out of all the Monsterverse movies -- a very complex, traumatized human being. While the facade of these elements remain, the character now plays a bit less three dimensional, and more standard villain fare. Which brings me to the infamous Evil Plan Power Point Presentation and the hard choices of fan editing. Inightmares has chosen to essentially truncate/cut off Emma's transmission. It is a hard, bold decision. As the perfectly timed, pre-recorded imagery exposition dump does push the bounds of acceptable reality, even in giant monster movie. However, at the same time, it is a vital scene that goes along way to explaining Emma's motivation and state of mind. So while even I cringe at this original scene, I think the narrative is stronger with it than without it.

The video quality is overall strong, with minor dips where the deleted scenes and 2014 footage were masterfully used. The editor does use slow motion a few times in the edit, which really jumps out and looks artificial. I understand why it was done, but it does stand out when watching, especially compared to the actual slo-mo that already exists in the movie.

The scenes with the new music, which again invoke a very Nolan vibe, is blended in very well. Though I did still notice a slight muffle at times, particularly where there was additional foley work. I think my main issue with the new Nolan sound is it is not carried through the whole movie. It is basically only in the first act, so it creates a slight narrative audio discontinuity to my ear.

This a Fantastic Edit! And while the new narrative is not quite for me, I can confidently say Inightmares has stayed true to his creative vision and made something I think all Kaiju Fans will appreciate.

Thumbs Up!!! :)