By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photos and video copyrght Warner Bros and others
The world is now cracked with conspiracy.
How did I never put it together before?
All my life I’ve loved monsters the bigger the better especially Godzilla movies. I love the Matthew Broderick version by the way; it’s great and I’ve followed Kurt Russell’s career since Lost in Space. Kurt battled the Thing, Chinese demons and became Elvis but he never went up against Godzilla or Kong or anything else. In real life he did witness the UFO phenomenon the Phoenix Lights. If he says it was a ship you can believe it especially as he had to report the sighting officially. Now he has a chance at a monster as he takes a lead in the new Monarch Legacy of Monsters show on Apple+ TV. It is set after the events of Godzilla vs Kong and Skull island directly referencing these movies but does it better the poor Godzilla vs Kong?
Well it wastes no time in transporting us back to Skull Island where Kong swats the helicopters out of the sky and Bill Randa (John Goodman) is running for his life from a giant spider. He manages to make a recording apologising for what he has done but hoping he can leave a legacy behind before he is caught at the edge of a cliff in a battle between a giant crab and said spider allowing him to escape. Fans of the movie already know he doesn’t get off the island. He tosses a bag into the ocean which is not found until 2013. Given Skull Island was set in the 70s, what will Monarch do with this information if indeed they have it?
Immediately I was caught up in this unseen monster scene from Skull Island and the effects are flawless. Bringing Goodman back was a great idea as his character was the head of Monarch and he knew the reveal of these giants could destroy everything for humanity. And the events of the movies have certainly had an impact on the world. The show crosses time zones as we see events that Monarch have been investigating for years secretly. In 1959 we find a deserted city where a massive radiation pool should be but has been eaten by Titans, housing something nasty. This Monarch team consists of young Bill Randa (Anders Holm), Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell, Kurt’s real life son) and Duvall (Elisa Lasowski). We flashback to the Godzilla attack on San Francisco where the Golden Gate bridge is destroyed. So what have these different time zones have to do with the overall story?
The world is a very different place now as seen through the eyes of Cate Randa (Anna Sawai). Following the death of her fther she travels to Tokyo to tidy his affairs, a phrase that takes on a whole new meaning when she discovers her father was living a double life and had another family and she has a brother, Kentaro. The world is very different one. Passengers are sprayed for parasites when landing from another country. Tokyo is now soaked with weapons, drones and missiles with warning signs of Godzilla all over the place. It is all false because nothing can stand against a Titan attack and it is just governments trying to hold on to the illusion that humanity is the dominant force on the planet. Humanity’s time is over if Titans take back the world and no amount of spraying or armed guards at airports is going to change that. The world is cracked with conspiracy as word is that the San Francisco attack was achieved through CGI. However Cate is a survivor of that attack having failed to rescue children from a school bus when they were caught in the Godzilla Golden Gate bridge destruction.
Again these scenes are fantastic as a helpless Cate gets up close and personal with Godzilla amid the death screams of children. It is a stark reminder that no one is safe from the Titan attacks and they really do leave heartbreak and tragedy in their wake. We also see the after effects as Tokyo goes into lockdown at a suspected Titan attack. The populace flee to the subways where Cate has a panic attack again showing that the Titan presence is not just impacting how we live but how we feel too. The world has been traumatised which makes us but wonder what Bill Randa was hoping for out of letting the Titan loose on the world. Cate is not coping at all so she goes with Kentaro shows her their father’s office where the bag that was fished from the sea is hidden in a secret safe. She recognises the Monarch symbol as the same one worn by the soldiers and scientists that appeared on the bridge that day. Joining forces they manage to decode it proving their father’s job was also a lie. Kentaro asks his estranged friend May (Kiersey Clemons) to help them but this triggers Monarch to its presence and they want it back. However Monarch employee Tim makes a call.
This is great writing as the connections between everyone are slowly revealed and the multiple time zones work well to feed our connections to the characters and understanding where they stand in the story. Nothing is contrived and the world is cracked with conspiracy quote of mine is justified as we learn just how connected Cate and Kentaro are to Monarch and its mission. The monsters are perfectly done and the cliffhanger makes you want to come back for more. I like these characters and Cate stands out for me because she is hurt more than anyone else. She cannot understand how the people of Tokyo just simply go back to normal after a Titan scare as she hasn’t been able to move on from her experiences with her father and Godzilla. All of this is normal to Kentaro and his mother who equally don’t understand why Cate is so messed up more than she should be after discovering their father lied.
No story works without a human heart at the centre and Monarch Legacy of monsters certainly does a great job of throwing out the breadcrumbs while making you care about these people. It establishes a world that goes on while holding its breath and looking over its shoulder more than it should.
This I’m looking forward to.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 