Howard Kohler

Should be called "Monarch: Lack of Monsters". This is not to say that less monster action is bad in and of itself. The best Godzilla movies (1954, G -1, Shin, Mothra), have a compelling human story alongside the Kaiju action. This feels more like Son of Godzilla - a weak story and repackaged monster clips from previous movies. Adds little to the existing Monsterverse canon other than to explain a couple things that didn't need explaining. Wyatt and Kurt Russell acting as the same character (young and old version) is fun, but that's about all this overlong series has going for it. C'mon Apple, you can do better than this.

The 1956 subtitled version of Rodan is a great example of a Kaiju as a malevolent, or at least ambivalent, force of nature. As with many Kaiju, Rodan was released by human action and once awake, Rodan basically goes about it's business. In light of that, the ending is somewhat tragic. Rodan ages better than most of the Ishiro Honda movies that follow. Rodan thrashes some buildings but that isn't the focus of the plot. Think more of a mystery/horror film. The effects are pretty good for it's day. Some of the sets are reused from Godzilla but, hey, they were on a budget. All in all, Rodan is up there with the 1956 Godzilla and Mothra.