first, i like how they weren't afraid to show how grimey and dirty france could be. it showed the parts that the glitter and filters hide. the apartment building had such an intriguing circular design, and i wonder if it's intentional. it was interesting seeing how the electricity/light was on a timer, and i'm REALLY satisfied with how they brought that mechanic full-circle towards the end, when the five main characters were escaping the hallway.

second, with the opening scene, i do appreciate how i was able to understand the poachers (?) or hunters even though they weren't speaking english, nor were there any subtitles (for me, anyway). and though i didn't understand why one of them killed their friend/coworker, it made sense at the end why it's better to end someone's life after they've been bitten. looking back on jordy's screams through the vent... it didn't click until then. while doing some further reading (on reddit) i saw that someone mentioned this movie could be a warning against removing animals from their homes for the exotic animal trade, seeing that the spiders only ate and reproduced to survive since they were taken out of their natural habitat.

third, the characters were pretty great too. the human plot was good, albeit not as dramatic as it could've been. a very diverse and talented cast. and, as much as it pains me to say this, i'm glad that they weren't afraid to kill the dog. maggie was very well-behaved and she was such a good girl; at least they did her death off-screen.

the spiders were also well-characterized; their weaknesses are light and fire, but they're pretty fast and reproduce at a quicker rate. though the spiders did feel a bit over-powering (how do you EVEN get rid of them, by fumigation? by burning everything down?), i admired how the protags still kept going.

i really enjoy kaleb's character; he collects exotic pets (he has more confidence in his skills than i do when it comes to taking care of another living being), he sells nice shoes (only, to my knowledge), and i noticed his little quirk, where he refuses to "swear" because that's what his buddy jordy said to him last (on the back of the picture he kept).

i liked how everyone was flawed in a way: kaleb tried his best to do good but would always be seen as the bad guy and he would refuse to accept responsibility because of it; jordy (to me) seemed a bit like a know-it-all and would run his mouth; lila of course had to be the one with arachnophobia; manon had to be the headstrong golden child that kaleb gets compared to, the one that doesn't seem to grieve; and mathys was kinda just there, i don't have much to say about him.

i LOVED how diverse the side characters were. ms. claudia didn't deserve to die like that, i honestly wish she was able to move out (it kind of reminds me of when benny was killed in city of god, before he was supposed to leave the hood). as for madame zhao, she had some steel clad BALLS for going head first with a bandana and two cans of bug spray. it also makes sense for why the bugs weren't killed by bug spray because they could've evolved to be resistant. i appreciated how the main group still showed concern for their neighbors; this didn't feel like a stupid decision to me, and it just showed how much the characters actually cared. i like how the movie built up those relationships only to kill those people off. only, the sacrifice of mathys didn't make sense to me, and i feel as if jordy didn't have to die (i honestly feel like lila or mathys could've died instead of jordy so he and kaleb could've had a heart-to-heart instead of having lila be the one to tell kaleb about jordy protecting kaleb's rep).

i wish the movie could've explored the grief of kaleb and mamon a bit more, because (to me! grasping at straws) motherhood kinda seemed to be a bit important. speaking of grief, the scene where lila was mourning jordy was very heavy for some reason, even though he was only a side character. calling back to the first paragraph, i thought this moment was referencing the grief felt during the pandemic, or just with any general terminal illness like cancer, because you'd feel useless since you can't stop or cure it (early in the pandemic or in the late stages of the illness), and you'd feel empty when the person is gone (the nail in the coffin was hearing jordy scream in agony). on a different note, i wish they had more scenes showing that lila and jordy were actually a couple who cared about one another, since i couldn't tell aside from the fact that they were around each other a lot.

fourth, when it comes to the spider holding a defensive position while stuck in the head lights, i might sound crazy, but i understood this to mean that the big spider (probably a momma spider, seeing that the spiders reproduced very quickly) decided that the police officers were the bigger threat than the three in the car, and that the big spider wanted to protect her babies. someone on reddit thought that the spider pausing is the spider noticing how kaleb didn't actually want to hurt the spiders, and that he only wanted to escape. i thought the scene established both sides and their priorities pretty well, but i could be reading too much into it.

as for the the end of the movie in general, a lot of people complained about it on reddit from what i could see, where mathys' "sacrifice" made the situation worse for everyone there, and only served as a catalyst for the final fight (so to speak). emotions were running high, the police (though they did what they could) caused the death of jordy and everyone in the building. it also didn't make sense for mathys to bash the door in, possibly causing the spiders to run rampant in the city, but i guess this just doesn't leave room for a possible sequel to profit off of (and i'm grateful for that). i kinda just took the ending at face value and didn't question whether all the spiders were killed in the demolition or not; i'm honestly just glad the three made it out, though i can see why someone would protest why they got to live.

but their opinions don't matter to me, they're just another perspective to consider. i for one very much enjoyed the movie and was thoroughly jumped and scared. i don't hate spiders, but i won't hesitate to reconsider their life.

first, the movie is really silly. the first instance of silly was when kong used the little kong to beat up the other monkeys. that was funny as SHIT. the monster fights were pretty cool, and the monsters were even more emotive but it was subtle. i noticed they gave godzilla eyebrows, and i like how we could hear skar laughing.

second, the cgi was meh. my senses got overwhelmed pretty early on and i just mellowed out for the rest of the movie because i honestly couldn't tell if it was bad because there was just too damn much of it. in some places, it got very detailed and almost hard to look at, and i'm not sure they even made use of lens focus or blurring. everything was done in post basically, so the movie didn't feel real in some places, especially considering how the actors "imagined" the monsters/environment being there (like mothra's light, the ground shaking etc).

third, in terms of b-plot, the human story was hard to decipher and understand. the human plot is always weak in these types of stories. all of this science mumbo jumbo thrown in at some places to make it seem interesting but i wasn't following. for example, when the iwi tribe changed their village's gravity, i don't understand what the point of that was, except to have that zero-gravity fight between all four monsters.

fourth, don't even get me started on the characters. the characters were more caricatures than anything. i feel weird about how the two pocs were portrayed.

bernie (whom i don't remember from the previous movies) exhibited a lot of negative traits; he was talkative when it wasn't needed (which made him seem like a burden), a bit cowardly and very in-the-moment (with his camcorder and polaroid? don't even ask me how or why the directors decided to include old tech and 80s synth music... it doesn't make sense in the movie's modern setting). in my opinion, he was disrespectful of the iwi tribe and their absent consent because he was recording them as a spectacle. when trapper pointed that out, bernie didn't even get the message and only wanted to record trapper saying he was great (even if this was meant to read as sarcastic, his character didn't develop at all). i also don't like how he referred to his "discord mods" in the very beginning; this phrase is associated negatively with a certain type of person on the internet and i can't get that iffy line off my tongue (it felt as if the directors wanted him to be more relatable in a way by bringing up discord, but it was in poor taste if you don't understand the pop culture and stereotypes surrounding discord). i'm just getting tired of these conspiracy theorists who think the world should revolve around them and their intelligence. it happened in the first few godzilla movies, it happened in monarch. there has to be a new character/personality you can introduce. one more thing i was confused about was how he was able to understand the iwi people after only being with them for a few hours. the outsiders were scared of them at first because they communicate telepathically (fucking how? was this an excuse to not give lines to the other minor poc characters? or was this to make jia feel more "at home"? i don't know), but now the outsiders were interacting with the iwi tribe, and the iwi tribe could understand their english (without needing to use sign language, EVEN THOUGH two of the characters already used it). make it make sense.

as a non-indigenous person, i'm not sure if i can speak on jia's character, but to me she also did feel flat. i appreciate the inclusion with the deaf actress playing a deaf character, full stop. though jia was central to the (human) plot, she didn't feel very impactful because we don't get a lot of scenes with her being independent; she's very reactive and empathetic with kong, but other than that she was given the illusion of choice/independence at the end because of course we knew she was gonna stay with her mom. on another note, though her people (on the surface) were all killed, we didn't get a lot of much needed scenes with her being at home with her tribe to lead into dr. andrews grappling with letting jia go. we need those slow, interaction scenes to feel for jia's struggle of not belonging anywhere except with her people. as an immigrant and a filipino, i can't imagine being the last person of your culture. it feels like it should've been a serious topic, but of course, since it's a monster movie, it's been cut short. maybe i shouldn't be taking this too seriously...

as a small comment on trapper, i fully thought he was gonna betray them at some points because he wanted to go off and do mysterious stuff maybe twice. the peace-loving "hippie" characters always make me a little suspicious, but i'll admit i was wrong about his character. he isn't even two-dimensional, he's just a line. he only has a few lines. he could honestly be removed and the movie wouldn't change.

fifth, if i were to critique this movie, i'd rather there be no human drama and to have the focus be the monsters. i'd love to see a silent monster movie film one day.

sixth, i'm still very biased towards godzilla because he's my beautiful lizard boy. kong is very reliant on human innovation and weapons, but i loved the opening scene where it showed how he defended himself with traps. it really revealed his personality, but it sucks that they never touched on that trait towards the end of the movie. overall, though i'm a bit hesitant to accept how humanized the monsters were (godzilla's eyebrows, kong's interactions with the kid kong, skar laughing and posing with his chest puffed), it was a cool take and made for funny moments.

seventh, i have a few words about mothra. for one, i'm glad she didn't sacrifice herself again. though it certainly looked like she would when she was flying directly towards shimo to unfreeze godzilla, i'm glad she didn't die. as for her design... i don't know if it's just me, but they made her more... feminine, in a way. i had to go back in the movie, but at around 1:36:38, her figure just screams hourglass. now, i'm not trying to sexualize her... her design just stood out to me in a few places, wherever she was seen for a few seconds. in comparison to her design from king of the monsters (2019), her previous design was less curvaceous (to me, she had a more hunched back, shorter limbs and a less defined thorax), not to mention she was more deadly with her sharp limbs. in this movie, however, she looks WAY more humanoid, with longer back legs, a set of longer arms (and a set of arms half the size of the longer ones), bigger eyes, and what i can only describe as fluffy boobs. she honestly looks more like a wasp than a moth. i also don't like the subtitles of the movie when it comes to mothra (on the site i watched the movie on, Legally), they describe her noises as screeches and chitters, but at a few points they used "moans." take that as you will. but i don't know, maybe i'm just nostalgic for her older design. maybe she's always been feminine. but she's still a bug, which is why it's a weird thing to notice. i digress.

it was a fun movie overall, as long as i don't think too hard about it.

first, the whole movie should've won an oscar for how well-written its drama was. the visual effects was deserved though. i honestly didn't go into this movie with any expectations, only knowing of its oscar/awards reception and people praising it for being a good experience to watch in theaters. though from the trailers, i never thought it'd be a "war" movie. i was blown out of the water (literally, pun intended).

second, i loved how they made the characters complex, individual from one another. koichi suffered from (i think) ptsd and being depressed and/or feeling useless; noriko and akiko were the reason for him to keep living (i LOVE how noriko completed koichi's "war" metaphor); tachibana wanted him to repay for what he did with his crew, but he also wanted koichi to live because he had a family. (i liked the fake-out they did with tachibana as a result, where he put an ejection seat. though i called it early, they made tachibana/koichi seem deadset on going through with the kamikaze plan that i was scared koichi wouldn't survive). koichi's boat crew wanted him to live because they grew alongside each other. (i really enjoyed the downtime the movie showed where the crew was just doing their job. i heard my parents call these scenes "deleted scenes" because they have no impact on the plot, but i appreciate how it characterized everyone). i cried at several points of this movie. when koichi looked out at the line of bodies. when koichi screamed at godzilla. when koichi was leaving akiko. at some points, they made the characters seem unlikeable, or they don't align with what the audience wants. it makes for a lot of surprising arcs and twists. i liked how they redeemed sumiko by making her akiko's caretaker because sumiko knew they were struggling, and because sumiko had empty nest syndrome. i felt for koichi, his survivor's guilt. when sumiko was accusing him, when the dreams were haunting him, when he was questioning if he was even alive. all of those scenes were heartbreaking, raw. (this movie reminds me of that trend i keep on seeing about the "indomitable human spirit," where it mostly relates to humans vs. aliens, where the human gets back up after being shot, dissected, beaten etc). no matter how much godzilla puts japan at minus one, right after they begin reconstructing, they had to keep chasing that new life, that dream. i love it when humans win.

third, in comparison to shin godzilla, i like how they kept the japanese government out of the movie by making them somewhat useless, seeing as they delayed the evacuation of ginza. in comparison to legendary godzilla, i like how they kept the american government out of the movie, since they were japan's "enemies" at one point, it wouldn't make sense for the protags to rely on them to bail them out (amid soviet-us tension). with both of these ideas in place, it makes for a very compelling story when we get closer to our human protagonists. the movie is very political, i'll tell you that (i'll get to that commentary in a bit), but i appreciate having the lens be to the ground and not through a crosshair. in comparison to monarch, the human drama was peak. the characters were very complex and not at all shallow or underwritten like the ones in monarch. this movie is a great example of how you can still tell a human story even when there's destruction happening. by having individual character motivations, different backstories (or lack thereof), and by having the characters stand for different ideals makes for a unique clash of events.

fourth, i absolutely LOVE how the battle against godzilla functions as a "redemption arc," when you use it as a metaphor for the ex-soldiers fighting the war their way. no more lives lost, no more mourning families. everyone working together to protect their future so they can live in it, not for them to die for a cause they're losing hope in. GOD it was so satisfying putting those pieces of the puzzle together. i honestly hope this metaphor holds some cultural significance too, where it aligns with (maybe some of) the views of japanese people who lived during that time; that they could've fought the war differently, but though they didn't, they just make peace with how things are. i just wonder how they received this movie, especially when it comes to the inaction of the government, and how they felt when the common citizens, ex-military came together in the end, the "useless" people coming to help. (this scene was one of my favorites; unfortunately it reminded me of the blue avatar film when neytiri says "eywa has heard you" and the animals rush to help. but it still was a cool moment to see the common man finally being able to help in the war effort without having to go to war).

NOW THE SOUNDTRACK. it was impactful when it needed to be, yet quiet when necessary. i loved the songs for the montages from the beginning, when they were skipping through time, where it created a false sense of peace.

sixth, i loved godzilla's design and how different it was from shin and legendary's godzillas. in the beginning, i liked how he looked like a dinosaur, and was very clunky. similar to shin, i liked how he grew in size as the movie progressed (though his arms shrank haha). my twin said the glowing blue scales popping out reminded her of tai lung from kung fu panda, when he was chained up, and i can honestly see it. (looking back on it, it reminds me of the valves on vi's gauntlets in arcane, with steam hissing out). i love how he was the villain in this movie, and how the protags didn't try to understand why he committing this much destruction, where they only focused on trying to stop him. it's refreshing to see godzilla not be the hero for once (looking at legendary's godzilla). the fucking IMPACT of his atomic breath tho. it's something else. no wind-up, no waiting. just PURE DESTRUCTION once he exhales. it must've been mind-blowing to watch it in theaters with surround sound. not to MENTION his roar and how terrifying it is. lastly, even though he's the main creature, the name of the franchise, i like how they limited his screen time, but kept his presence there, foreboding.

lastly, i LOVED how this movie seems to be in a dialogue with all of the other previous (recent) godzilla movies. for example, in the beginning of the movie, they included a black and white montage of classified government documents and it included a clip of the bikini atoll being blown up (in a similar style to legendary godzilla). if i remember correctly, legendary godzilla showed this, and monarch went into depth on the event. when it came to the japanese government, i like how minus one takes up the opposite dichotomy to shin, where the government wasn't as involved. i liked how they made this godzilla a bit smart (this next idea is courtesy of a youtube comment on a minus one trailer), where the "monster" would strike japan at its lowest point. (though the line "the monster will never forgive us" was never used in minus one to my knowledge). in comparison, i felt that the legendary's and monarch's godzilla was overall dumb/too reliant on humans to do anything. all in all, i like how this movie comments on and critiques its predecessors while being fresh and new.

it's pretty late and my bf sleeping otp is making me tired, but if i remember any more thoughts i'll update this review.

first, i liked how the lighting kind of reminded me of pulse a bit, with how dim it is, but your mind still makes up things in the dark. i'll give the effects a higher rating than the story.

second, i liked the scene when emi was possessed by the lady (i think) and her face was fully in shadow but there was light coming from behind her: very uncanny. the growing shadows that looked like hands, and the hair-shadow i really enjoyed, haven't seen that in a movie yet.

third, i feel i could enjoy the movie if i didn't try to make sense of the plot. how did the baby get into the open furnace that was likely spewing flames? why did they need a furnace (albeit THAT BIG of one) if the man of the house was a painter? why did the old man sing a song and "crush" (melt) a bottle? why did he think the same gimmick would help him get emi? (it did but he died anyway so i wouldn't say it was successful) why was asuka targeted, what was her fault to have her die by axe AND melted? how did the father survive? (unless he just cowered).

then, the characters made illogical decisions, or would blatantly ignore clear warnings, or they would just not stand up and run. it's infuriating to see how asuka died when she could've simply moved quickly.

but, the ghost monster thing was IMMACULATE. i loved its design, it creeped me out when i first saw the babies growing out of its skin. i thought the animatronic they (must've) used is very advanced for its time because of how they changed the lady's facial structure AND they made her cry.

lastly i didn't enjoy the ending where the father was found in some cupboard and was allowed to reunite with his daughter. if anything, he was too headstrong, wouldn't listen to aki (who told him she was going to get help) and overall had a weak spine. but for him to get his daughter and possibly the woman? i don't think that should've been the ending when the scene BEFORE IT was about motherhood and losing your child.

other than that, decent movie. great effects.

first, it kinda feels like a found footage horror movie with the first few clips introducing jack's situation, as well as the black-and-white behind-the-scenes shots with what i thought was hand-held cameras, not to mention the interviews. i think the movie itself is sort of leaning into the analog horror genre, and i believe more movies should do that. the dread analog horror creates could be used on a greater scale if it was used in a full-budget 90-minute movie. i don't think the movie was scary, but my jaw did drop when jack was stabbing lily after being hypnotized (?) or hallucinating that he was mercy-killing his wife.

second, the visual effects of the girl's head splitting, as well as the practical effects with gus's worms were AWESOME. nightmare fuel.

third, i love the irony of carmichael's pledging allegiance to the "demon." i hate how jack wanted his slice of fame but was using other people's lives to get it. i guess june was in the same vein, writing a book about a little girl she became a "guardian" for; she got really defensive about treating lily like she was family when car wasn't hinting at it, but instead he wanted to prove himself right. it might be referencing how hollywood actors had to go to great lengths to get and keep their fame.

fourth, i noticed what i thought was a woman in the mirror on the table with the other trinkets june kept, but someone on reddit confirmed it was minnie's ghost. i also noticed how lily flinched away from june when june was talking about "love and compassion." i didn't even notice that both carmichael's death and gus's death were foreshadowed: "all wax, no wick," where car melted like wax; and "i'll make your head spin," where gus died by his neck snapping.

fifth, i thought lily was acting weirdly from the start, and someone on reddit suggested that she had been possessed two days prior to being on the show, when she was in her "fugue state," and i honestly can believe that. i just thought, with her being raised in a cult, she wouldn't have the best social skills, but the forced wall-breaking when it came to her and jack felt too real at times.

sixth, i also noticed how they referenced ed and lorraine warren; makes me think these universes are connected (or they're poking fun at these real-life "investigators" and the spectacle they created).

lastly, the scene where jack was under a spotlight while the rest of the audience was shadowed in black reminds me SO MUCH of another scene where someone is walking out to address an audience shadowed in black. at first i thought i was being reminded of the truman show, but i checked and that wasn't it. idk someone help me remember. the whole aesthetic of the movie feels different.

"if this is against god's plan, why doesn't he stop us?" is a line that stuck with me.

first, i love how hypocritical the nuns and priests and cardinals were, when they told the girls to do their vows of chastity, poverty etc., when they themselves were smoking, they possessed human technology, and they're forcing babies onto these women. they're taking advantage of these desperate women who want to find god or their own path in life, or women who simply want to have a roof over their head and clothes on their back (gwen). it feels as if this could happen in real life. i disagree with their experiment because bringing christ back unnaturally is desperate, playing god, and will bring about the end times no matter what, as it said in the book of revelation.

second, i saw some similarities between this movie and "the omen," mainly when the bird hit the window and broke its neck, then a woman committing suicide in front of the main character.

third, at first i thought this was going to be a paranormal movie because it certainly felt that way, with the older nuns being creepy and acting out of character, where they were watching the main character and snipping her hair. but i'm glad that it didn't turn out to be a paranormal movie, but a movie where humans are so desperate for salvation that they'll create a version of it for themselves. i could honestly study this movie, how they foreshadow things, build suspense, how they make the character act in certain desperate situations. ESPECIALLY the imagery. that one scene where sweeney is draped in blue, looking up forlornly at the ceiling with a single tear running from her eye. it felt as if she was sculpted, straight out of a painting, the mary immaculate, like a statue. they made her look so unreal that it boggles my mind how they did it.

[TRIGGER WARNING - child birth/de*th mentioned] --- the ending was my favorite part. her screams felt so visceral, angry, desperate. i felt myself grinding my teeth as she pushed the baby out, as if i was the one giving birth on screen. i watched this movie with my catholic parents, but i think they see the movie as fiction, and they're afraid to think about its implications some more because then they'll be questioning their values.

lastly, some parts i had to straight up look away even though i know i'm supposed to watch everything. when she threw up her tooth, peeled off her nail, hit the baby. it all felt real, as if they could happen to me. i'm scared of childbirth. i don't want to go through that. this movie certainly solidified my stance.

first you have a priest who, in no good conscience, took advantage of a desperate husband who wanted him and his wife to have a child. you had the priest GIVE the husband a child who was born FROM a jackal, and you DIDN'T disclose that information to him because... you wanted god to overlook this "deception" because in the end, you're raising a child, you're fufilling your purpose on earth by taking care of another life! my bf suggested that maybe the priest wanted them to raise the antichrist which... makes sense, but there wasn't any evidence in the movie to even hint at that. why would the priest betray his religion and still live? dunno.

second, the husband DOESN'T listen to anyone, not his wife, and not any of the other religious authorities (because he's "atheist"). i have a problem with the forced atheism because, even though i am atheist, it doesn't mean i'm NOT superstitious, or it doesn't mean i'm going to ignore any clear signs or symbols that something is BEYOND my control or human understanding. this man is so hard-headed. the husband said his wife could go to therapy, but he wasn't phazed by the fact that she said "i think our son is evil." like, at that point, he's an absent father and an absent husband, and he isn't even DOING anything at his "ambassador" job. no black tie events, no diplomatic work, nothing. he's just useless all around. then, you have the only other "good" priest who warned him that his wife would die by his son's hands because she's pregnant and the son wants to inherit everything the dad has. not even a DAY after the priest warned him, the husband heard the news that the priest died in a bizarre accident, THEN his wife told him she was pregnant and she wanted an abortion. (we're not going to talk about the clear patient confidentiality violation that the therapist did when he told the husband what the wife was saying IN THERAPY. like to me, the scene wouldn't even be there if the husband had a more earnest heart-to-heart with his wife). then NOT EVEN A FEW DAYS AFTERWARD, the son attempts to kill the wife, and you hear her whisper to you "don't let him kill me." and... what ends up happening? the husband literally ABANDONS the wife at the hospital... the nanny does some heinous shit with her IV... and she dies. all because he went on a wild goose chase to go to a place a NUN told him about, completely disregarding the directions that the FIRST priest told him.

third, the verses that they referenced from the books of daniel and revelation? they weren't even accurate. i haven't gotten to verse 8 in revelation yet, but when i looked in my ESV, it said something COMPLETELY different from the movie AND the referenced content spilled over into verse 9; they changed the verses to make them more dramatic sure, but for a religious horror movie, wouldn't you want to be accurate? not to mention, in my opinion (and according to the footnotes of my study bible), any mention of the "antichrist" in the bible (especially in daniel) only applies to the political figure antilochus IV of THAT TIME when rome was being established. yes, the movie was right in saying the "antichrist" will arise during a political time, but to say that "political time" is happening in modern times is a stretch...

i'm not sure if i've watched this movie when i was a kid, because i remember the pope dying towards the end, then there being an after credits scene of the antichrist doing wonderous deeds and being hailed as christ, but i could be confusing this for another movie. still... this movie made me irritated because of the characters, the logical stretches they had to pull, the absent b-plot just to make the a-plot work, and the writing of the husband. i would recommend this movie if you don't mind the above, but if you want to consciously enjoy a movie, don't watch this.