Double Feature: Deep Blue Sea 2 (2018) & Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Call this a creature feature sequel double feature, if you’d like. I had a monster film desire and it just happened to be the day that Netflix got Deep Blue Sea 2 and then I had a rental of Godzilla: King of the Monsters lined up so everything worked out well.

Let’s check it out!

Deep Blue Sea 2 (2018)

Director: Darin Scott

Cast: Danielle Savre, Rob Mayes, Michael Beach, Nathan Lynn, Kim Syster, Jeremy Boado, Adrian Collins, Cameron Robertson, Darron Meyer, Marc Hyland, Tamer Burjaq

A brilliant billionaire creates five genetically altered bull sharks, which proceed to wreak havoc for a group of scientists on an isolated research facility. – IMDB

Following the trend of unnecessary sequels, Deep Blue Sea 2 shows up 19 years after the release of the first one, which really only has a cult following after all these years. Its quite the odd film to choose for a sequel especially as it has nothing to truly expand from. However, this sequel decides to be something of a reboot as it takes pretty much the same type of story as the first film, even a lot of the things that happen feels very parallel to the first one. The only difference is who plays in this and what they are trying to genetically engineer as well as the crew, which is miles away from as fun as the people from the first film.

Its hard to not compare the film when the sequel is almost the same as the first one except done a lot worse and visibly lower budget than the first. One of the elements that seem to think that its being clever is making these flooded hallways turn on these different color hallways. In some ways, it does help navigate where the split up crew is but at the same time, it does also feel like its using different lights to make it feel like there are more hallways than there really are. Things is, move aside from these things, the bull sharks and the scenes attacking all feel like a few scenes.

Deep Blue Sea 2 is very unnecessary and everything it does here just solidifies the fact. It feels like it hasn’t aged in the film making technology as well. Through and through a bad shark film but if b-horror shark films are your thing, this might be one to watch.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Director (and co-writer): Michael Dougherty

Cast: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Ziyi Zhang, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds

The crypto-zoological agency Monarch faces off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. – IMDB

Godzilla: King of the Monsters plays as a sequel to the 2014 movie with a new cast of characters and a much more intriguing approach to Godzilla and the other monsters. Take it as something of a Godzilla 101 course as the different monsters show up and as the Monarch team tries to trace down how to stop the big nemesis as well as the technology that was stolen, they realize the world falling to pieces and Godzilla reappearing to try and stop it. As this goes on, the Monarch also talks about each of these monsters to have a general knowledge of their abilities.

While I am fairly new to the whole kaiju film genre, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is much more enjoyable than the previous film. One of the main elements is its focus on giving much more screentime to the monsters and giving enough time on the human end to give it enough backstory. They bring in a family drama and the human element of connecting with the monsters and believing that they can have them under their control through technology and it all backfires, as expected. Giving the film so much more action and conspiracy also makes it well-paced and intriguing to watch.

Looking past the story, the cast is pretty great as well and rather international. We have Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown. Vera Farmiga is a fantastic actress who I find is rather underrated and then Millie Bobby Brown plays some moments a little like Eleven in Stranger Things but is also fun to watch. We also see Sally Hawkins here as well as on a more international level, Ziyi Zhang and Ken Watanabe.

Godzilla:King of the Monsters in the end is a giant monster movie. Its not meant to be too complex or too deep but there is a lot of knowledge here to introduce this kaiju world and for myself, its much appreciated. The storyline is familiar as humans thunk they have things in control and the world ends up being in danger of destruction and Godzilla needs to step up and fix their mistakes and its about working together to achieve it. It also makes the effort to bring together the events from 2014’s Godzilla and 2017’s Kong:Skull Island (review) all together which will all come together for this year’s release of Godzilla vs. Kong.

That’s it for this double feature!
I rather monstrous creature feature, right? These are always the most fun pairings!
But that’s me!
Have you seen these movies? Thoughts?

What’s Up 2020: Week 3

Week 3 of 2020 has come to an end and its been something of a weather bomb. Luckily, we didn’t lose any power so things proceeded as it should..mostly. I’m having some other issues that is somewhat hindering some writing and whatnot so its been a slower week than usual. Not to mention, the desire to sit in front of the computer has been a little less as Chinese New Year preparations started as well. Let’s see what’s going on!

READING

• Archie, Vol.6

Currently reading: Buried In My Past

After a few reading rushes, I decided to take a little break and read a graphic novel. The reboot Archie comics set like a graphic novel and with a somewhat darker story (still not quite as dark as the TV series) has been one that feels like a refreshing update to the characters, making the more modernized. There’s a lot to like about it as it is helmed by Mark Waid. Volume 6 is the last one that will be helmed by Mark Wait for these Archic comics but will be handed over to someone else for the next one. Review for this one coming up!

PLAYING

• Glass Masquerade (review)

Currently playing: Overcooked 2, The Pedestrian

Wrapped up the base game of Glass Masquerade on the weekend and have been debating getting the DLCs but its been kind of getting in the way of the actual gaming that I need to do to record the next Game Warp podcast. You can check out the review for Glass Masquerade as that’s already done. Its a bit short but the game isn’t too complex either.

The husband and I are still working on Overcooked 2. We usually stretch it out quite a bit as we only play on the weekends. I think we’re more than halfway done at this point. At the same time, I started up The Pedestrian which is an indie puzzle game that I had backed on Kickstarter 2 or 3 years ago which is finally getting released on January 29. As backers, we got the game in advance, which is great. I’ll be playing that and hopefully getting a review out for next week or something.

WATCHING

• Short Term 12 (2013)
• Mike Birbiglia: Thank God For Jokes (2017)
• Leslie Jones: Time Machine (2020)
• Deep Blue Sea 2 (2018)
• Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Its been a tad stressful at work so I’ve been honestly just busy with that and not watching a ton of movies as they don’t work in companion to work as much, especially first time viewings. With that said, I like to watch/listen to stand-up comedies. I can’t say the two I chose were really my cup of tea but they had some good bits. While Short Term 12 got added into viewing list as it left Netflix Canada and that review is coming up in a double feature. Other than that, Deep Blue Sea 2 literally just got added to Netflix and of course, I had to see how bad it was. I’m not being negative but the original is one of my favorites so its best to keep the expectations low and it became as a monstrous weekend as we also caught up with Godzilla: King of the Monsters which is a kick-ass movie. It was so awesome!

BINGING

• The Circle (Season 1, 2019)

Currently binging: Who’s the Murderer 5, Ashes of Love

The Circle’s 3 week competition finally ended. I’m working on the TV binge for it as its an interesting little social media competition to talk about, both as a structure, the contestant choices as well as the mechancis as well as the concept of this being a social experiment which all has elements to talk about. Let’s just say that I wouldn’t be opposed to another season of these. TV is fairly calm right now as I’m trying to do some wrapping up on different things and Who’s the Murderer 5 is currently ongoing so only updating an episode a week and Ashes of Love is over 60 episodes and I’m pretty much halfway and things are getting really good, so I’m focusing on that.

However, focus will be cut short when Eternal Love’s sequel, Three Lives Three Worlds: Pillow Book (also titled recently Eternal Love of Dream), starts up next week and well, Handsome Siblings got acquired by Netflix and is releasing new episodes on weekly basis. All very exciting things!!

That’s it for this What’s Up for Week 3!
What have you been reading/watching/playing/binging?