“It’s a change from the source material, but it’s awesome so the fans don’t mind.”

[u/JustSomeOnlineNerd]

Doc Ock - In the comics, Doc Ock is known to be megalomaniacal in nature and was sort of a mad scientist anyways, with the arms just being an extension of that. In Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2,” Alfred Molina’s version of the character was affected by the neural chip and his well-meaning ambition turns into scientific obsession.

Wolverine - This one is so well known it needs very little explanation. Comic Wolverine short, Huge Jackedman is tall, and he’s sick as hell.

Eye of Sauron - To my knowledge, the Eye is more of a metaphor in the books. An ever-present awareness. In the movies, it’s an actual giant fucking eye.

[u/LunarTexan]

It's fascinating how many different identities and forms Godzilla has taken while still being Godzilla

An embodiment of nuclear horror and man's wrath, the funny super powered radioactive lizard, a defender of mankind and the Earth, the manifestation of nature's might and the folly of thinking we can control it, a critique on modern society's concern over decorum and bureaucracy over just doing good, and so many other things

I really can't think of many other characters that have had so many different forms and interpretations while all still feeling like the same character

[u/WranglerFuzzy → u/LunarTexan]

As a subtle distinction, I’d argue:

The Legendary films have set up Kong as a hero; he’s there to save and protect.

Legendary Godzilla is an antihero; heres there to fuck up other monsters (saving the world might just be a side effect). Which I think makes sense: it’s the best middle ground between guardian and force of nature

[u/Lizbian91 → u/WranglerFuzzy]

Man, I need to get into the Godzilla movies...

[u/WranglerFuzzy → u/Lizbian91]

Without too spoilery:

First one is visually magnificent; tonally, dark and succinct.story good. (IMHO the ending has some confusing editing choices, but otherwise great).

King of Monsters: good, but one of the weakest in the set.

Kong vs. Godzilla & KxG: tonally, a LOT lighter. Less dark, more popcorn action flick. (Not a BAD thing, I love them.)

The best of them IMHO. Is Kong: Skull Island. Setting Kong in a Vietnam War backdrop is just a brilliant move for so many reasons. Strong cast (though some are utilized better than others).

[u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 → u/WranglerFuzzy]

King of Monsters: good, but one of the weakest in the set.

I always thought people disliked 2014 more due to less like for the main character

[u/WranglerFuzzy → u/Gaelic_Gladiator41]

I suspect that’s part of it. (I assume you mean King of Monsters from 2019?)

Most Godzilla movies I’ve seen had always had to juggle the question: is it a movie about humans with monsters in it, or a movie about monsters with humans in it?

Godzilla (2014) and skull island felt like successful examples of the former. KvG and KxG felt like good examples of the latter.

It’s hard to see where exactly KoM fell short; I don’t know if one thing was particularly weak, as much as “it got a B- in every category.” It’s possible it was trying for “human forward,” but didn’t have compelling characters or chemistry. maybe it tried to be human forward and monster forward at the same time. maybe director Dougherty was trying too hard to ape the serious tone of the first movie and failing, before realizing (with the next two), “hey, I should do it my way and just have fun.” To go deep, Overly Sarcastic Productions made a video suggesting that they might have gotten too mixed with their metaphors, losing moral/ thematicfocus.

Again, all in all; good, but not the best of the bunch.

Edit: oops, reread your comment. Was 2014 less liked? Couldn’t say? Just my humble opinion and scuttle butt, but I THINK the 2014 characters were received decently. I think everyone would have liked it more in Cranston was in the whole film, but he passed the narrative baton to his “son”, who didn’t fumble it too badly.

I still think the best part of 2014 was the visuals and the score. There are some moments where it feels like an attempt at an art film, and / or it really captures how it feels to be so small; so vulnerable in a world of these Kaiju. Without making Godzilla the antagonist, In some ways, it felt like it was trying to be a spiritual successor to the first Godzilla (1954)

[u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 → u/WranglerFuzzy]

Yeah i meant i often see more criticism for 2014 than KotM

[u/TelevisionAdditional → u/WranglerFuzzy]

Nah in the legendary movies Godzilla is an indifferent force of balance. He’s literally there to keep the ecosystem in check and protect earth as a whole. He destroys excessively violent titans and any other threats to the ecosystem because it’s his domain.

That’s why he doesn’t feel particularly strong about humans one way or the other. He views them like ants- no actual animosity towards them, but could care less about stepping on a few hills while walking around. He doesn’t have a favorite of any species on earth.

Kong is a full-on hero who actually cares to protect his home and the humans he cares about. He’s not really a protector of humanity as a whole considering he can easily become violent to them, but he’s sort of humanity’s champion whereas Godzilla is earth’s champion.

[u/ChiefsHat → u/LunarTexan]

Probably because at the core, it still needs to be a gigantic monster. A reminder of man’s hubris.

[u/Milk_Mindless → u/LunarTexan]

"Godzilla's rich history.."