It sucks that this movie isn't doing better at the box office because, IMO, it is a fantastic movie. It gave me everything I could have wanted out of a Godzilla film. I could tell that the filmmakers love Godzilla and that came through on screen. Honestly, I had a big grin on my face for a majority of the movie's run time.
The movie takes place five years after the original. Godzilla hasn't been seen since he defeated the MUTOs. Monarch has discovered locations for 17 other hibernating Titans (what they call kaiju in this movie) though they aren't sharing that information with the governments of the world which has led to calls for Monarch to be disbanded.
In the midst of this an Eco-terrorist group invades one of Monarch's labs and kidnaps Emma Russell and her daughter Madison. Emma, along with her estranged husband Mark, created a device called ORCA which can tap into the frequencies the Titans use to communicate and give the creatures orders.
The terrorist group plans on releasing the Titans one at a time. They believe that Earth is on the brink of a disaster that it won't recover from. They hope that the Titans will bring a natural balance back to the planet. Yes, a lot of people will die but it won't be an extinction level event and humanity will be able to rebuild.
Monarch recruits Mark to help them find the ORCA and save Emma and Madison. Mark would rather see all the Titans killed because he lost his son when Godzilla and the MUTOs fought.
Things go from bad to worse when the terrorists release King Ghidorah. They don't realize that Ghidorah is an alien so he isn't part of the Earth's balance. Ghidorah, being an alpha Titan, takes control of the other Titans and send them rampaging across the planet. The only hope is to have Godzilla defeat Ghidorah and become King of the Monsters.
Like the first movie, the human drama isn't all that great. For the most part I didn't care about the Russells. There's a twist concerning Emma and Madison that makes it harder to care what happens to them. In fact you could remove Madison from the movie and not much would change. She does one plot important thing at the end of the movie and that's about it.
I did like Mark's hatred of the Titans, Godzilla specifically, and wish the movie had done more with that. This is a guy who goes from wanting to see Godzilla killed to having to help Godzilla stop King Ghidorah. That is a much more interesting arc than trying to save his family.
Seriwaza returns and is great. In fact I liked all of the Monarch scientists and soldiers. They aren't the most well rounded characters ever but they are played by likeable actors and that makes you root for them.
The giant monster action is where the movie shines. We see them early and often. It doesn't take long for the Titans to get released and we get a big fight between Ghidorah and Godzilla pretty early on. The final battle is awesome as Godzilla, Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mothra duke it out.
Rodan gets one big sequence to shine as he gets released from a volcano, destroys a city, and chases after Monarch's flying fortress and fighter jets. Mothra is seen as a larvae at first, goes into a cocoon, and then emerges to take part in the final battle.
There are a ton of easter eggs throughout the movie for Godzilla fans. I recognized a lot but probably missed a ton as well.
Kong and Skull Island get name dropped a lot and the ending of the movie sets up the sequel, Godzilla vs. King Kong. That could be the final movie in this series since KoTM hasn't done as well as many people predicted. If it does end up being the last movie I'll be okay with that. This movie was a fantastic kaiju movie and gave me everything I could have wanted from a giant monster movie.
This is a summer blockbuster done right. It is massive spectacle and a lot of fun. While the human drama could have been better people don't go see Godzilla movies for the humans. They go for the monsters and the movie gets the monsters right. If you wished that Godzilla 2014 had focused more on Godzilla and the MUTOs you won't be disappointed here. The Titans are clearly the stars of this movie.