King of the Titans is a fan-edit of Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019). It was assembled by d3adconnection and the main goal of the cut was to remove a lot of the unnecessary exposition. So how did that turn out?
Well I should probably first talk about the structure. I said it’s a fan-edit of both movies, but the main focus of the cut is on KotM. The scenes from Godzilla (2014) take up a half hour or so at the beginning of the movie, then the rest of the hour and thirty minute runtime is KotM.
I was a pretty big fan of that inclusion. It’s been a long time since I watched Godzilla (2014), so having essentially a highlight reel of the most important parts of that movie was great as refresher.
As for the King of the Monsters part of the film, there was definitely a lot cut as well. Although I found myself questioning if all the cuts were made to the detriment of the film.
The sentiment that the human aspect of Godzilla movies suck is one widely shared among moviegoers. I’ve seen a lot of people suggest that the “human element” of a Godzilla movie should be secondary to the monsters fighting, and you can kinda see that in effect with this cut.
A lot of scenes and dialog is removed to keep the plot moving forward at a reasonable pace. That’s pretty cool if you’re just there to watch the monster fights, but it feels awkward if you’re there for the story AND the monster fights.
This is the first fan-edit I think I’ve ever watched, so maybe I’m just dealing with the conflict knowing that characters are acting upon things that happened in scenes that were drastically reduced in screen-time or outright cut.
As an example, a lot was cut from the Mothra introduction. I don’t remember a lot from that scene in the theatrical cut, but it felt off in King of the Titans. I was expecting more, but it moved on quicker than I thought it would.
That’s not to say that those scenes shouldn’t have been cut or anything, I’m just stating that it felt weird to me. Maybe as I watch more film fan-edits, I’ll be able to separate them from the theatrical cuts in my mind.
I can definitely say that it was enjoyable from a “I wanna see monsters fight” perspective. The cinematography in some of the action scenes is stunning, and less boring human drama to get in between those action scenes is welcome.
The strength of King of the Monsters is undoubtedly the action. And I think d3adconnection was right to focus on that rather that the human plot.
I wish I had more to say, but I really don’t.
I think the last time I actually saw King of the Monsters was at release. So it’s been a few years. I feel like to properly give this film a review, I’d need to watch the original again to see if the cuts actually made it better or worse.
But I ain’t doing that.
Would I Recommend It?
I wouldn’t really recommend this as someone’s first watching of both Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I’m sure there are some fan-edits that could be recommended to be watched before the theatrical cut, probably some of the first Star Wars movies, but this isn’t one of those.
I’m fairly certain you’d be lost in terms of characters and plot if this was your first exposure to both movies. And you’ll likely be doubly confused as future movies in this universe pull from Godzilla (2014) and KotM, in scenes that were potentially cut in King of the Titans.
I think this cut is best enjoyed as a refresher of the two films. I wanted to re-watch these two movies before Godzilla vs. Kong comes out. Watching King of the Titans was a good way to get the experience of watching both films while coming in at half the runtime.
So if you watched those two movies when they came out, but haven’t since, King of the Titans is an enjoyable experience. Probably the best way to re-watch them. But perhaps not the best way to see them for the first time.