Godzilla: Cidade no Limiar da Batalha

I dislike stories that revolve around some miraculous but vaguely defined product or technology (in this case the 'nano-metal') that does whatever the plot requires, and as the first film left me with little interest in the characters (whom I found to be trite and flat), the sequel did nothing for me. Much of the movie consists of pretentious expositional pseudoscience, especially with respect to evolution, the limited action sequences differed little from the first film, and again Godzilla appears as a static, ill-defined craggy grey mass. My interest picked up slightly when the small twin girls started talking about their God who had been killed by Godzilla but had left an egg behind but that went nowhere (presumably being a set up for the third film). Ultimately I found this, the 33rd Godzilla movie, slow-moving and uninteresting.

I watched Godzilla 1985 when i was 5 years old, i have been a BIG G fan ever since, i am 36 now. i even forced myself through the 1998 american dung heap. and i am american. i have watched both animated Godzilla movies so far. both are far better then they should have been. in many ways, far better in story then any Godzilla movie ever made. i normally hate it when Godzilla is the bad guy. but not in these, it is done so well. i wonder what the people were expecting who have written the negative reviews... just a mash up of monsters? it has good stories, logical flow, drama, action, charter development. i cant wait for the third, excellent way to fill the gap for the new live action. i hope they do many more.

I recently watched Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018) on Netflix. The story continues from where the previous film left off, featuring a futuristic society returning to Earth after 20,000 years, during which Godzilla has taken over. They encounter a human race that survived on Earth and begin exploring legacy technology in hopes of finding a way to stop Godzilla, possibly through the recreation of Mechagodzilla.

This movie is codirected by Hiroyuki Seshita (Ajin) and Kôbun Shizuno (The Journey) and contains the voices of Robbie Daymond (Spider-Man), Mamoru Miyano (Death Note), Lucien Dodge (Logan) and Takahiro Sakurai (Gamera Rebirth).

The storyline is well-conceived and intelligently written, but it gets somewhat entangled in the details, dialogue, and specific circumstances. More action would have been better, as the science fiction elements, Godzilla, and the action scenes are undeniably impressive. The portrayal of Earth, its native inhabitants, and the creatures other than Godzilla are fantastic. The final battle is excellent and makes the wait worthwhile, but it felt like it took too long to reach that point.

In conclusion, Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle is a fitting sequel to the previous Netflix Godzilla animated film, although it could have benefited from more action and additional Godzilla scenes. I would rate this a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

The story and human character development is very good the film has some decent action. I enjoy for the most part.

If you are old-school Godzilla fan you expect to see 'Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla' in the movie you will be disappointed. If you are Anime fan and Godzilla fan wanted to see something new this is for you.

The 2nd chapter of the Godzilla anime trilogy, "City on the Edge of Battle", has finally arrived. Last time on "Monster Planet", humanity lost against the kaiju and escaped into space with 2 alien races. Failing to colonize another world, they return to reclaim Earth only to find that it has changed in their absence and Godzilla is still king. Picking up where Part 1 left off, our heroes hide with a surviving human remnant, the Houtua tribe, after suffering a crushing defeat. After more exploration, they soon stumble upon a mechanized city, created by what's left of Mechagodzilla via advanced alien nanometal. The human-alien forces plan to use it to kill Big G once and for all, but things are not as clear cut they seem.

While the first film had lots of set-up time and had both a dull color scheme and a static cast, here the drama is more engaging and a greater variety of color is used. Characters have greater emotional range and are a bit fleshed out more, especially protagonist Haruo who is just starting to undergo a change beyond his "We must kill Godzilla" mentality that frankly made him stale first time around. More world-building is brought in and it's pretty interesting, particularly the Houtua culture and the further look into the aliens' views and backstories. There's also a conflict that happens between the characters that shifts the dynamic of their campaign, which I found engaging. There are fascinating themes at play with elements of evolution, religion, individualism, nature vs technology, and what truly separates man from monster. As for Godzilla, whenever he's on-screen, he is still both powerful and intimidating, not to mention pulls a couple of unexpected moves.

Sadly, weighty flaws hurt Part 2. First off, the film repeats the same basic story beats of Part 1 down to a similar climax. Like before, Godzilla doesn't come around until the climax, so waiting is in order. There's also misleading marketing in that Mechagodzilla, despite all the advertising, plays no active role; in fact, he's barely seen (the prequel novels seem to have more going on in them). This is due to the low budget and strict limitations Toho gave the staff. Characters tend to repeat things over and over and most (Haruo aside) don't change much from their starting roles and personalities. Moreover, there's a romantic subplot that I felt could've been done better.

"Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle" is something of an improvement over the past entry. The new stuff is mostly good, the action is entertaining enough, and there's more going on thematically and drama-wise, but the film's reluctance to go further and instead repeat what was done before, coupled with the absence of substantial side character progression, held it back. The after-credit scene promises the arrival of a classic Godzilla foe, putting pressure in the final entry of this trilogy to really deliver, which I hope it does.