Page 1 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (AppleTV+)

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Apple TV+ has unveiled the first photos from its freshly titled TV series “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” which takes place in Legendary’s Monsterverse.

Said Monsterverse is the one seen in 2014’s “Godzilla” and its 2019 direct sequel, 2017’s “Kong: Skull Island,” 2021’s “Godzilla vs. Kong” and next year’s already shot “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire”.

Spanning three generations, the series deals with the battle between Godzilla and the Titans that leveled San Francisco. Two siblings follow in their father’s footsteps to uncover their family’s connection to the secretive organization known as Monarch.

Their search leads them to a world of monsters and an army officer named Lee Shaw who knows something that Monarch deems a threat.

Real life father-and-son Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell will play Shaw at different points in life – Wyatt playing the 1950s Shaw in his early days, Kurt playing him half a century later.

Chris Black co-developed the series with Matt Fraction, whilst Matt Shakman directs the first two episodes. All three executive produce alongside Andy Goddard, Brad Van Arragon, Andrew Colville, Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell.

Anna Sawai, Anders Holm, Ren Watabe, Kiersey Clemons, Joe Tippett, Mari Yamamoto and Elisa Lasowski also star.









On a TV budget I'm guessing this will have even less Godzilla than the 2014 film.

Which is fine as long as it has decent enough characters and story. Unlike the 2014 film.

Hopefully they retain that film's grounded aesthetic and don't veer towards the overblown garbage that came after.

I see monsters and rain, I'm pretty sure rain and mist is the best way to make CGI cheap these days as it hides all sorts of issues.


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Quote:
RJS says...
"I'm pretty sure rain and mist is the best way to make CGI cheap these days as it hides all sorts of issues."
Godzilla (1998)


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Writer`s Release

Four episodes in and it's a bit naff.

I quite like the cast, but they are wasted on some pretty awful writing that is filled with contrivances and boring family drama.

The effects are quite poor in places. The monsters look okay (in fact the designs are cool) but the CG backgrounds look super fake in some scenes. For example, the ferry scenes in episode 3, where it is painfully obvious that it's all shot on a soundstage.

Some other annoying things that niggle me:

SPOILER:
Not showing the aftermath of the nuke in episode 3 is unforgivable.
In fact, the depiction of Castle Bravo in the show in no way resembles the real-life footage of the detonation.
The missing father who leaves piles of pencil shavings everywhere he goes.
The eponymous Monarch seem to alternate between omnipotent and incompetent at the whim of the writers.