The story is fine, the actors' performances are alright, the script has ample dialogue, the musical score is just OK, the audio-dubbing track was decent, and the practical-special-effects techniques (rubber-suit costumes and miniature model-sets) and sound-design work were very much adequate for their time. Good, now I've gotten all that stuff out of the way, I can get on with what I really want to walk about and the whole reason behind why I wanted to do this review in the first place (and I'm certainly going to be upfront and honest in this review with my opinions). Before Michael Dougherty's King of the Monsters (2019) came out, Rodan was always my least favourite monster in the entire Godzilla franchise as I never really cared all that much for Toho's version of him. I never outright disliked him but to me, he just seemed like a blandly-designed generic pterodactyl-looking pterosaur and came off as such with no discernible features to make him standout from the rest of the traditionally reptilian crowd (say perhaps for his more upright, bipedal stance). When I noticed how Rodan's MonsterVerse incarnation had more bird-esque qualities about himself rather than those of flying reptiles, to say I was more than ecstatic with his new design changes would be an understatement (his "demonic firebird" redesign fits really well and starts to grow on you).
An overhaul of his appearance (in both physique and posture) with some slight tweaking in the form of a bright fiery bird-of-prey motif (likely inspired by the mythical phoenix itself) was totally a necessary approach to take and exactly what he needed, as I fully endorse the thought of there being more giant bird monsters in daikaiju films and embrace it with open arms as I believe there isn't nearly the same amount of them like there is gigantic dino & ape kaiju (what with me having a very huge soft-spot for animals of the avian variety). Don't get me wrong, now! I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the real-life extinct pterosaurs and I have nothing against them, but it's just I feel there's already been more than enough big pterodactyl-like creatures with drab, dull colourations in monster movies as it is because they've been done to death (especially the kinds of ones which still to this day are primarily based off old, outdated illustrations). Why not give bird monsters their own time to shine in the spotlight, for once? I know I'm completely in the minority on thinking this thought but I actually prefer and favour the original piece of concept art for this Showa era Rodan over the finished product we ended up with, back when he was initially supposed to be an archaeopteryx (a gliding bird-like dinosaur) with scaly-feathers. His ear-piercing "screech roar" would've gone extremely well with that first conceptual body-plan and complimented it a lot more.
I've heard that unless they have a drastically severe case of ornithophobia, many people simply aren't capable of seeing birds as "scary killer animals" in either giant monster movies or natural horror films because they look "too cute to be any sort of real threat" (me sighing very hard at that statement) when compared to way how we often perceive some aggressive reptiles, angry mammals, and other minor types of hostile creatures in the real-world. It's true, there's definitely no denying birds have this stigma attached to them of being peaceful creatures, small fuzzy critters well-known for their timid behaviour and friendly nature (BUT THEY'RE NOT ALL LIKE THIS!!!). I take it these unaware people have never heard of the flightless cassowary, a SUPER dangerous man-sized Aussie bird that could genuinely inflict some serious damage on whomever is unlucky enough to cross paths with the flesh-tearing sharp claws at the end of its long muscular legs (far from harmless, wouldn't you say). And I guess they've also never seen what a ravenous bird-of-prey looks like when it's feasting on a corpse, after an alert vulture pulls it's head back up from out of the dead body and you see it's menacing-looking face, scrawny neck and feathered areas gruesomely covered and soaked in fresh blood (it's horrifying imagery to picture in your mind, isn't it). Heck, even lovable parrots can take a pretty nasty turn sometimes and could potentially have your finger off with one forceful bite from their big beak in an agitated state (fierce little beasts, when they want to be). So you see, not all birds' personalities are sunshine and rainbows.
As for the rest of this film in-particular, it's plot follows the typical conventions of an average '50s or '60s creature feature, so it's pretty much your standard monster movie fare (this whole genre is practically built off cliches); nuclear bomb tests accidentally awaken an ancient beast from its prehistoric hibernation, where it then goes on a seemingly mindless rampage through populate areas, which has devastating results in causing monumental quantities of property damage by decimating human-made structures and levelling entire cities with ease as the hopeless military try their utmost hardest to stop it dead in its tracks, all while a room full of revered scientists gather around a large table to discuss their hypothesis on what lost and forgotten species it could possibly be (it's a formulaic-but-fun destructive romp). The bottom line is I firmly believe there needs to be more creature features involving monstrous birdies (whether they be abnormally-large or skyscraper-size), is the main point which I'm ever so elegantly trying to make here because we all know the world definitely doesn't need anymore of those oversized croc/gator flicks. Personally, I think it'd be really great for a kaiju character to have an avian aesthetic (not going to lie, I've always been kind of a bird person at heart). Fingers crossed, here's hoping Legendary's interpretation of Rodan gets a solo spinoff with his very own standalone film ("The One Born of Fire", "King of the Skies" and "Airborne God of Fire" would all make for good subtitle candidates).
An overhaul of his appearance (in both physique and posture) with some slight tweaking in the form of a bright fiery bird-of-prey motif (likely inspired by the mythical phoenix itself) was totally a necessary approach to take and exactly what he needed, as I fully endorse the thought of there being more giant bird monsters in daikaiju films and embrace it with open arms as I believe there isn't nearly the same amount of them like there is gigantic dino & ape kaiju (what with me having a very huge soft-spot for animals of the avian variety). Don't get me wrong, now! I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the real-life extinct pterosaurs and I have nothing against them, but it's just I feel there's already been more than enough big pterodactyl-like creatures with drab, dull colourations in monster movies as it is because they've been done to death (especially the kinds of ones which still to this day are primarily based off old, outdated illustrations). Why not give bird monsters their own time to shine in the spotlight, for once? I know I'm completely in the minority on thinking this thought but I actually prefer and favour the original piece of concept art for this Showa era Rodan over the finished product we ended up with, back when he was initially supposed to be an archaeopteryx (a gliding bird-like dinosaur) with scaly-feathers. His ear-piercing "screech roar" would've gone extremely well with that first conceptual body-plan and complimented it a lot more.
I've heard that unless they have a drastically severe case of ornithophobia, many people simply aren't capable of seeing birds as "scary killer animals" in either giant monster movies or natural horror films because they look "too cute to be any sort of real threat" (me sighing very hard at that statement) when compared to way how we often perceive some aggressive reptiles, angry mammals, and other minor types of hostile creatures in the real-world. It's true, there's definitely no denying birds have this stigma attached to them of being peaceful creatures, small fuzzy critters well-known for their timid behaviour and friendly nature (BUT THEY'RE NOT ALL LIKE THIS!!!). I take it these unaware people have never heard of the flightless cassowary, a SUPER dangerous man-sized Aussie bird that could genuinely inflict some serious damage on whomever is unlucky enough to cross paths with the flesh-tearing sharp claws at the end of its long muscular legs (far from harmless, wouldn't you say). And I guess they've also never seen what a ravenous bird-of-prey looks like when it's feasting on a corpse, after an alert vulture pulls it's head back up from out of the dead body and you see it's menacing-looking face, scrawny neck and feathered areas gruesomely covered and soaked in fresh blood (it's horrifying imagery to picture in your mind, isn't it). Heck, even lovable parrots can take a pretty nasty turn sometimes and could potentially have your finger off with one forceful bite from their big beak in an agitated state (fierce little beasts, when they want to be). So you see, not all birds' personalities are sunshine and rainbows.
As for the rest of this film in-particular, it's plot follows the typical conventions of an average '50s or '60s creature feature, so it's pretty much your standard monster movie fare (this whole genre is practically built off cliches); nuclear bomb tests accidentally awaken an ancient beast from its prehistoric hibernation, where it then goes on a seemingly mindless rampage through populate areas, which has devastating results in causing monumental quantities of property damage by decimating human-made structures and levelling entire cities with ease as the hopeless military try their utmost hardest to stop it dead in its tracks, all while a room full of revered scientists gather around a large table to discuss their hypothesis on what lost and forgotten species it could possibly be (it's a formulaic-but-fun destructive romp). The bottom line is I firmly believe there needs to be more creature features involving monstrous birdies (whether they be abnormally-large or skyscraper-size), is the main point which I'm ever so elegantly trying to make here because we all know the world definitely doesn't need anymore of those oversized croc/gator flicks. Personally, I think it'd be really great for a kaiju character to have an avian aesthetic (not going to lie, I've always been kind of a bird person at heart). Fingers crossed, here's hoping Legendary's interpretation of Rodan gets a solo spinoff with his very own standalone film ("The One Born of Fire", "King of the Skies" and "Airborne God of Fire" would all make for good subtitle candidates).