I had to jump through various hoops in order to just cancel my Disney+ subscription recently, it appears Disney+ doesn't work in Armenia, and they don't even allow you to access basic account information while in such a region. I saw no reason to continue using it. Prime Video is, well, forever just boring, rarely does anything of value appear on there. With limits in what's available here, and obviously still wanting to watch things, with the new Macbook I purchased the other day, I noticed that Apple TV was offering me three months free with the Macbook. Totally worth the grab! A little lost on what's good in these recent weeks, I sort of just clicked around and tried to get familiar with the UI, upon this, I came across Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Not the greatest name, if anything it sounds like a cheap video game that would've found its way on the PSP or PlayStation 2 in the early 2000s. Part of me enjoys that, though. The cheap name to it, less serious and perhaps a bit more atmospheric.
I really didn't expect much from it, honestly. With the name, and a random show I just clicked on, my expectations were incredibly low. Particularly in the sense that I soon noticed that this was a series focused around the Godzilla franchise that Warner Bros. had been milking and somewhat failing to turn into some massive multiverse thing in the wake of insane franchise films and endless sequels. I wasn't a huge fan of those films, they all felt a little too alike and without much of the fun stuff. Though I do believe that a series is more the right direction for it all, giving the story much more time with lengthy episodes, and characters that can actually be given some development to allow us to care and feel for them.
This post is unlikely to contain major spoilers due to this being a general first impressions post. Only few spoilers regarding the show's earlier episodes will be mentioned.
Still very much contained within that monster universe that has been established, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters orients itself just after the events of Godzilla's appearance, showcasing the ways in which humanity has now had to deal with the realisation that they are not alone, and challenges and threats far greater than humanity are lurking around, capable of striking at any moment. As is often the case with the Godzilla films (unless we are talking about the costume crazed Japanese titles full of action), they are usually about the struggles of humanity and the ways in which people have suffered and had to deal with particular catastrophic events. The original Godzilla film by Japan was a method of coming to terms with the horrors of two nuclear strikes on its people from the United States of America. Godzilla merely a metaphor for the bombs and destruction they could cause.
While it may seem tasteless that the west would take this character that was created as coping mechanism and turn it into entertainment, these western entries tend to follow suit in displaying the hardships of characters, giving humans the forefront of the stories and giving drama to them. That way, these entries are more about the small size of people, their emotions and struggles in the face of creatures that threaten the very foundations of all we know. Not only does this add depth, showing the scale of these creatures from the view of tiny humans, it shows humanity's attempts to develop and grow alongside them. The prior film entry displayed this, utilising the technology and trying to reverse engineer creatures.
Thus far, the story of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters showcases the human side of the discovery of these creatures, their origin and the science behind trying to keep them uncovered and used for humanity's own gain. The corrupt shadow corporations that dominate. Characters thrown into something far greater at the expense of attempting to find answers regarding their lost relatives. I quite like this story so far, the ways in which it gives things time, actually exploring the characters and really making them look like actual people. This is something the film lacked. Though I have noticed something equally interesting here in the show: it is visually beautiful, with a quality that exceeds the vast majority of what Hollywood throws in its feature titles.
The cinematography is truly stunning. Very beautiful attention to detail in the lighting. Very warm tones in the interiors, mixed with really good use of camera movements and perspectives. Plenty of beautiful bokeh and colours to be seen in it through the use of shallow depth of field when it comes to showcasing items of interest, while ensuring backgrounds are wide and visible to provide context to the environment and locations, never trying to hide them or attempt to give off the perception of quality by cutting corners like most streaming service shows do. This show has a quality that truly does exceed most films, and it looks absolutely beautiful even streamed, no loss of quality from what I have witnessed.
These episodes run at about 45 minutes in length, your typical runtime for a series these days. Yet not in any moments have I felt it has lacked or slowed down in its quality. Sure the special effects in parts can look a little cheap, but they are used sparingly and don't really bother me at all. Particularly given the rest of the show is shot in real locations and it really does show and make a difference. Something I have felt many modern series fail to do, resulting in a shallow world that doesn't seem like it holds any actual life to it.
I'm honestly very surprised at it all so far. From what I have seen, Apple has a decent quality for many of its shows. Severance was great, and the documentary side of things has also impressed me quite a bit. But to see a franchised series, of one that hasn't really managed to take off, and see it be of such quality and interest, I'm really hooked and curious as to where it may go from here on. Even the story and characters, while not seeming all too inspired and unique, is interesting enough to keep me in. Exploring more of that universe where it is much needed and certainly interesting. Especially alongside whatever action may come to mix up the pacing and give us what we really want to see. And even so, without it, it seems strong enough at the moment.
For now, I'd say it's really worth a watch. There aren't many shows like it right now as science fiction sort of lacks any momentum with it mostly being a dead genre pertaining to high fantasy.
I've never been a fan of sci-fi and the first time I watched Godzilla out of boredom, I didn't let it run for half the minute in total. This one seems interesting though but apart from MacBook, can one find it anywhere else?
I have no idea, I think you might need Apple TV unfortunately.
I'll have to give this one ago. There's some great stuff on Apple and heaps of sci Fi which I like. Also Severance and Slow Horses.
Yeah I have noticed that it's pretty good, just started another show and the quality is actually really impressive, very high budget.
I loved Foundation too. Yeah it's been a worthy expense but I've watched everything now. The only reason I'm keeping it til end of week is to binge watch the last season of Slow Horses.
Ah yeah that's the only downside I have seen so far. It does seem a little thin on what it offers.
This is one of the productions that I have to start watching, I don't know how many episodes this season will have and I don't know if it will be a miniseries, but what is this new part in the Monsterverse and the new Godzilla film, if I'm not mistaken it's called "Minus One", I think it's a good time for Kaiju fans.
This week I start watching the episodes already released.
Yeah it's definitely an improving genre, but treading on very thin ice still
Los tres primeros capítulos me encantaron aunque estuvo un poquito floja la historia ya que pienso que necesitan desarrollarla un poco mejor pero están buenísimos me gustaron mucho cómo están haciendo esta serie para introducir a más monstruos.