Out of all the characters in KOTM, Mark Russell was the one I liked the most, even over Dr. Serizawa. This one scene told me everything I needed to know about this man and where he was coming from. I actually felt for him, & I understood his pain.

I honestly don't understand the people who said they got annoyed by him. One commenter said that he outright wanted to punch him. It's almost sickening, at least for me. You'd think people would have more sympathy for this kind of character.

Especially on a day like today.

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People can be, all too often, cruel and thoughtless. Or just stupid. I remember one "reviewer" talking about how Mark Russell was always "mansplaining" and how they wanted him to shut up, and I was just baffled.

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I remember one "reviewer" talking about how Mark Russell was always "mansplaining" and how they wanted him to shut up, and I was just baffled.

Oh my Godzilla, for real? Is nothing safe from the plague?

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Welcome to the new age, brah.

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Why everyone is bashing King of the Monsters?

Russel's entire arc is unresolved. That's the problem. There's a token attempt at a backstory, but it's not fleshed out and the movie never fully commits to it beyond occasional mentions. The movie is far too busy placing Godzilla as a totally heroic figure for it to really make sense. For a far better example of a character like him, look at Ayana from Gamera 3. Even Yuki from Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla, flawed as that movie is, sinks its teeth into the arc better than the half hearted thing with Russel. There was a core of a good idea, but it's overshadowed by Russel primarily being used to give exposition and lecture the others on what to do. And given he's not in the next movie, we can safely assume his arc stops here, dangling very uncomfortably.

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First of all, he is going to be in Godzilla vs. Kong. So are Madison and Dr. Chen, as a matter-of-fact.

And secondly, I don't think it's that his arc is unresolved or half-hearted as much as it is simplistic and straightforward. At least, that was the impression I got, and I must confess I have trouble seeing that notion. He started out the movie one way, and grew over the course of the film to realize that Godzilla may be more important to our overall survival than he gave him credit for.

Also, Ayana and Yuki were outright looking for revenge, to the point where they put others in danger to achieve their goals (Ayana controlling the obviously dangerous Iris, and Yuki hijacking MOGUERA when they were supposed to be heading for SpaceGodzilla). Mark is just hurt. Not everyone who's hurt in a disaster is going to pick up a gun and do stupid things. Honestly, I was relieved to see that Mark was more level-headed about his pain.

Or maybe I'm just an over-sympathetic idiot who's wasting my empathy. I don't know, you guys tell me.

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One more thing: just because I disagree with you on your idea that Mark's arc is unresolved doesn't mean that I don't think it could have been written better. It could have. Everyone could have been written better. What I'm saying is that I was satisfied with it. He went from stance A to stance B in the wake of what he saw over the movies events. Furthermore, Yuki didn't change at all, and Ayana honestly has more in common with Emma Russell than anything (using giant monsters to get what she wants regardless of the people she may hurt).

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He didn't grow at all beyond being forced to cooperate with Godzilla. He got a few talks from Serizawa, but there's no moment of realization except for an incredibly generous interpretation of the sub scene. Even in the beginning, he was willing to play cooperative with Godzilla if there was a bigger problem. Nothing has changed at all.

Mark, in theory, wanted revenge too. I mean, the motivations of his character swing around constantly, but in theory, he is established to want to kill all the Titans, Godzilla included. He just lacked the power to achieve such a thing and so was forced to rely on the next best thing. His pain stops being relevant to the story once Serizawa gives him a pep talk, it's never ever addressed again. That makes it very hard to analyze him, but then that in and of itself speaks for itself with regards to the quality of his character arc. It's essentially just abandoned partway through.

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What stance did Mark change? I'm seriously asking this because Mark from the beginning was of the opinion that all the Titans should die and we get no indication that has changed by the end of the movie, merely a realization that they CAN'T kill the likes of Ghidorah without the Titans and so he has to work with his enemies. But now that Ghidorah is dead, who even knows?

Yuki went from being isolated on an island to returning to society and making friends along with going from murder rampage on the sight of Godzilla to aiding him(the difference between Mark and Yuki is that Yuki was actually damaged enough to go berserk upon seeing Godzilla). Mark was in theory isolated as well, but this is never resolved and we have little indication he'll be a better parent or reintegrate into society within the context of KOTM itself.

Ayana is nothing like Emma. She had her home and family flattened by Gamera and then saw him acting horrible when he attacked Shibuya. She decided that Gamera was evil and that he must die based off of that inference, same as Mark did. Only with Ayana it makes infinitely more sense since she's not only a child who's ostracized and treated poorly, but that Gamera himself is far darker and is willing to up and kill people intentionally just to make a kill a little faster. Godzilla, on the other hand, is such a heroic figure in the Legendary movies that he doesn't even just crash through a bridge until he's attacked and panics.

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I will admit that the novelization (which I highly recommend) does a much better job of conveying his growth, and confirms that he does let go of his resentment towards Godzilla following Serizawa's sacrifice. So I suppose I can give you that in that the movie doesn't show it as well as it could have. But it is there. In fact, I'd suggest you read the parts where Mark and Godzilla look at each other at Castle Bravo and the part with the sub, and then rewatch those scenes in the movie proper. It's less of a case of what's said and more of what's shown.

Look, my original point in all of this was that from the very beginning, I was able to sympathize with Mark to the point where I was actually invested in his character, moreso than most seemed to.

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I honestly don't understand the people who said they got annoyed by him. One commenter said that he outright wanted to punch him. It's almost sickening, at least for me. You'd think people would have more sympathy for this kind of character.

Just a bunch of nasty and jaded-ass people who are in despair because of the failures of their own parents.

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And that's why feminism rots your brain

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Hyper-feminism. I'm all for women's rights. It's the over-the-top SJW stuff I can't stand.

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Hyper Feminism? It's just feminism. It hasn't proved to be good for women since it's conception. All it's done is contribute to the destruction of the nuclear family unit, tricked them into thinking that the home and having children was bad and has turned them into wage slaves. Now there's talks about how it's unconstitutional to have a male only draft for the military.

Feminism wasn't about equality like the mainstream says. It was a scam for more tax revenue and to have more bodies to act as cannon fodder for the state.

Also, "heroic"? No. MonsterVerse Godzilla is more of an anti-hero than anything else. He's just mostly oblivious or ignorant towards humanity's presence in 2014 and KOTM. He avoids the humans in 2014 and KOTM because we're simply not a threat to him at the moment, and he doesn't feel like wasting energy on a pointless fight. It's only after Serizawa's sacrifice where it's mentioned that he's explicitly protecting humanity from the other Titans. But ultimately, he doesn't operate with our own well-being in mind. He seems to be more concerned about life as a whole, and he could potentially turn on us at any moment if we step out of his idea of a line. I think the exchange by Stanton and Chen at the end sums it up: "Good thing he's on our side." "For now."

I must disagree with the notion of Gojira being an Anti-Hero like you describe. Omni here aptly puts it why.

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Omni here aptly puts it why.

Indeed he does. I stand corrected.

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I have read the novelization and it is good, but what's not in the movie isn't in the movie, unfortunately. A movie has to stand on its own two feet and not lean on supplementary material. The only indication is the scene where Godzilla looks at Mark on the sub, but with the way the movie is cut so that the very next scene is Mark talking about the human signals in the ORCA, it comes off less like a reconciliation and more him realizing that fact. If there's any reconciliation in that scene, it's on Godzilla's part given how goes from aggressive to calm. Mark is just left making himself not a threat.

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God forbid that women have financial and political independence. Blame the economy, not feminism.

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Regardless, that was supposed to be the intent of those scenes, and I personally was able to pick up on that.

Perhaps we should just agree to disagree?