Godzilla VS Kong review

GODZILLA VS KONG: 

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED MONSTER MASH DELIVERS THE GOODS! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

It’s “God” against “King” in Godzilla VS Kong

 

            Two of the most iconic monsters in pop-culture history duke it out in Godzilla VS Kong, the latest film in the Legendary MonsterVerse that began with Godzilla (2014) and was followed up by Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, ultimately culminating in this highly anticipated showdown. This wouldn’t be the first time Godzilla and King Kong fought each other as there was already a film made by Toho released in 1962 called King Kong VS Godzilla, which was actually the first time both monsters appeared in color. 

            Anyway, there was a lot of hype for this movie ever since it was first announced sometime after the release of Godzilla (2014) and especially after the stinger at the end of Kong: Skull Island revealing that it was set in the exact same universe as the recent Godzilla film. Unlike something like the Marvel Cinematic Universe or DC Extended Universe where they have several different movies to establish all these characters before the big crossover events, this one only needed a few movies to set up its cinematic universe, a couple of Godzilla films and a Kong film, and that’s it. 

            I’ve already reviewed all of these movies before, but I’ll give my quick thoughts on them before we dive into this film. The 2014 Godzilla I think is a very well-made movie overall and a huge improvement over the first attempt to adapt Godzilla for American audiences (The 1998 Godzilla film from TriStar directed by Roland Emmerich) despite the lack of Godzilla screen-time, heavy focus on bland human characters, and monsters fighting in the dark resulting in them being very difficult to see, Kong: Skull Island is a cheesy fun time even though it’s not the best interpretation of King Kong specifically, the design of Kong looks more like a cartoon especially when compared to Andy Serkis’ incredible motion-capture version from the 2005 Peter Jackson film, but most of the human characters are very memorable, has a great soundtrack, and the monster fights are enjoyable to watch, and Godzilla: King of the Monstersis a lot closer to what a Godzilla film should be like compared to the 2014 film with a lot more action and fan favorites like Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah, but most of the fighting took place at night in the rain, at least you could see the monsters a lot easier in this one though. 

            So, does Godzilla VS Kong deliver the epic monster brawl that fans have been waiting for since 2014? YES!

            This is a very fun movie that doesn’t take itself seriously nor does it even attempt to tell a groundbreaking story or focus on character development. It’s just two of the most iconic movie monsters of all time pounding, biting, and blasting each other from beginning to end in a glorious fan service-filled slobber knocker, for a movie like this it’s for the best. 

            The film follows Kong being monitored by Monarch on Skull Island and has befriended a young girl named Jia (Newcomer, Kaylee Hottle) who understands and communicates with him via sign language. Kong and his protectors, Jia, her adoptive mother Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall-The Prestige, Frost/Nixon, Iron Man 3), and Dr. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård-True Blood, Melancholia, The Legend of Tarzan) embark on a journey to find Kong’s true home, but they ultimately cross paths with a mysteriously enraged Godzilla who has been causing waves of destruction across the globe, causing the two Titans to clash (No pun intended!). 

            However, it turns out their fight is only the beginning of a mystery that lies deep within the Earth’s core as well as a hidden agenda of a shady organization known as Apex discovered by Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown-Stranger Things, Enola Holmes) that’s plotting something big and I mean, VERY big. 

            The film also stars Brian Tyree Henry-Widows, If Beale Street Could Talk, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) as Bernie Hayes, Shun Oguri (Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa) in his first Hollywood production as Ren Serizawa, Eiza González-Baby Driver, Alita: Battle Angel, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw) as Maya Simmons, Julian Dennison (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Deadpool 2, The Christmas Chronicles 2) as Josh Valentine, Lance Reddick (The Wire, John Wick trilogy, Bosch) as Monarch Director Guillermin, Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, Grey’s Anatomy, Super 8) reprising his role from Godzilla: King of the Monsters as Dr. Mark Russell, and Demián Bichir-A Better Life, The Hateful Eight, Alien: Covenant) as Walter Simmons. 

            Overall, Godzilla VS Kong is a “Not Summer” blockbuster that delivers the goods and something that should be witnessed on the big screen (IMAX preferably!). I know this also got an HBO Max release but come on, put in the extra effort to go to a movie theater and watch this chaotic but glorious monster brawl the way it was intended, it’s more than worth it. 

            The plot is very standard, cookie-cutter storytelling that we’ve seen a million times before in other monster movies. A lot of it is predictable in the story department, but who goes to a movie like this for plot anyway? 

            It’s no secret that Godzilla and Kong’s films don’t always have the best human characters and that applies to this film as well. While nobody in this film is “Bad” or anything, they just aren’t all that interesting aside from the deaf girl who communicates with Kong which is admittedly a very nice, charming friendship those two have, and Millie Bobby Brown’s Madison mostly because she’s giving 100% every time, she’s onscreen and that I consider her to be one of the best young actors working today, everyone else is just passable. 

            Now, let’s finally talk about the element of this movie that you’ve been waiting for…the monster battles and My God are they incredible!?! We have multiple fights between Godzilla and Kong throughout the film, they don’t cut away to the humans’ plot, and best of all, they do the ONE thing that was missing in Godzilla: King of the Monsters…they FOUGHT IN THE DAYTIME! Yes, Legendary finally got this right, the best Godzilla battles are the ones we can actually see! 

Granted, there are a couple of battles at night but most of them are during the day and they’re much better lit than in the previous films. Not to mention one in particular has a lot of neon everywhere that reminded me a lot of Pacific Rim. 

So yeah, I had a blast with Godzilla VS Kong, it gave me everything I wanted to see when it was announced, a consistently action packed and thrilling battle not only between Godzilla and King Kong but also another Godzilla fan favorite that was absent from the second movie (If you know your Godzilla movies or have already seen it then you know what I’m talking about!). It’s an adrenaline pumping and satisfying monster mash from start to finish.