Hey everybody and welcome to new 2021 movie review! As promised I will be capping off my series of MonsterVerse reviews with the most recent installment in the franchise, Godzilla vs. Kong. Yes the big showdown that has been teased ever since this whole franchise was announced and this has been a project I myself have been excited about for a long time as I am a huge fan of both Godzilla and King Kong and I’ve personally been impressed by the films in this series. I think they are well crafted blockbusters that display impressive special effects work, exciting monster battles, and interesting ideas regarding the relationship between man and these giant titans. I also like how each one of them (Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters) is different in their own way in terms of style, vibe, and genre and even my least favorite (King of the Monsters) has a lot that I like about it. Thus I am happy to say that Godzilla vs. Kong lives up to my expectations and continues this franchise’s hotstreak! Now let’s jump in and witness what makes this battle of epic proportions such a joy to watch.
Set five years after Godzilla: King of Monsters, we are re introduced to the giant ape himself seemingly living a peaceful life on Skull Island, but as it turns out he is being heavily monitored by the organization Monarch in a giant dome, where he seems to have formed a connection with a young, orphaned girl named Jia who communicates with him through sign language. Jia is also the adopted daughter of llene Andrews, one of the scientists studying Kong, and soon she as well as former Monarch scientist, Nathan Lind, are recruited to go on a journey into the Hollow Earth, the sacred homeworld of the Titans in order to find a power source that the Apex organization is searching for. To get there, they decide to use Kong as a guide (restricting his movements via chains of course) and set out on their mission. However they are soon intercepted by a rampaging Godzilla who has been on a path of mass destruction around the globe recently for reasons unknown, something Maddie Russel from the previous movie along with her friend, Josh, and a conspiracy theorist named Bernie are trying to get to the bottom of. This confrontation is only the beginning though of a conspiracy that could change the fate of the planet. No matter what happens though: Only one of these Titans will fall.
The key to this movie’s success is that it absolutely knows what type of feature it is and makes darn sure to deliver on it’s promises of massive monster action and popcorn movie thrills, but it makes sure to do it well. The main plotline is set up efficiently at the beginning as we learn what we are supposed to learn about what is going on with Godzilla and the concept of the Hollow Earth is introduced, with enough intrigue in terms of the actual mystery even that kept my attention even if some of it does rely on typical exposition dumps. Once the two title characters have their first encounter on that aircraft carrier, it becomes a non stop thrill ride where we go from one big set piece to another and I found the movie became even more engrossing as we get to explore the Hollow Earth and build out this world more as we see where these Titans come from and it just works as genuinely fun and well paced adventure. Even the Apex plotline, while not quite as good as the Hollow Earth journey was still entertaining and had the feeling of one of those Amblin adventure type movies with teens getting caught up in these larger than life situations. Plus despite not being nearly as apocalyptic or gloomy in tone as the Godzilla films, it still continues to explore ideas that are present throughout the other films like the relationship between humans and Titans and whether or not they can co exist. Not quite explored extensively as in the other films, but it is still present through the relationship of Kong and Jia as we see a human and a Titan form a strong bond with one another, a concept I liked seeing be explored. Warts and all, the story gets the job done in terms of getting these monsters together in some way and as ridiculous as the movie can get it never felt like it was insulting my intelligence, but instead just inviting the audience along for a grand ride.
Continuing to be among the more impressive aspects of these movies is the fantastic VFX work, with the artists being able to bring these literal giants to life in a big way. Once again Godzilla and Kong are brought to life perfectly with their towering statures and memorable designs which add to the scale of the feature and we even get a couple of other monsters new and old which are able to have some cool looks as well. Makes sense given the introduction of the Hollow Earth which is itself a really cool looking environment with unique gravity and an abundance of nature which make it a treat to explore when Kong arrives there (the actual scene of Kong and the team heading into the center of the Earth is thrilling as it feels like riding a roller coaster). Speaking of which I am genuinely impressed with how the writers and VFX crew were able to make Kong into a full fledged character as he has motivations to find out more about his home, he feels emotions, and he has relationships. I liked the journey he went on in this movie and he stands in stark contrast to Godzilla who is once again more of a force of nature than anything else, but an effective one. When these opposite fight though, that is what everyone came to see and boy did director, Adam Wingard, and his team deliver in that regard. What makes the spectacle rock so much is that each set piece stands out in it’s own way and it is a lot of fun seeing how Godzilla and Kong would use the environment to their advantages as both have unique skill sets with Godzilla relying on brute force while Kong has the edge in versatility leading to some awesome takedowns and moves. This is most evident in the soon to be iconic aircraft carrier battle at sea where Kong has to try and fight Godzilla on the latter’s home turf and when Kong and Godzilla tussle it out in Tokyo. Both are pretty spectacular as Wingard shoots them in a way where there is a lot of light so that everything is visible and uses the camera in neat ways that bring the audience into the thick of the battle while also making sure they are coherent and well staged. Plus when you have a composer as talented as Junkie XL, the music is bound to hit hard and further add to the epic feel of the picture. It really is hard to choose a favorite battle as they are so well done, but if I had to choose one that REALLY got me hyped it has to be (spoilers) the final showdown between Godzilla, Kong and Mechagodzilla. Not only does the new design of the latter look awesome, but just seeing all of these iconic kaijus in combat was just so satisfying to watch and it made for a knock out of a finale.
Easily the biggest criticism this franchise has faced is regarding the human characters as many find them uninteresting and that they distract from the monster mayhem. While I can understand where these complaints are coming from, I’ve personally never really found the humans to be that bothersome (save for some parts of Godzilla: King of the Monsters) as they serve their purpose most of the time and I’ve actually found myself invested in a number of them at times. For this entry I think the humans do serve their purpose to the plot and it helps that they have talented performers playing them. On team Kong there is Rebecca Hall as llene Andrews, Alexander Skarsgard as Nathan Lind, and Kaylee Hottle as Jia. The former two are solid as always with Skarsgard bringing some nice charisma to the role and they are smartly used to move the plot forward. They may not be the most complex and the attempt at a relationship between them is pretty standard, but they never annoyed me and the writers knew they aren’t supposed to be the main draw. Jia on the other hand is easily my favorite human character with her connection with Kong being one of the most interesting parts of the movie and Kaylee Hottle (who is deaf in real life) bringing a lot of emotion to the role, to the point where one can buy the Titan-human relationship. On the other side for Team Godzilla we’ve got Millie Bobby Brown reprising her role from King of the Monsters (her father, Mark, played by Kyle Chandler is relegated to a supporting role with less screen time) and she is good in the role, but is outshined by her partners, Julian Dennison and Brian Tyree Henry who bring some nice levity to the situation with Henry in particular getting the biggest laughs as the former Apex employee turned conspiracy theorist. Then there are the baddies of the picture with Demian Bichir leading them as the CEO of Apex, Walter Simmons, who wants to exterminate the Titans so humans can rightfully rule the planet. While the character isn’t anything special Bichir just plays it so over the top as an evil mustache twirling villain that it’s just hard not to enjoy (he also has one of my favorite villain deaths in recent memory as a bonus). Meanwhile Eiza Gonzalez is just there to observe the journey to Hollow Earth to make sure all goes according to plan as Walter’s daughter, Maia, while Shun Oguri gets very little to do in what one would think would be a more important role as Ren Serizawa, son of Ishiro Serizawa from the Godzilla movies. Again even though they aren’t the focus and aren’t anything too special they still do a decent job in serving the plot and not one of them I found to be intolerable which is pretty impressive if I say so myself.
All in all I had an absolute blast watching Godzilla vs. Kong as it delivered exactly what I wanted in the way I was hoping it would. It may not be the most thematically challenging of these movies, most of the humans aren’t in great shakes and it does suffer from some standard exposition unloading, but it still is investing with interesting ideas and world building, it moves at a good pace, the special effects are fantastic, the monster fights rule, and humans serve their purpose to the plot. Like I said this is popcorn entertainment done right in my eyes and it further cements the MonsterVerse as one of my favorite ongoing franchises to the point where I’m looking forward to seeing what is done next with these icons. If your a kaiju fan or just want some well done spectacle then this will more than do it as in terms of giant monster movies from Hollywood in recent memory, this stands among my favorites.
Rating: A-
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