When Warner Bros first announced plans to reboot the Godzilla and King Kong franchises it seemed inevitable that the two would eventually throwdown. Big budget movies these days are all about shared universes and crossovers, so Godzilla vs Kong only makes sense. It’s a shame that so much buildup can’t deliver a movie that’s enjoyable as it should be.
Let’s get the most important detail out of the way. Those who are going into Godzilla vs Kong looking for massive kaiju fights on a scale that’s both impressive and a little frightening will get their money’s worth. While the motivations behind their conflict are suspect at best, the film does deliver big monsters crushing buildings and smashing each other’s faces. Director Adam Wingard knows how to give audiences a sense of scale that is jaw-dropping and key moments that will have them cheering, especially those who are longstanding fans of either/both monsters.
Unfortunately, the human characters and the story are integral parts of Godzilla vs Kong, even more so than the two monsters in some cases. It’s here that the past movies have tended to lose their steam and that is once again true. Millie Bobby Brown reprises her role as Madison and teams up with a conspiracy theorist podcaster named Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry) and awkward neighbor Josh (Julian Dennison) for the Godzilla contingent. Since these versus movies usually have to cast a bad guy (see: Superman in Batman v Superman), Godzilla gets that dubious role and Madison’s storyline is about uncovering why the King of the Monsters is causing destruction.
Kong’s storyline is the more interesting of the two, if only because it features more compelling characters. Alexander Skarsgård plays Nathan Lind, a scientist who believes that the Earth’s core is hollow and is home to a variety of unique creatures like Kong and Godzilla. Alongside Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) and Jia (Kaylee Hottle), a deaf girl that communicates with Kong through sign language, Lind’s storyline opens up a lot of opportunities for where Kong’s storyline could go in future films. Where this film is concerned, though, it’s mostly just a teaser. It isn’t long before the conflict with Godzilla almost literally pulls Kong away from this more intriguing narrative.
Most fans don’t expect much from these Godzilla and King Kong reboots, but the criticisms have consistently been the same. The human characters are not compelling and their storylines induce numerous eye rolls. For what should be a pull-out-all-the-stops crossover, the same problems still remain. That being said, Godzilla vs. Kong delivers on the monster smashing action, finds some clever ways to keep audiences guessing, and sets up a universe that will be fun to explore in future films. If you can once again tune out everything but the giant monsters, then Godzilla vs. Kong will be satisfying enough.
Godzilla vs. Kong is in theaters and on HBO Max now.
Godzilla Vs Kong
The first major crossover event in Warner Bros. monster verse arrives as Godzilla vs. Kong. This blockbuster action film sees the legendary King Kong and Godzilla go head to head in a battle of titanic proportions. Set after the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters and decades after Kong: Skull Island, the movie sees members of the underground agency known as Monarch dealing with the fallout of a rampaging Godzilla. Monarch relocates Kong to an area that may give them the weapon they need to subdue Godzilla; however, there are greater foes than the King of the Monsters to fear.