Godzilla vs. Kong
Written by Cameron Geiser
Cynics of the silver screen: beware! You’re about to read a review of a movie that features Godzilla, a giant lizard-dinosaur that can breathe atomic laser-fire out of his mouth, and King Kong, cinema’s first giant monster who’s also a damn big ape with a fast leap and a mean uppercut. If you’ve seen the previous movies in Legendary’s “Monsterverse” featuring both of these silver screen legends, then you likely know the type of film you’re in for. These films are escapism at its best, and they’re not always aiming for the eye of the Academy, if you know what I mean. So, we must ask the question; is a film about Godzilla fighting King Kong actually any good?
The story begins with Godzilla attacking several large cities for no immediate reason. This motivates Monarch, the scientific global security force that’s been the connective glue between these films, to join forces with Apex Cybernetics, a big tech corporation that steps up to the plate to stop Godzilla from rampaging and ravaging our coastlines. Monarch has been closely monitoring King Kong on Skull Island for some time now, and they utilize the tentative relationship they have with Kong to embark on a journey and seek a fuel source for a supposed Kaiju killing weapon. Once Kong is outside of Skull Island however, Godzilla’s Alpha senses kick in (much like the last film), and he beelines to Kong’s position to ring the bell and start the beat-down.
Godzilla vs. Kong gets right into its purpose: to see the two cinematic titans going at it.
Okay, but human beings are in the film right? Are they worthwhile? Entertaining? I’d say they’re a mix of obligatory plot movement and highly entertaining. Your mileage may vary. There are two groups of people in this tale. There’s the group that travels with Kong through some Kubrick-esque sci-fi fantasy lands which consists of Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård), Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), and Jia (Kaylee Hottle). Lind is an author who believes in the Hollow Earth Theory that Bill Randa (John Goodman) had fomented during Kong: Skull Island and is mostly there to be mocked in good nature by the other characters, and as another face for reaction shots. Andrews is involved as she was the Monarch point-person on Kong’s involvement, and because she’s a parental figure to Jia, a small tribe member native to Skull Island who’s deaf and has a special bond with Kong.
Jia stands out from these characters as the most interesting by a longshot. Then there’s team “Mystery Machine” (or at least that’s what I’m calling them). There’s the returning character of Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) from the last film, who has a few more bits of characterization throughout, but we now also have Julian Dennison playing Josh Valentine, who I assume is simply a teenage version of his Ricky Baker character from The Hunt for The Wilderpeople, (which is an amazing film that I highly encourage you to watch!). These two team up with Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), a conspiracy theorist podcaster that has embedded himself within Apex Cybernetics to seek the truth. He’s my favorite new character of the film, and, again, your mileage may vary. Though Demián Bichir as Walter Simmons, the CEO of Apex Cybernetics, may be a close second, he really hammed it up and chewed the scenery (as they say), and, hey, this is the movie for that sort of thing.
All of the characters and events of the previous films lead up to Godzilla vs. Kong, resulting in a mashup of gigantic proportions.
I think when considering this film, you must acknowledge its relation to other films like it, but especially within the “Monsterverse”. One aspect that I truly appreciated in this film is that they dropped the trite family melodrama that has afflicted much of these films until now. It's not that I don't appreciate a good family drama (seek out Yasujirō Ozu's films for the best example of good familial dramas), it's that these films will never spend the time or give the appropriate amount of effort to flesh out these characters and storylines in the first place, so why bother trying to give a deeper meaning to an aspect of the story that you're unwilling to commit to? Technically, this film also has the best sound mixing of the series by far. It's an experience that would benefit from viewing in a theater, but it's understandable in this day and age if you're uncomfortable with the current state of affairs and instead choose to watch the film at home instead. That being said, the quality of the sound mix is noticeable from the comfort of your couch.
Mercifully, this film is the only one (besides Kong: Skull Island) in the series that doesn't cut away from action sequences as they are happening. This one also, much like the John Wick series, frames the action in nice wides and has an easier visual geography to understand, something both previous Godzilla films in this series have had issues with. Speaking of Godzilla films generally, I think it would be relevant to note that the “Monsterverse” does have a similar track with relation to tone that the Showa era of Godzilla films had. The 1954 Godzilla and several of the following sequels up until around Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster all embraced a more serious tone. They typically focused more on the human storylines and how the presence of these gigantic monsters affect our world. However, by the time Destroy All Monsters hit Japanese theaters the series had fully transformed into campier genre films that incorporated more science fiction elements that required a far greater suspension of disbelief to enjoy. This didn't always work during the Showa era (here's looking at you, Son of Godzilla), but it's worth noting that this isn't the first time a Godzilla series has transitioned into campier, more sci-fi and fantasy oriented storylines.
This is a Midnight Monster movie, and it knows it. There’s some fun sci-fi world building that takes place throughout the film, the human characters are either a lot of fun or passable at worst (which is a compliment!), and the monster fights are downright eclectic. That’s what you’re paying for at the end of the day after all, right? The last half of the movie is almost pure monster mayhem, and it gives any monster movie fan everything they could have asked for. It’s also the shortest film out of Legendary’s “Monsterverse” and it doesn’t overstay its welcome for even a minute. There’s plenty of great surprises for the Godzilla fans of old, and to my surprise, there actually is a definitive winner of these monster bouts! I also have to add some praise to how they shot the actual monster fights; there are some really creative and visceral camera movements that double down on the hurt applied to each bite, punch, and kick! While this certainly won’t be for everyone, it’s a damn good monster movie, and what more could you ask for from a movie with that title?
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.