After being delayed several times, Godzilla vs. Kong has finally arrived. It opened in theatres (wherever they are open) and is currently streaming on HBO Max, which is where I watched it. So let's dive into this monster flick!
The film was actually fun and fast paced. Director Adam Wingard set out to make a straight forward monster movie without adding a bunch of unnecessary filler. The human characters were simply there to move the story along, nothing more. The characters were not as annoying as in King Of The Monsters, where the uneven human drama completely took over and made it a loud, nonsensical mess. The story here was simple and more streamlined to move the monster fights along. The overall plot was silly, but this movie didn't take itself seriously, which is what made it enjoyable. It knows it's a big budget monster flick and sticks to that formula.
The movie begins with Kong on Skull Island, where they have set up some type of containment dome around it to keep Kong protected. Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) has been studying Kong with the help of a little girl who can communicate with Kong. Meanwhile, Godzilla has suddenly appeared and attacks Florida. Millie Bobby Brown (Madison Russell) is convinced that something is driving Godzilla to suddenly go on a rampage. Dr. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgard) is visited by a shady character named Walter Simmons and his assistant Ren Serizawa (son of the late Dr. Serizawa from the previous films) who are interested in Lind's theory about a Hollow Earth existing in the center of the planet, where they hope they can find an energy source to power their secret defense weapon. Dr. Lind partners with Dr. Andrews to use Kong to take them to this alleged Hollow Earth, with Simmons daughter Maya (Eliza Gonzalez) along to supervise. After Godzilla suddenly appears and engages in a fight at sea with Kong, they eventually make their way to this Hollow Earth. Meanwhile, Madison and her friend team up with a guy who runs a conspiracy theory podcast to discover the reason for Godzilla's sudden aggression.
It turns out that Simmons and Serizawa are secretly building a robot Mechagodzilla to defeat all the monsters, using the head of Ghidorah that was recovered from the last movie and infusing their robot with artificial intelligence. Godzilla can sense this and that's the reason why he's suddenly gone on a rampage. They need an element found in the Hollow Earth to power up Mechagodzilla and send him into action. The entire storyline with Madison feels almost Stranger Things like and honestly could've been scrapped and it wouldn't have made a difference. It's really not that interesting and is honestly unbelievable, considering she and her gang break into a top secret facility and manage to wander around it without being detected until after they've found out the truth. Talk about shitty security. Also, having Serizawa's son was also a waste, as it never explains his motives for wanting to build a robot. Is he mad at the monsters because he blames them for his father's death? Why does he think building a robot infused with Ghidorah's cells is going to be a good defense idea? His character could've been played by any random person and it also would not have made a difference. The storyline with Skarsgard, Rebecca Hall and the young girl who has a bond with Kong was much more entertaining and didn't feel completely unnecessary. Still, the human plots were only there to move the action along, which is where the heart of the film lies.
The monster fights are where all the fun is. The first time Godzilla and Kong meet up in the ocean while they're on their way to the Hollow Earth is a great fight. It's well filmed and the focus stays on the monsters. Some good punches are thrown and Godzilla destroying planes and ships, Kong jumping out of the way to avoid his atomic blast, and the monsters wresting under water are all entertaining. Godzilla's first rampage, though brief, is also done well. Kong has a nice fight in the Hollow Earth with 2 flying snake monsters known as Warbat that's also great. The final showdown in Hong Kong looks nice, with the stars throwing blows amid the bright neon colors of the city, but it felt rushed and probably could've benefitted from more time and detail. These fights had some good elements, such as Kong pushing Godzilla's head out of the way to avoid his blast, Kong using his ape skills and agility to jump around from building to building, and Kong's axe powering up using Godzilla's beam. Mechagodzilla looked cool, he had a nice arsenal of weapons and scenes of him slamming Godzilla's head into buildings were fun. But I would've liked for them to be a little longer; everything zips by so fast, before you know it it's over.
The main focus is more on Kong, which some might not like, but it didn't bother me. It was a fast paced movie that pretty much delivers what it promises, giant monster fights. It decides to just have fun with it's wacky premise, in the same way that some of the older Showa Godzilla films of the 60's and 70's went about things. It keeps a consistent tone and keeps you entertained throughout its 2 hour runtime. Honestly, that was enough for me.
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