Written by: Eric Pearson & Max Borenstein
Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall,, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri
Rating: [3.5/5]
With the recent releases of films featuring the two most famous giant monsters in fictional storytelling, the inevitability of them crossing paths and duking it out came as a certainty. We just needed to wait and see when it actually occurred and it arrived with Godzilla vs. Kong. A feature finally recognizing what makes for a fun kaiju movie and delivering just that in this popcorn movie.
As Monarch continues to research the existence of kaiju monsters, they use King Kong to navigate their work when they encounter Godzilla and the damage it can cause. As the two kaiju continue to duke it out, the discovery of their existence is part of an ancient war where they both stand as the two survivors.
Striking the proper balance in a kaiju movie between the human characters and the monsters proves quite the challenge for films because everyone just wants to see these God-like creatures fight but you cannot fill up a feature-length film with just fighting. Thus we need the human characters in order to add context to what occurs and serve as a connection for the audience into this world, which certainly helps in displaying the sheer scale of these monsters as compared to us. This feature manages to strike the right balance on both sides allowing for some visually intriguing fights between the monsters and human characters worth caring for.
Getting into the plot of the feature outside of the monsters does get convoluted at times with all of the new characters integrated into the story and the different intentions they have with what occurs with these monsters. Even if it may cause a headache in piecing it all together, the most important facet of making these characters somewhat compelling gets accomplished much more than in other recent kaiju films where they operate as filler and distractions from the kaiju fights occurring. Certainly a big positive on this end.
With that said, we need to talk about the titular battle occurring between Godzilla and King Kong, which brought everyone together for this movie. The promises of one punching another built quite the anticipation and it most certainly delivered. It seeks to answer the age-old question of who would win in this fight with each of them having distinct advantages. King Kong has more agility, but Godzilla has that crazy laser breath that can deal with some damage. We receive multiple opportunities to see them take each other on, with one instance on water and another in Hong Kong. Each opportunity allows for some fun visuals in the way they fight each other and the unfortunate collateral damage that will occur because of it. Their sheer size as they take each other on really sets the scene for what occurs with these monsters and how it impacts everyone below them. The fight scene in Hong Kong specifically uses the neon light design of the buildings to create something far more visually engaging than many of the other films adding another wrinkle to these altercations.
Spending so much time with these monsters required the CGI to take up a decent chunk of the overall budget and it looks fairly good. The details of each of these monsters stand out, especially when they are closer to each other and they make physical contact. This undoubtedly becomes the biggest challenge of the feature because of the requirement of creating these two monsters but then rendering them together in one scene and then interacting. The effects done right on these monsters proved as one of the more integral features the film needed to get right and it certainly worked in spades.
Providing pretty much everything one could want from a movie where King Kong and Godzilla fight, this feature handles each area very well. The human characters do not drag the whole thing down with their half-baked ideas and they leave enough room to focus on these kaiju as they trade blows and perhaps need to take something else on later in the film that becomes an even bigger challenge. One of the more obvious popcorn movies out there, but sometimes something as fun and mindless as this feature is all one needs at a specific time.
Films with Josh 