Overall verdict: 7/10
The Good: Beautiful visual effects, awesome action, rich world building, expressive monsters, relatable protagonist in Kong
The Bad: Shallow characters, rushed story, repetitive music, superficial narrative, wasted potential
***********Review***********
GODZILLA VS KONG. This is the crossover that the “Legendary Monsterverse” has been building up to since its inception in 2014 with GODZILLA and then in 2017 with KONG: SKULL ISLAND. In living up to its title, GVK delivers spectacularly . It delivers breathtaking monster action and amazing visuals that push the boundaries of modern visual effects, all strung together with an excuse plot that is both jam packed and paper thin at the same time.
Really, the “plot” only exist because the very medium demands at least an adherence to the “beginning middle and end” structure. It exists just to bring us from one monster fight to the next. It feels jam packed because there are multiple sub plots happening at the same time which does a lot of world building. But the pace at which we just breeze through all this rich material is a huge let down.
First we have Madison Russell (Millie Bobbie Brown) and her father Mark (Kyle Chandler) returning from 2019’s GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS. We touch on some father/daughter tension and then we forget about it as we go into this “teen pals uncovering shady organisation research mystery” type plot no doubt riding on Millie Bobby Brown’s association with the STRANGER THINGS series. This sub plot is just silly but fun in a teen escapism kind of way similar to a Scooby Doo cartoon. How do two kids penetrate a highly guarded state of the art research facility? How does no one realise there are intruders in plain sight on the floor of a big open underground chamber with cameras everywhere and even an elevated viewing platform? Why are they able to do quickly track down their hilarious comic relief conspiracy nut (possibly my favourite character of the whole movie played by Brian Tyree Henry) by tracking bulk purchases of bleach in Chinese shops? It’s absurd, and it’s rushed, with so many convenient contrivances, but it’s fun.
Also it leads to an awesome payoff even if the villains involved are criminally underutilized. One of them just exists to be evil corporate guy running Apex (the aforementioned shady tech company) with no prior setup in a past movie and another is supposed to be the son of Dr Serizawa (Ken Watanabe’s character) from the previous 2 Godzilla movies. Why he’s a bad guy here, what are his motives, none of that is fleshed out.
This is sub plot 3, which sees our obvious villains creating a new weapon to reestablish humanity’s dominance over the giant monsters. Except that Godzilla seems to be taking this personally and his efforts to destroy the villains’ work are being branded as him having gone rogue against humanity. Again, absurd but fun.
Equally absurd is sub plot number 4 involving the destruction of Kong’s natural habitat on Skull Island by an eternal super storm and efforts to find him a new home. Complicating matters is the fact that Godzilla will come and try to attack Kong because he senses Kong as a rival Alpha among titans. It leads in to subplot 5, and easily the most amount wasted potential: Kong rediscovering the lost world within the fabled “hollow earth” with scientist Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgard) and greedy corporate types led by Maya Simmons (Eiza Gonzalez) tailing him in order to find some mystical energy source.
This entire sub plot alone could have been the basis for a standalone Kong movie as we explore this rich enchanting hidden world and threats that lurk within. Instead we are whisked through this subplot in a matter of minutes; yet another loose thread that serves to string together action scenes so that it qualifies as a “movie”.
None of our characters get any development or any characterization beyond the most superficial character traits and tropes, grossed over at the same rushed pace as the narrative. Once more, acting purely to qualify this work as a “movie” and to propel us from one action sequence to the next.
Fortunately the action sequences involving Godzilla and Kong, both against each other and against other threats, are monster mayhem perfection!
Boasting what is possibly THE BEST Visual effects and motion capture CGI seen in movies thus far, GVK’s fights are exhilarating, breathtaking, intense; they are as spectacular as visual spectacles come. Director Adam Wingard went wild with bringing this world to life. From the cold grey steel of Apex’s sinister underbelly to the ethereal blues and earthy browns of the hollow earth, then to the neon lit skyline of Hong Kong; the way he uses lighting and creative camerawork really lends this energy and majesty to what we see on screen.
Accompanying the visuals and action is the background music, courtesy of composer Tom Holkenborg. It sounds like a loose homage to monster movie music in general and does it’s job in being just ok, if not repetitive at times. It does not have the clear classic kaiju films influence of Alexander Desplat’s GODIZLLA or the elevated tribute to the music of the original Godzilla franchise that we had with Bear McReary’s KING OF THE MONSTERS.
As for our titular Titans, Kong is the Star with Godzilla as just a supporting antagonist. This is Kong’s story, a true underdog story of tragedy and triumph. His relationship with deaf girl Jai is a heartwarming one and his sheer tenacity on his journey against far superior foes is enough to win the respect of most detractors. Performance capture technology has imbued these creatures with facial expressions and body language that is so lifelike and uncannily human. Never had giant monsters been so expressive and even more so than some of their live action human co-stars.
Despite my criticisms, I do want the monsterverse as a franchise to continue. At just 4 movies, it will be a great loss to the entertainment world if the Legendary Monsterverse were to end here. For all its flaws, GODZILLA VS KONG does a ton of world building in a super short time and it has opened up a rich cinematic world with tons of spinoff potential. The kind of tech pioneered by Apex and the hollow earth concept are the perfect setup for other giant monster movies in this same world and setting. Then again, this is only on the assumption that whoever holds the reins of the monsterverse’s future gives more thought and effort into crafting movies that hold some deeper narrative merit than just superficial action spectacle.
***********Review***********
Entertainment: A
Story: C+
Acting: B+
Acting: B+
Characters: C-
Music: C+
Replay value: A
"Brains": D+
