“Godzilla Vs. Kong” Film Review

By Quinn Marcus

So, we’re finally here, after what’s felt like years of delays, we actually got to see the film that promised to be the showdown of the century. It all started with Godzilla (2014), a film that gave us a whole lot of human drama, but only 10 minutes of Godzilla, in his own movie! Then, in 2017, we got Kong: Skull Island, a brainless, visually pleasing Kong update that didn’t give a damn about building a compelling story. And just two years ago, Legendary dropped Godzilla: King of The Monsters, a film that sacrificed characters and plot, and ended up losing perceptible fight scenes as well. The truth is, the newly formed MonsterVerse hasn’t quite figured out how to manage their titans while throwing in a serviceable story. Well, I am highly pleased to say that Godzilla Vs. Kong has done just that. Everything about this movie, besides the fights, of course, was simply…fine. I love that word…fine, it sounds like a movie that’s good, but not great, it has flaws, but an outweighing number of positives. I am so happy that one of these movies was actually pretty good, I thought Godzilla (2014) was okay, as many people did, but it’s so boring. Nobody cares about humans saying exposition for over 2hrs, something Godzilla Vs. Kong mercifully gets. So, without further ado, let’s begin the review.

Let’s start with some issues I have with this titan extravaganza. Firstly, the story sucks, it’s messy, dumb, fun, but I expected that and the film ends on the 1hr 45min mark, 30 mins shorter than its predecessor, so it flies by like that. Secondly, it’s really predictable, if you’ve seen any of the trailers, there are not too many surprises in store, it gives you all it’s got, and that was enough for me. A big complaint I’ve always had with these movies is the human characters, but I didn’t find them too annoying this time around. I didn’t care if they died, but there was some serviceable emotional heft in there, mostly carried by that little girl with the connection to Kong. As I said, the film flies by quickly, and I forgot it within an instant of finishing, you won’t remember much besides how damn cool Kong and Zilla look throwing each other into buildings. Seriously, I barely remember what the villain’s motivation was, oh wait, he didn’t have one, just a generic diabolical plot to laugh at. Kyle Chandler has a line in this movie, I think…so that’s pretty damn cool. Millie Bobby Brown goes on a side-quest with conspiracy dude, and Julian Dennison and the rest are trying to get Kong somewhere while Godzilla goes on a rampage. That’s literally the entire movie, of course, I won’t spoil anything, but that’s the gist of it. You’ll watch it, have a blast, and won’t remember much in the morning, and honestly…I’m okay with that.

As I said before, the film is less than two hours, and thank god for that. This movie was so entertaining, the whole thing was some good old undemanding fun, a rare thing nowadays. I was never bored despite not really having a plot to latch onto, in contrast to King of the Monsters which tried to be this grand, epic drama that I almost fell asleep to. That’s the thing I appreciated most about Godzilla Vs. Kong, it didn’t try to be any more than what it is, a technical marvel filled with Kong rocket punching Godzilla. It gave up character development, a great story, and it somehow worked for me. In my heart, I wanted to see Zilla destroy that monkey (Zilla fan all the way), but I still won in the end, Adam Wingard knew who the true victor of this movie would be: the audience. I cheered when Kong landed the first punch and gasped as Godzilla let out his atomic breath, the fight scenes were incredible. The colors popped from the screen, the VFX were as my dad said “crazy,” and that still doesn’t do them justice. It amazed me how good this movie looked, and it’s not just the CGI, the cinematography was pretty damn good as well, my dad even pointed out several shots that he loved. The level our CGI has reached today is truly something to behold, every part of the titans we know and love looked immaculate.

The cast was fine, Rebecca Hall, Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, all of them did a solid job. I was never angry at any of the performances, and some of them, particularly Brian Tyree Henry, made me laugh quite a bit with his conspiracy podcast. There wasn’t really a standout amongst the cast because, in truth, they aren’t given too much to do, they don’t even have cut-to reactions in the middle of giant fights! You hear that, it’s absolutely outrageous, blasphemous…it’s…it’s…refreshing. What else can I say about this movie, don’t go in expecting to be enlightened, to find the hidden symbolism behind Kong’s face or whatever, go in expecting what you know will happen. If you don’t, I highly doubt you’ll find much enjoyment out of this movie. Whether you’re a Kong fan (cringe), or a Zilla fan (for the cool kids), you’re going to leave happy with what you got, I can promise you that.

The final verdict is…Godzilla Vs. Kong is an undemanding visual masterpiece that didn’t falter when delivering what its title claims to be…$TREAM IT!