Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) Review

 

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

Godzilla vs. Kong follows Dr. Nathan Lind and Illene Andrews who, with the help of Kong, travel to the hollow Earth, only for Godzilla to challenge Kong to a battle of the monsters in this epic showdown for the ages.

It’s hard for me to get mad at the human story line at this point, even though as usual, it was ridiculous and lame, but here I am, mad at it again. The conspiracy arc with Bernie and Madison was beyond stupid. If there was one thing that could’ve been cut and changed zero outcome, it would’ve been their pointless story that again, felt like them just trying to cash in on Millie Bobby Brown. The reverse story with Lind and Andrews was somewhat interesting though and definitely made for some cool scenes with Kong. My biggest takeaway from the human arc—less is better. Oh, and dear God, please stop including kids in these movies as central characters. It’s not cute and just feels silly among the absolute madness of warring titans.

Onto the battle between Kong and Godzilla, WOW. I loved their alpha dynamic and it created for some epic fight scenes that were as visually gorgeous as they were insanely brutal. The Hong Kong battle at night particularly stands out, with the bright lights illuminating the two as they pummel each other, who were surprisingly formidable rivals. *Spoiler* I was surprised but very much pleased however that Godzilla won because frankly, anything else wouldn’t have made sense; just wish they hadn’t painted him as the villain for most of the movie.

The inclusion of Mechagodzilla did feel a bit crowded but it used the BvS route and used its’ presence to bring together Godzilla & Kong and their team up against the giant mechazoid was super exciting to see hit the big screen with the amazing special effects.

The cast was fairly unremarkable, all never really feeling to have much of a purpose other than to be there to move things along, starring Millie Bobby Brown, Bryan Tyree Henry, Julian Dennison, Rebecca Hall, and Alexander Skarsgard. Brown and Henry felt the most out of place here, with their story being both outlandish and unnecessary, with Dennison standing out in his dry sarcasm, contrasting to their odd behavior. Expected a little more from Hall and Skarsgard considering their amount of screen time, but the human story is almost always dull, so not entirely surprised.

Godzilla vs. Kong, directed by Adam Wingard, does have it’s faults, but delivers big time, featuring the bout of the year against Godzilla and Kong that is as badass as it is beautiful, definitely living up to the years long hype behind this movie.

8.1/10