Well what can I say? I actually loved it. I did.
It is not in any degree a perfect movie but, it was as fun as a bar fight south of South Street, Philadelphia. This wonderful gem is now streaming simultaneously on HBO Max and theaters, Godzilla vs Kong continues the story previous established in: Godzilla, Skull Island and Godzilla King of the Monsters. Now that everything is built-up, there is no more wasted screen time for exposition and stupid human shenanigans. They actually let the goddamn kaiju do what we all wanted them to do and that is to tell them friggin’ FIGHT.
Don’t bother me with you concerns for collateral damage and “what about the people?” – They are probably dead or in some emergency bunker like in Pacific Rim, who cares? Turn your brain off. If you can let all of the absurd craziness of the Fast n Furious films get a pass then you can pretty much STFU about any nit-picking or massive plot holes here. This is a giant APE fighting a giant nuclear breathing Lizard. It’s simplicity at its finest and sugary sweet.
PLOT: Sometime after Godzilla took the throne as the alpha kaiju and what can be speculated as a battle royal with the other mega-beasts, the world has entered a state of balance with humanity making a giant leap in technology and science. However, things aren’t quiet for long before Godzilla for unknown reasons has attacked a major city in some sort of rage. This isn’t the benevolent Godzilla from previous films this is the god of destruction that we knew he/she could be. The Godzilla in this film is the equivalent to who Ghostface Killer was in the original Mystery of Chess Boxing Kung-Fu film; a ruthless enraged force of disaster that brings the ruckus every time it is on screen.
We do have humans in this movie but, they are just there to carry the plot. The young girl who befriends Kong is actually the keystone of humanity in the film and our connection to Kong. And Kong is the focus of the film. The depiction of Kong here is the best I’ve seen yet. So friggin’ good. The CG is top-notch. I was my own Black theater watching this in my living room at 4am swinging fists into the air. The Kong humans were essential to what was going on but, the Zilla’ humans were ehhhh, okay I guess. I can’t complain more but, that complaint is pointless.
I’m not going to spoil any plot points or surprises if you haven’t seen this film already. I will say that the lighting is awesome especially in Hong Kong and the fight scenes are finally filmed mostly during the day and hallelujah – no shaky cameras and the camera is pulled back – no more annoying close ups. It’s marvelous. Simply Marvelous.
Godzilla vs. Kong is a 2021 American monster film directed by Adam Wingard. A sequel to both Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and Kong: Skull Island (2017), it is the fourth film in Legendary‘s MonsterVerse. It is also the 36th film in the Godzilla franchise, the 12th film in the King Kong franchise, and the fourth Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio.
Beat your chests, stomp your feet and keep your finger on that REWIND button.
