Similar to how humans are unable to let nature run its course in the “Monsterverse,” adding more human characters hurts Godzilla vs Kong.
Director Adam Wingard (Blair Witch) does a great job with the fight scenes featuring King Kong and Godzilla. Unfortunately, the climax of the final fight has one of the worst banana peel moments in recent memory.
The cast for Godzilla vs. Kong is great and unnecessary. Alexander Skarsgård is fine, but introduces a cool sci-fi plot that needed more setup than one film. The sci-fi concept is cool enough to be it’s own film with or without Kong or Godzilla. Millie Bobby Brown and Kyle Chandler return from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, but are utterly wasted in the film.
There are three human characters that are better than the rest. Bryan Tyree Henry is a blast as a conspiracy theorist with a podcast. Rebecca Hall overcomes some poor writing as a scientist who monitors Kong. Henry and Hall are great, but the biggest star of the film has to be Kaylee Hottle as Jia, a deaf girl who communicates with Kong using sign language.
Despite sharing some of the cast from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs Kong is more of a sequel to Kong: Skull Island. Both titans have their own quests in the film, but the film mostly keeps its focus on Kong’s quest for family and his connection to Jia.
With the overview out of the way, lets dive deeper into Godzilla, Kong and human shenanigans. Please note there will be some minor spoilers. Godzilla vs Kong is available on HBO Max for 30 days.
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King Kong’s Hollow Odyssey
If you thought Kong was being lured out into the open to stop Godzilla’s assault on mankind, that’s not the case at all. Skarsgård’s Nathan Lind is a scientist who used to work for Monarch. Anthony Simmon played by Demián Bichir is another wasted cast addition as the CEO of APEX Industries and offers to provide Lind with vehicles that can transport Lind safely to the “Hollow Earth.” An alternate world deep in the earth’s crust..
Lind wants to use Kong as a guide through the portal. Lind heads to an outpost on Skull Island to convince Dr. Ilene Andrews. Turns out Lind didn’t need to worry much as there’s very little resistance on Andrews’s part. Her only apprehension is that once Kong leaves the outpost, Godzilla will come after Kong.
They strap Kong to a boat and begin making the trek across the ocean towards Antarctica. During this journey, we learn that Kong can communicate with Jia using sign language and her emotional connection to Kong is the heart of Godzilla vs Kong. Godzilla does attack and forces the crew as well as Kong to play dead. The crew then takes to the air using helicopters to airlift Kong to Antarctica.
Using Jia, the crew is able to convince Kong to lead them through the tunnel to Hollow Earth. The Hollow Earth is stunning. Filled with vibrant landscapes and dangerous creatures. Clearly, you can set a whole film in this setting with or without Kong. Honestly, the Hollow Earth would be a better setting for a Monster Hunter film than the Paul W.S. Anderson monstrosity.
The fun rollercoaster ride is broken up by Godzilla using his atomic breath to drill a hole from Hong Kong to the Hollow Earth world. This one moment epitomizes the combination of cool visual aesthetics with absurd logic that is Godzilla vs Kong in a nutshell.
Godzilla vs. Kong: An Apex Problem
The story does seem to frame Godzilla as the antagonist but doesn’t do enough to make him a villain. Godzilla starts the film by attacking an Apex Industries hub in Pensacola, Florida.there should have been more destruction on Godzilla’s part.
Brown’s Maddie Russell and Henry’s Bernie Hayes believe Godzilla was provoked. Hayes was working undercover at Apex Industries in Pensacola when Godzilla attacked. He believes Apex is up to something. Russell convinces Josh Valentine played by Julian Dennison to lend her his van. He offers nothing of value other than someone to disagree with Hayes and Russell. The trio infiltrates Apex Industries, discovers Apex is capturing Skull Crawlers and accidentally enter a pod that shoots them off to Hong Kong.
Apex is using the Skull Crawlers as test subjects for MechaGodzilla. The evil corporation is using King Ghidorah’s brain to operate the mechanical titan, which is why Godzilla is on the warpath. Simmons wants to make humanity the apex predators once again. Ghidorah’s really the only monstrous connection to Godzilla: King of the Monsters. There is no mention of Mothra in the film.
Awesome Fight, Lackluster Conclusion
The action scenes throughout Godzilla vs. Kong are fantastic and easily the best in the MonsterVerse, which is quite the compliment. Godzilla moves much faster than his other appearances. Kong bouncing off Hog Kong skyscrapers is ludicrous, but fun. However, the climactic fight is undermined by a banana peel victory and depending on who you’re rooting for, you may be surprised to see how the final round between Kong and Godzilla goes down.
I don’t want to spoil the events so I’m going to use Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice as an example. In Batman v Superman, Superman and Batman put their differences asides to defeat Doomsday. Godzilla vs. Kong has a similar setup. Now just imagine if Lex Luthor had dumped water on the computer console in Zod’s spaceship causing Doomsday to self-destruct. Superman and Batman would have been robbed of working together to find a solution to a new problem. Fortunately, for Batman v Superman, they went in a different direction. You’ll just have to watch Godzilla vs. Kong to see the solution screenwriters Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok), Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island) and Wingard come up with.
Final Thoughts on Godzilla vs. Kong
Godzilla vs Kong delivers on the action and visual front. The concept of the Hollow Earth is fantastic and furtive ground for future installments but needed more build going into this film. Despite several strong actors in the cast, the film’s plot struggles to justify having this many characters. Add in a bizarre ending to the climactic fight and you have a film that’s fun, but ultimately forgettable.
The Review
Godzilla vs. Kong
PROS
- The action and visuals are outstanding once again. Despite gaps in logic, the film is a lot of fun if you turn off your brain.
- The connection between Jia and Kong is beautiful.
- Hollow Earth is just awesome.
CONS
- Way too many human characters.
- The climatic ending is laughably bad.
- Godzilla isn't treated nearly as well as Kong in this film, which is fine, but the results of the fight are surprising based on that fact.
- Not much of a connection to Godzilla: King of the Monsters. No Mothra mention at all.
