Series Report Card: Godzilla (2021)

36. Godzilla Vs. Kong

In 1991, Toho wanted to remake "King Kong Vs. Godzilla" but the complicated legal rights surrounding Kong made this impossible. These same issues would keep cinema's two most iconic giant monsters apart for fifty years. It would take the machinations of Hollywood's hunger for cinematic universes to make it happen again. Legendary Pictures – in partnership with Warner, Universal, and Toho – was determined to make "Godzilla Vs. Kong." Indie horror specialist Adam Wingard, gifted a mega-sized budget, was drafted to direct. Following multiple delays, due to reshoots following the underperformance of Legendary's "Godzilla" sequel and the COVID pandemic, the massive monster showdown is finally in theaters and on TVs. It's a rematch kaiju fanatics have been hungry for their entire lives but was it worth the wait? 

Sometime after the events of "Kong: Skull Island," the immense gorilla has been captured and kept in a holographic recreation of his home island by MONARCH. This is out of Dr. Illene Andrews' fear that, if Kong was out in the wild, Godzilla would inevitably hunt him down. Meanwhile, Godzilla attacks Apex Cybernetics seemingly unprovoked. Apex CEO Walter Simmons reaches out to Dr. Nathan Lind to find a way into the Hollow Earth, the mythical origin point of the Titans and home to a new power source. It's ultimately decided that Kong will be used to lead the way to Hollow Earth. This attracts Godzilla's attention and the two alphas are soon warring for supremacy. Meanwhile, Madison Russell – returning from "King of the Monsters" – partners with a conspiracy theorist to uncover Apex's horrible secrets. It all leads to a massive showdown in Hong Kong. 

First off, Godzilla fans should know that "Godzilla Vs. Kong" is more of a King Kong movie. The enormous gorilla, the biggest he's ever been in any movie, motivates most of the story. His empathic connection with humans is emphasized more than ever. Deaf little girl Jia, the last survivor of Skull Island's native tribes, communicates with him via sign language. Kong, unexpectedly, emerges as an underdog hero beset by challenges who only desires to return to his ancestral home lands. Godzilla is rendered as a largely unfeeling, unknowable animal driven by instincts. Considering how much personality the previous Legendary films gave Godzilla, it's a little disappointing. At the same time, Godzilla has had 35 films to his name while Kong only has eight-ish. So I guess it's a fair trade. 

In a far shorter amount of time, Legendary's Godzilla series has undergone a similar transformation as Toho's sixties movies. In 2014, Garett Edwards attempted to create the most realistic Godzilla movie possible, obviously indebted to Ishiro Honda's grim original vision. Wingard's sequel, meanwhile, has far more in common with the high-camp of the later Showa period. "Godzilla Vs. Kong's" plot is absolutely ludicrous. It involves an entirely new biosphere existing inside the Earth, sci-if hovercrafts, an ill-defined magical power source, a giant battle axe, and telekinetic kaiju bones that take possession of a Titan-sized robot. The story is so elaborately ridiculous that Godzilla boring a tunnel into the Hollow Earth with his nuclear breath isn't even in the top five silliest things that happen in this movie.

Of course, the disregard for grounded science and outrageous content is what made those sixties and seventies Godzilla movies so much fun. They were child-like in their gleeful surrealism. Wingard's film comes a lot closer to capturing that "anything can happen" atmosphere than I expected. Halfway through the movie, a light show in the style of "2001's" stargate sequence occurs. Kong floats through the air because of Hollow Earth's wacky gravity. Any connection to our actual world has long been severed. This allows moments like a battleship being flipped through the ocean multiple times or the simple application of some spilled alcohol destroying a complex computer to go down a lot easier.

A reoccurring criticism of Legendary's MonsterVerse films has been directed at the human characters. The first "Godzilla" had boring, wooden leads. I thought "King of the Monsters" got around this by filling its cast with lovable character actors and letting them do their thing. A lot of people still weren't satisfied. "Godzilla Vs. Kong" dispenses totally with any concerns about its cast. The puny humans are irrelevant to the movie's point. Bernie Hayes, the conspiracy theorist, is the goofiest kind of comic relief and given the most absurd dialogue. Madison Russell is reduced to a rebellious teenage archetype, gifted her own clownish comic relief in the form of a nerdy sidekick. The villains are cartoonishly evil. Dr. Andrews and Dr. Lind have the tiniest specks of emotional arcs. Only Kong's bond with his child companion, played by Kaylee Hottle, makes much of an impression. 

Nobody goes to see a movie named "Godzilla Vs. Kong" for the human subplots and Wingard and his team clearly understand that. Yet it is a little frustrating that, after the prior MonsterVerse movies took time to establish how humanity is affected by these enormous monsters stomping around, that this film reduces everyone to the simplest of roles. The cast is given so little to work with. Alexander Skarsgård has a winning smile and one or two funny moments but is given nothing else to work with. Rebecca Hall and Kyle Chandler, reduced to a bit part, do nothing but spout silly exposition. Brian Tyree Henry, Demián Bichir, Eiza González, and Julia Dennison – all talented performers – play their roles in campy manners that are somewhat distracting. Millie Bobby Brown probably gets it the worst. The character of Madison is almost unrecognizable from her last appearance and Brown is clearly at a loss with how to enliven such a routine part. 

Director Adam Wingard, who once made a whole movie for 2,000 dollars, clearly is not put off by switching focus from human matters to giant CGI monster fights. All of the visual and aural trademarks that defined his previous features are present here. In fact, the love of neon lighting shown in his other movies is pushed to an entirely new level here. The penultimate battle in Hong Kong is lit almost exclusively by searing pinks, golds, blues and reds. Wingard takes any excuse he can to get those bright colors in the film, whether it be the interior of a secret lab or a sketchy Chinese restaurant. The director also includes some of his beloved needle drops. Familiar tunes by Bobby Vinton, Elvis, Judas Priest, and the Hollies stand in contrast to the monster movie mayhem. (The score, by Junkie XL, features some of Wingard's beloved synth alongside Ifukube-style orchestral choruses.)

The big budget and heavy use of CGI allows Wingard to push his visual style into directions he never has before. The camera swoops along with the monsters and characters as they swing and fall through cities or underground tunnels. As Godzilla and Kong tussle around a fleet of battleships, spinning up and around the waves, the camera follows them. At one point, the hover crafts even glide around Kong's face and roaring mouth. In these moments, “Godzilla Vs. Kong” feels as much like an amusement park ride – one of those 3-D motion rides – as it does a movie. While sometimes exhilarating, this approach is also occasionally a bit tricky to follow. The movie is zooming along so fast, the viewer sometimes looses track of what's happening exactly.

Yet, when you get down to it, “Godzilla Vs. Kong” doesn't skimp on the massive monster movie action. Godzilla's huge tail cleaves battleships in two with ease. Kong and his reptilian opponent deliver roundhouses and bitch slaps of gigantic size to each other. The acrobatic gorilla swings around buildings and gets his arms around his enemy's neck, with Godzilla delivering at least one of his trademark judo flips to his hairy opponent. Wingard often directs the movie like it's a titanic sized pro-wrestling match. Monsters slam each others' faces into skyscrapers like they are turnbuckles. In all this massive carnage, the film even finds time for some classical Kong action. When he encounters an enormous cobra-bat in the belly of the Hollow Earth, he swings it around by his tail. It's gloriously silly and highly entertaining stuff.

One of the most consistently entertaining things about “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” was the clear affection the film had for the history of Toho's “Godzilla” series. “Godzilla Vs. Kong” doesn't have that level of callbacks or in-jokes. However, there were still a few moments that made me cheer. The best of which is when Kong recreates the most iconic moment from Toho's original “King Kong Vs. Godzilla” with the handle of his massive battle axe. Some of the movie's plot points directly resemble events from the Heisei “Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah” or “King Kong Lives.” Most surprising of all is an amusingly random shout-out to, of all things, “Lethal Weapon 2.” 

The biggest nugget for classic kaiju fans is, technically, a spoiler. Or it would be, if the last round of trailers and merchandise hadn't spoiled it for everybody. Yes, MechaGodzilla is in this movie. Compared to the skillful redesigns of the classic monsters seen in the previous Legendary films, I don't love this take on MechaGodzilla as much. The robotic kaiju has an overall boxy look to his appearance. This is especially noticeable when you look at his spines, which are very rectangular. His arms seem disproportionately long and awkward when compared to his organic counterpart. I also wished the Legendary MechaGodzilla shared some of the special attacks and superpowers of the Toho version. Still, I can't complain too much. There's a robotic version of Godzilla in a big budget Hollywood movie. He sails across a city with his jet-pack and clotheslines King Kong. I never thought I'd see that. 

Obviously, “Godzilla Vs. Kong” is not one of those kaiju movies with an especially vivid sociopolitical message. Yet even a “Godzilla” movie this goofy can't avoid the ideas that characterizes so many of these films. Before the end credits roll, the main villain reveals his motivation: To put mankind back atop the food chain. To reclaim control over the natural world. Of course, he learns a big lesson: That the natural forces of the world – and the giant monsters that represents her – cannot be so easily tamed. Mankind, no matter how powerful we think we are, are ultimately at the mercy of the planet we so often abuse. Godzilla, and all his cohorts, are here to put us in our place. 

Ultimately, a movie about Godzilla and King Kong fighting could not be more my kind of thing. Obviously, I am predisposed to enjoy a movie like this. Truthfully, I have loved every one of Legendary's MonsterVerse movie to varying degrees. I can't not love a movie where King Kong and Godzilla beat the shit out of each other. That finds a satisfying way to give the title bout a definitive winner without pissing off either camp too much. Yet I do wish Wingard and his team found a way to tell this highly entertaining, wonderfully ridiculous story in a way that didn't disregard the human element quite so much. Nevertheless, I do hope Legendary can give us more stories of this type, further Kong adventures if not another Godzilla feature. It just makes me really happy that these fantastic characters are back in movie theaters again. [Grade: B+]