Mark Reviews Movies: GODZILLA VS. KONG

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Review by Mark Dujsik | March 30, 2021

Sometimes, you just want to see a giant ape fight a giant lizard, or at least that's the case in a movie called Godzilla vs. Kong. Director Adam Wingard's film definitely gives us the spectacle of the title, in two ridiculously entertaining sequences near the beginning of the story and at the start of its extended climax. A lot of filmmakers might have expended their inspiration and imagination in staging those scenes, but Wingard, along with screenwriters Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein, also know that a story such as this needs a bit more. There is, after all, the downtime between the monster brawls with which to contend.

This series, which began with the 2014 reboot Godzilla, has had some trouble with the "downtime" between the action. The first film more or less got it right, putting Godzilla in the background of a mostly human story about trauma and loss. The spectacle of Godzilla and his foes felt real to a certain degree, because the camera so often took on the perspective of a meager witness to all the chaos. Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the immediate sequel to that story, lost that sense of wonder and terror with its less-convincing visual effects and humans who existed only to drive the plot ever forward.

As for the King Kong in this new universe of monsters, the (now really) big ape has only featured in one adventure: Kong: Skull Island. While it hinted at the ape as the sympathetic and tragic figure we've known since his introduction way back in 1933, the movie was once again foiled by its bland humans and its generic spectacle.

There's nothing generic about the spectacle in Wingard's cross-over sequel. It seems set on giving us things we've never seen, even if the basics of this story are things with which we're all too familiar. Kong and Godzilla have to fight, because that's the nature of their ancient ways—"titans" of a long-lost era, battling to become the alpha. The humans take sides, and each group tries to help its chosen monster in the fight against the other. That's it in terms of the plot, but if that had only been all there is in terms of the film, we'd have, well, another disappointing sequel/spin-off in this series.

Wingard, though, doesn't leave it at the plot. There's always something new and/or imaginative in this tale. We get the brawls, of course, which are fantastically over-the-top, but we also get a trip to a lost world, buried deep beneath the planet, and a tour of an aesthetically striking company, looking to fight the monsters at their own game, on their own level, and with the goal of returning humanity to its presumed status as the alpha species of the planet.

Pearson and Borenstein give us some humans—a few familiar faces and plenty of new ones—amidst the monster action, but they're mostly here to go along for the ride to these new worlds, to these unique places, and to witness the fighting. Godzilla returns, attacking a research facility in Florida. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård) is recruited by technology magnate Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir) to find an energy source, within the realm of the "hollow Earth," that could defeat the monster. Meanwhile, Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) and her friend Josh (Julian Dennison) track down conspiracy podcaster Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry) to uncover why the previously helpful Godzilla attacked the facility.

On Skull Island, Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) has Kong in protective custody from the potential threat of Godzilla. She—along with her adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle), who has formed a bond with the massive ape—accompany Nathan and a fleet of military ships, taking Kong to Antarctica, where the big guy could lead them into the hollow Earth.

This, inevitably, results in a battle between Kong and Godzilla, and yes, that fight takes place in the middle of the ocean—on top of, next to, across, and beneath those ships. Wingard stages this and the later fight like an imaginative kid playing with action figures. Godzilla flips one ship. Kong leaps from one ship, to another, and to a third to get the drop on his lizard foe, and like a good action hero, the big ape makes a last-second jump to evade Godzilla's radioactive breath before it rips through an aircraft carrier.

The second and final fight is even more destructive, as the two battle through Hong Kong. There's a real sense of weight to these digital creations, as their blows wind up and land or their bodies crash into skyscrapers (acting like the posts of a wrestling ring). In the bright sun or the gleaming city lights, the filmmakers don't attempt to hide or obscure the giant creatures. They did the work making these monsters convincing, so they don't have to. Unlike in his previous adventure, Kong has a clear and sympathetic personality here, and even Godzilla seems to present a wicked smirk when one of his radioactive blasts hits.

In between these brawls, there's the trek to the land of the hollow Earth, which has creatures of its own, some fun with gravity, and the now-extinct civilization of Kong's forebears to explore. The trio of Godzilla's allies, meanwhile, find themselves in the deeper, darker parts of the technology company, glowing with pastel neon lights and tubes. In a "sacrificial pit," they find another threat—one the Godzilla faithful will know and which could mean even bigger trouble than the clashing monsters.

The filmmakers know all of this is patently ridiculous, and that makes all the difference. Godzilla vs. Kong gives us exactly what we expect and want from this story, and in doing so with some clever world-building and a lot of winking, the film gives us more than we expect or want, too.

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