Review: Godzilla vs. Kong

Several years after the events of the previous “Godzilla II: King of the Monsters”, Kong is being monitored by Monarch, who keep him happy in an artificial rendering of Skull Island. Kaylee Hottle plays the deaf adopted daughter of Monarch employee Rebecca Hall, and the young girl seems to have a special connection with Kong through sign language. Meanwhile, Godzilla attacks a cybernetics plant where part-time conspiracy theorist Brian Tyree Henry works. Millie Bobby Brown is back as Madison Russell, who along with her Kiwi friend (Julian Dennison) avidly follow Henry’s monster-obsessed podcast and are concerned by his latest rants about Godzilla suddenly turning heel. Then there’s Apex Cybernetics CEO Demian Bichir, who brings in former Monarch scientist and Hollow Earth theorist Alexander Skarsgård to lead a team to travel to the entrance of the Hollow Earth. In order to get there, Skarsgård persuades Hall to let Kong guide them to the entrance, hoping that he will have ancestral memory of it. Standing in their way? A big, destructive lizard with an itching to prove themselves the alpha male kaiju.

 

I’m a fan of kaiju films (monster films), but was a bit underwhelmed by 2014’s “Godzilla”, and the follow-up “Godzilla II: King of the Monsters” was even worse. So it was a pleasant surprise that with the third film in the current non-Japanese “Godzilla” series of kaiju films, they’ve finally gotten it right. Directed by Adam Wingard (whose previous best film was “You’re Next”) and scripted by Max Borenstein (“Kong: Skull Island”) & Eric Pearson (the awful “Thor: Ragnarok”), this film is a really good “Godzilla” film, if not quite a Top 10 “Godzilla” film.

 

The first thing that impressed me here was Kong itself, easily the best-looking Kong from a special effects standpoint to date, even improving over the previous “Kong: Skull Island”, a solid film in its own right. It’s a really extraordinary FX job, Kong really is awesome. The opener is really terrific with Godzilla’s entrance the best thing in any of the three “Godzilla” films in this series thus far, and an outstanding Tom Holkenborg (“Terminator: Dark Fate”) music score in the very best Akira Ifukube tradition. I still don’t think this current series gets Godzilla’s head quite right, but at least Wingard makes sure to photograph it right so you know it’s actually Godzilla. I can’t say that about the 2014 film, that’s for damn sure. Wingard doesn’t perfectly convey the weight of the two titanic monsters, but he gets damn close.

 

King Kong, as was the case in “Kong: Skull Island” is a really compelling character here, and the CGI King Kong is a much more convincing actor than the woefully robotic Eiza Gonzalez as Demian Bichir’s daughter. Gonzalez is Ruby Rose levels of stiff and inexpressive. I also liked how the film emphasises Godzilla’s aquatic abilities, which I think (“Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster” aside) is a fairly untapped resource, and really well-done here. Godzilla’s first tussle with Kong under and above the water is outstandingly done, with Wingard thankfully giving us plenty of day/afternoon stuff so that even underwater you can see it all. Meanwhile, the simple sight of Kong sitting majestically on his throne is the most awesome thing of all. More than any of the two previous “Godzilla” films in this series, this one is closest to capturing the magic and entertainment of the long-running Japanese “Godzilla” franchise from Toho Studios. A real Saturday matinee adventure, like a blend of “Kong: Skull Island” and something like “Destroy All Monsters!” or “Godzilla vs. Monster Zero” (two of my favourite Toho kaiju films).

 

Moving away from the monsters, there’s enjoyable work by Alexander Skarsgaard, Rebecca Hall, Demian Bichir (who introduces an old friend from the long-running franchise that had me grinning from ear to ear), Kiwi actor Julian Dennison, and young Kaylie Hottle who may be the best performer in the film next to King Kong. On the downside, we’re given round 3 with the father-daughter dynamics of Kyle Chandler and Millie Bobby Brown. While Brown has improved as an actress, this franchise is still way more interested in her than I am, and I think the previous films exhausted all they could from that pairing. I also found Brian Tyree Henry a dud for a change. His awkward comic relief was simply awkward and unnecessary time wasting for me (young Dennison is amusing enough that Henry just seems overkill). So the film definitely suffers from an overpopulation of human characters, though that’s not exactly new in this franchise that has been running since the 50s. In fact, I think it’s less of an issue than in some of the others. For my money, I would’ve removed Gonzalez and at least some of the characters not on the ship, and I think you’d have an even stronger film here. There’s just no reason for Brown, Chandler, or Henry to be here. None. I also wasn’t overly interested in the generic new monsters we get from time to time. With so many already known ones to choose from, why not give us an appearance by Gigan? Hedorah? Can we get Jet Jaguar in here in another one of these things, please? On the plus side, I was overjoyed to see at least one familiar kaiju face from “Godzilla” movies of old (I won’t spoil it).

 

Big, silly, well-shot fun for fans of this kind of thing like me. It’s the kind of Saturday matinee adventure I wanted the previous two films to be. Overpopulated with superfluous human characters (and a few superfluous generic monsters), but even the best kaiju films have their flaws. For the most part this was really entertaining for what it is, designed to be enjoyed by fans of what it is.

 

Rating: B-