Directed by: Adam Wingard
Starring: Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Kaylee Hottle, Demian Bichir, Kyle Chandler, Brian Tyree Henry, Eiza Gonzalez
At the end of my review of Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), I wished a Kong cameo would have been inserted somewhere in the movie. Kong takes center stage in Godzilla vs. Kong, a logical, though not necessarily welcome dovetailing of the respective Godzilla and Kong movie series. The two largest specimens on Earth indeed battle as expected, but it isn't enough to make up for the stupefying boredom we encounter when the monsters aren't fighting. I got what I asked for all right.
There are human characters, yes, but they lack any dimension. An entire subplot about Hollow Earth, an alternate world somewhere beneath the Earth's crust where the likes of Kong and Godzilla once ruled, lacks any sense of wonder. It just seems like marking time until the gargantuan monsters fight again. Godzilla vs. Kong, as you would expect, is loud CGI run amok. By the time the two giants locked horns, I was long past caring. Then, we have to wait for the inevitable rematch. In the meantime, I wonder how the property and cities they've damaged will be repaired or how many people were killed when Kong fell into a building . At least Godzilla and Kong are given more personality than the people. Since Godzilla and Kong don't occupy the screen 100% of the time, this leads to a lot of phone scrolling.
There is a plot outside of Godzilla and Kong involving zillionaire corporate head Walter Simmons (Bichir) who invents a robot monster to ostensibly protect humans from the likes of Godzilla and Kong, but we know the robot is designed for more sinister objectives. In these movies, the filthy reach corporate heads rarely have altruistic motives. We also meet a young, deaf girl (Hottle), who can communicate with Kong and understand his feelings. Madison Russell (Brown) returns from the previous Godzilla films to figure out why Godzilla attacked the lab owned by the zillionaire. The costs for the lab and the robot must run into the trillions, or another larger number which hasn't been invented yet. And don't get me started on the money which was shelled out to journey to Hollow Earth. This Walter Simmons must know he is never recouping what he spent on the lab and robot. He doesn't seem like the type of guy to care either.
The story is similar to Batman v. Superman, in which two heroes fight until a larger threat looms which both will have to unite to take on. Godzilla and Kong are two giants fighting their own turf war on a planet with eight billion people. Neither have any evil intent. They are doing what comes naturally to them. Back in the day, they would've had more room to stomp around, but now they'd be fortunate to have their own island to themselves. Jurassic Park and Jurassic World makes the same mistake Godzilla vs. Kong does: Instead of viewing these creatures with awe and wonder, humans shortsightedly aim to either weaponize them or obliterate them. Let's face it: there isn't much more that can be done with Godzilla or Kong. They've had their own individual movies and now they've fought. I'd rather watch the Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley Nike ad from 1992. It was over in thirty seconds and it was more entertaining.
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