Godzilla Vs Kong movie review

Godzilla vs Kong movie review by Keith Metcalfe

This film feels incredibly choppy. Like they said we're only going to make enough CGI to make a fantastic trailer, and the rest we'll pad with reaction shots and generic story telling. So many moments seem missing, and make the film feel like someone is jump cutting ahead through non-fighting scenes.  Leads talk about having a plan, and suddenly Kong is somehow on a ship in giant chains. A guy defibrulates Kong sitting on his chest, leaves a ship, and is then suddenly walking through a city with Kong recovering in the background.  Did I imagine it, or was there a scene with a magic glowing Axe lying near a throne built for Kong? What was that even about? Does anyone involved in the film know?

This is a good example of a film that is more produced than directed, that is created and written by committee more concerned with checking off boxes rather than being art, which is why we get a film that throws in a huge multi-national cast of varying ages with little to do but react to large monsters fighting.

I'm pretty sure there was supposed to be a lot of backstory about the giant international company that had the funds to capture Kong, and was in possession of creatures from skull island, but they are just kind of there being your standard evil large conglomerate. As are the scientists studying Kong, Godzilla, and the remains of Ghidorah, the 3 headed 'alien' monster from Godzilla. I'm not even sure if the film makers were trying to 'world build', like the marvel universe has been doing, but likely just plugged in tried-and-true standard plot elements as excuses to set up monster fights. Like the teens sneaking into a base with a podcaster trying to expose the evil corporation.  And an experiment designed to create a giant monster going out of control.

Were these kids ever really in danger? It didn't feel like it. Just as sure I was that the 'bad guys' were going to be killed by Kong or Godzilla, and of course any random 'red shirt' we see piloting a craft alongside our leads. But I also knew the good guys weren't going to die. Including the giant monsters in the film.

There also weren't a lot of stakes involved with the monsters. I noticed that Kong gets hurt, and we see scars on his body from old and new encounters. Godzilla seems invulnerable, even at the end when he is being thrown around by mecha-godzilla.

I had to look up if some of these characters were even in the previous films. Most weren't!

I truly couldn't remember which actors were in previous films, but this film treats all of them like we are supposed to remember them and what they've done.  I could seriously quiz you on which ones we saw in Godzilla (2019) or Kong Skull Island, and you would be wrong, very wrong, when trying to figure out which actors we saw, which characters we saw, and which ones were recast with different actors.

And now I'm reading that it takes place 5 years after the 2019 Godzilla, but 51 years after Kong Skull Island. So does a writer or producer have notes as to who all these various new characters are, and their backstories, but they simply couldn't be bothered to tell us what their stories are? Or maybe they didn't know how to tell us without exposition.

So did I like the film?  Or even just the action?  Sure.  About a trailer's length worth.

I will say that I did admire the clever story trick of having us root for one side over the other, and then make the bad guy (who had won), suddenly need help, forcing the combatants to team up and fight the new big bad guy.

Would more hollywood have made this a better film?  I'm glad we didn't get a needless romance, but would have liked at least one compelling villain. Or even the slightest chance that a lead, human or monster, could actually have been killed.

I am glad I saw it in a theater (I was the only person in attendance, but it was playing at 4 different times, yet it was also on discount ticket day)

3 out of 5 stars (almost 2.5)

https://youtu.be/MyJ-pV26XPw