Movie Review: 'Godzilla Vs. Kong' lands most of its punches
Apr. 1—No one goes to a "Godzilla" or "King Kong" movie to see the humans. They just want to see destruction.
This is the excuse I'm given with every recent MonsterVerse movie when I jeer them for being weighed down by skilled actors playing bland archetypes.
Even with ones I like, like the 2014 "Godzilla" and "Kong: Skull Island," it's a problem (Moreso with "Godzilla: King of the Monsters") The same stands for "Godzilla Vs. Kong." But at least the fights are fun and extra explosive.
The fourth installment of the series, where the two titans of monster cinema finally tussle, is exactly what it advertises to be: Big, dumb, loud and fun.
Once viewed as the savior of humanity, Godzilla makes a quick villain turn from the first frame. Enraged for an unknown reason, he burns, stomps and bashes his way through a factory run by Apex Industries, a shady tech company headed by the Elon Musk-like Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir).
A conspiracy theory podcaster, Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry, the one bright spot in the human cast) thinks Godzilla is on the attack because Apex is against him. Madison Russell (Millie Bobbie Brown, reprising her role from "King of the Monsters"), now a high-schooler, believes him and ropes her friend, Josh Valentine (Julian Dennison), into investigating the wreckage (which, for a multinational tech company, has surprisingly no security).
Godzilla's rampage coincides with Monarch geologists Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) and Dr. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård) transporting a sedated Kong across the globe to explore Hollow Earth — an upside-down ecosystem where both the sky and ground are populated with mountains, trees and land that's located at the Earth's core. Once a character is informed of Godzilla and Kong's centuries-old feud, we know this trip will end with the foes knuckling up.
There are ways to make us care for both the titans and the humans. Bong Joon-ho's "The Host" and 2016's Japanese film "Shin Godzilla" proved that. I wish this universe would figure it out because no matter how much emotion and humanity Hall and Shun Ogri, unfortunately playing the trope-y, magical deaf girl Ren Serizawa, bring to their subplot with Kong, the Apex angle with Brown and Henry grinds the movie to a halt.
Getting to the reason why we're here — the fights. They're fun, thrilling and if you see this in a theater, they likely will blow your eardrums out with how loud they are. Director Adam Wingard ("You're Next," "Blair Witch") moves away from "King of the Monsters'" dark, rainy vistas to a variety of massive spaces, like neon-soaked cities and underwater brawls. While the punches and chokes land hard, Wingard often relies on close-up shots of the two monsters either punching or screaming down the barrel of the camera, to the point where it's disorienting. Even World Wrestling Entertainment knows to utilize wide shots to establish size advantage, the location of where the two fighters are bashing each other and highlight the choreography of the fight.
Much like I'm told that I'm asking too much of a monster movie to have a decent human element to it, it's probably too much of a demand to ask for more coherent fights. What's featured here is good enough to please fans looking for a big, dumb blockbuster after a year of being deprived of them. I can't blame them for that.
"Godzilla Vs. Kong" is playing now in theaters like the Fox Theater in Atchison, Kansas, and the Screenland Armour in Kansas City, Missouri. It also is available to stream on HBO Max.
Andrew Gaug can be reached at andrew.gaug@newspressnow.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @NPNOWGaug
