Godzilla vs. Kong (B or 3/4 stars)
'Godzilla vs. Kong' (directed by Adam Wingard) - the follow-up to 2014's Godzilla, 2017's Kong: Skull Island & 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters - is a sci-fi/fantasy blockbuster that has our two biggest & oldest titans battling it out as humans try to develop a weapon to kill them. This 4th installment in Legendary's MonsterVerse finds Kong being held in a huge containment facility on Skull Island; he is there for his protection from Godzilla, whose whereabouts are unknown. In said facility, Kong is overseen/researched by kindly "Kong Whisperer" Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), and befriended her 8 yr. old deaf ward, Jia (Kaylee Hottle). Meanwhile, Godzilla, unprovoked, attacks a Pensacola, Florida facility owned by Apex Cybernetics.
Having last seen Godzilla in action {in the 2019 film}, Madison Russell (Millie Bobbie Brown) is sure that he would not attack Apex without reason, although her beleaguered father, Dr. Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler, barely in this movie), a specialist at the top-secret research organization Monarch, is not so sure. A follower of Apex engineer Bernie Hayes' (Brian Tyree Henry) conspiracy theory podcast, Madison convinces her buddy Josh (Julian Dennison) to help find Bernie & prove that humanity's defender, Godzilla, is not evil, and that Apex, led by CEO Walter Simmons (Demian Bechir), is looking to kill him. Simmons enlists Monarch geologist Dr. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgard) to help him find a power source in 'Hollow Earth' - the center of Earth - where it is believed Godzilla & Kong originated.
Along with Simmons, nefarious Chief Technology Officer Ren Serizawa (Shun Oguri) has created a weapon to harness Hollow Earth's power source so they can defeat Godzilla once & for all. This villainous duo + unknowing Dr. Kind convinces Dr. Ilene Andrews to transport Kong to Antarctica to enter a portal to Hollow Earth & then lead them to that power source. All the while, Godzilla's internal radar sends him charging across the sea to Hong Kong, where Apex has created a humongous robot version of Godzilla, Mechagodzilla. This robot is designed to kill Titans, so, Godzilla just miiight take issue with that. The plot ultimately calls for Kong & Godzilla to face-off in an epic battle set against Hong Kong's rain-slickened, neon-lit skyline. But will they realize that they should - instead of pummeling each other - partner-up in a war against Mechagodzilla & the bad humans down below?
Okay, people. This movie won't win any awards for intellectual storytelling. But it has been a very long year without a true 'check your brains at the door' actioner and, I, for one, am ecstatic to see something unabashedly, cinematically BIG again. Basically, it delivers the big budget junk food that I needed. Sure, there's not much else to this movie other than scintillating visual effects & monster battles, but it doesn't embarrass itself like the 2019 offering with a needlessly exorbitant running time or thoroughly annoying characters/arcs. Here, the one-dimensional characters are easier to swallow, if not downright amiable to follow. And the filmmakers keep things moving with more propulsive plot lines and a kick-ass soundtrack by Tom Holkenborg.
Plot coherence & character development is expectedly not the film's strong suit. But as I said above, while the human elements aren't very strong, at least we like them. And it's the 1st entry in this franchise to understand that less time with humans ... the better. I enjoyed adorable Kaylee Hottle's bond with Kong via sign language. She's the only human that Kong trusts. And their connection gives the film a much-needed sense of humanity & human grounding; it tugs the heartstrings. Most irksome to me was Bryan Tyree Henry's clownish conspiracy theory podcaster. Ya know, you don't watch 'GvK' for intellectual or emotional investment. You watch for the voluptuous, monstrous grandiosity up on the screen & a smack down spectacle of seismic proportions. This wacky Journey to the Center of the Earth is a trip worth taking - especially in the wake of the dire prior Godzilla film.
Having last seen Godzilla in action {in the 2019 film}, Madison Russell (Millie Bobbie Brown) is sure that he would not attack Apex without reason, although her beleaguered father, Dr. Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler, barely in this movie), a specialist at the top-secret research organization Monarch, is not so sure. A follower of Apex engineer Bernie Hayes' (Brian Tyree Henry) conspiracy theory podcast, Madison convinces her buddy Josh (Julian Dennison) to help find Bernie & prove that humanity's defender, Godzilla, is not evil, and that Apex, led by CEO Walter Simmons (Demian Bechir), is looking to kill him. Simmons enlists Monarch geologist Dr. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgard) to help him find a power source in 'Hollow Earth' - the center of Earth - where it is believed Godzilla & Kong originated.
Along with Simmons, nefarious Chief Technology Officer Ren Serizawa (Shun Oguri) has created a weapon to harness Hollow Earth's power source so they can defeat Godzilla once & for all. This villainous duo + unknowing Dr. Kind convinces Dr. Ilene Andrews to transport Kong to Antarctica to enter a portal to Hollow Earth & then lead them to that power source. All the while, Godzilla's internal radar sends him charging across the sea to Hong Kong, where Apex has created a humongous robot version of Godzilla, Mechagodzilla. This robot is designed to kill Titans, so, Godzilla just miiight take issue with that. The plot ultimately calls for Kong & Godzilla to face-off in an epic battle set against Hong Kong's rain-slickened, neon-lit skyline. But will they realize that they should - instead of pummeling each other - partner-up in a war against Mechagodzilla & the bad humans down below?
Okay, people. This movie won't win any awards for intellectual storytelling. But it has been a very long year without a true 'check your brains at the door' actioner and, I, for one, am ecstatic to see something unabashedly, cinematically BIG again. Basically, it delivers the big budget junk food that I needed. Sure, there's not much else to this movie other than scintillating visual effects & monster battles, but it doesn't embarrass itself like the 2019 offering with a needlessly exorbitant running time or thoroughly annoying characters/arcs. Here, the one-dimensional characters are easier to swallow, if not downright amiable to follow. And the filmmakers keep things moving with more propulsive plot lines and a kick-ass soundtrack by Tom Holkenborg.
Plot coherence & character development is expectedly not the film's strong suit. But as I said above, while the human elements aren't very strong, at least we like them. And it's the 1st entry in this franchise to understand that less time with humans ... the better. I enjoyed adorable Kaylee Hottle's bond with Kong via sign language. She's the only human that Kong trusts. And their connection gives the film a much-needed sense of humanity & human grounding; it tugs the heartstrings. Most irksome to me was Bryan Tyree Henry's clownish conspiracy theory podcaster. Ya know, you don't watch 'GvK' for intellectual or emotional investment. You watch for the voluptuous, monstrous grandiosity up on the screen & a smack down spectacle of seismic proportions. This wacky Journey to the Center of the Earth is a trip worth taking - especially in the wake of the dire prior Godzilla film.