Shadow Reviews #23: Godzilla Vs. Kong (2021)

Instructions

My Review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Godzilla vs. Kong is an epic film of TITANic proportions (I’m so funny, I know, hire me as a comedian). It’s a thrilling ride that I was blessed to experience within a rented cabana at Great Wolf Lodge (thank the Lord for indoor water park TVs having cable). In fact, right before watching this movie, they were playing King of The Monsters as part of some double feature. I just saw the climax, why did Godzilla chomp Ghidorah up so violently, I had no idea what I was watching. But Godzilla vs. Kong follows so seamlessly from the previous film that I literally thought Kong’s appearance was a post credits scene or something, hinting at the next story. It wasn’t until like 5 minutes in that I recognized the common aspects of exposition and realized it was another movie. Anyway, before I go review the film, I will have to note I missed like 20-30 minutes of the runtime, but it’s a long runtime and I spent a good chunk of that afternoon at Great Wolf (yes, I was tired of the water park at that point) watching the movie and taking critical mental notes. First and foremost: the monsters. Any great monster film has great action, some epic fights between the monsters (or Titans, as they’re officially called, I’m not the Godzilla nerd). However, any great film knows how to prioritize substance over presentation. And that’s why I’m pleased to report that the fights were not overused; in fact, they had real plot relevance - a rarity in monster films! Such a trait really empowers the fights and makes them more special. The monsters (well, its really mostly Godzilla and Kong, emphasis on the Kong, and there’s (SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS LOOK AWAY) Mecha-Godzilla too.) are incredibly designed, glowing with detail and realism. It placed me right into the action and I’d love to have seen this film in theaters. Best of all, the film doesn’t obsess too much over the monsters; rather, it features the human characters with an incredible emotional depth. That said, King Kong certainly became a real character in his own right – I found the connection between him and the girl to be notable and awing to watch. Kong shows real emotion and feelings for the characters impacted by his actions – he’s not some senseless beast, but he still has animal tendencies. And I feel like that accurately reflects the psychology of several mammal companions. Now, for a movie including his name, Godzilla is not as featured as King Kong till the climax of the movie, barring that sea battle scene. And whatever scenes that did feature Godzilla, he was much less relatable than Kong; this was likely intentional, even though one of the plotlines of the film focused on redeeming Godzilla’s reputation. In other words, I feel the movie has a strong bias in favor of King Kong, which isn’t terrible; however, given the ultimate resolution of the film, I believe that the film should have featured both in an equally positive light (perhaps The New Empire does that, but I’ll have to check it out). But I digress. Animals don’t really portray a positive or negative light in the long run; ultimately, they are a force of nature we cannot fully control or define. And that’s one of the main messages of the film anyway. The human characters weren’t boring to watch, as the cast in some monster movies end up being. They reacted appropriately and with a realistic sense of fear yet wonder of the Titans. If the movie’s scenario were to happen in real life, I could see the world responding in a similar way as portrayed in the film. Although her casting evidently came from King of the Monsters, Millie Bobby Brown as Madison was a perfect fit that both pleased Stranger Things fans and built off an emotionally resonant character. Instead of being a character in distress (as I saw in the previous film), she is an active character who makes choices that ultimately save the world. She shows signs of teenage rebellion and pretty much runs away from home with a goofy guy, Josh. And by meeting Bernie (who is an… entertaining character, to say the least; it was a relatively accurate portrayal of a conspiracy theorist, and sometimes those theories are true… but I digress), she achieves her character motivation of vindicating Godzilla in the public light – as well as saving the world, as most action movies entail. I feel like there should have been an interaction between Madison’s team and the team watching over King Kong (as previously mentioned, I missed 30 minutes before the third act, I believe, so if this is inaccurate, I apologize). Well, I don’t have a lot to say about the plot that I haven’t already said, so I think that concludes my review. I definitely recommend a watch - if that makes sense. What I watched it on: Cable TV Other critics: Rotten Tomatoes: 76% Metacritic: 59, "mixed or average"