Godzilla vs. Kong Review: A Special Effects Spectacle Between Iconic Movie Monsters

Release date: March 31, 2021
Running time: 113 minutes
Directed by: Adam Wingard
Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Lance Reddick, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir

The epic next chapter in the cinematic Monsterverse pits two of the greatest icons in motion picture history against one another - the fearsome Godzilla and the mighty Kong - with humanity caught in the balance.  In a story that is held together by the loosest of threads, Godzilla is attacking Apex Technologies and a crew of scientists try to use Kong to distract Godzilla by . . . well I won't really go into specifics because it doesn't make sense anyways.  And if you are going to see this movie, you know that it's not for the story.

Godzilla vs. Kong is a special effects extravaganza with two epic movie monsters finally battling it out on land, sea, and even below the earth's crust.  The film has some extravagant and extra destructive battles that see these two Apex Predators destroying cities, ships, and everything in between.  This is really a movie that you want to see on a big screen with a booming sound system.  The titans should be towering and their battles should shake the room.  And Godzilla vs. Kong doesn't just pull out all the stops for the effects, the cast of this film is an all star group of some very talented actors.  I loved seeing them collected on the big screen, including some favorites like Rebecca Hall, Alexander Skarsgård, Kyle Chandler, and Julian Dennison.  Seriously, this cast was a treat to see and even more fun to see in a summer blockbuster.

But as I mentioned before, the story of this film just doesn't make sense.  Like the previous Godzilla movie, Legendary Pictures tried to give the new movies in its Monsterverse a more historical perspective and apocalyptic consequence, with mixed results.  It was a nice idea to try and make these monsters ancient combatants, but in practice it just doesn't really come together.  And the story has a few disjointed plot threads that don't really relate, despite them interweaving towards the end of the film.  It mixes different sci fi concepts to varying degrees of success, and sometimes just takes these concepts and simplifies them for the film or doesn't fully explain them.  I was struggling to follow the story throughout and kept wondering why things were happening in certain ways.  And on top of that, the writing does not feel natural.  The film has an all star cast with some very accomplished actors, and then hampers them with bad science fiction concepts and unnatural dialogue.  It is distracting at times, and thankfully the film is saved by its action.  But even the action isn't fool proof, as I often felt like the CG was too overdone.  The movie at times felt like watching Ready Player One, except that it was supposed to take place in a science fiction reality and not virtual reality.  But that being said, the film has some really exciting effects, explosions, and some great lighting.  If you are looking for a gigantic grudge match between two superstar combatants, then this might be the summer movie in March for you.

Godzilla vs. Kong is a special effects spectacle, with an all-star cast and an epic showdown between iconic Hollywood monsters.

Rent it.

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Godzilla vs. Kong is available in theaters and on HBO Max on March 31, 2021.  It will leave HBO Max in late April.  For tickets to see it in theaters, click here. 

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