Godzilla vs. Kong is the third sequel to Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters and second sequel to Kong: Skull Island, which is the best movie in the MonsterVerse. The American Godzilla franchise has steadily improved over time, but alphabetical order be damned, Kong’s agent failed him because he should get top billing as the star and main thespian in the film. Kong has literally been acting since the early days of film in 1933 whereas Godzilla is a relative newcomer when he made his onscreen debut in 1954. Godzilla really plays a supporting role, but because of his international stardom, it makes cynical sense to have his name appear first. Godzilla is the work horse of the two since he appears in roughly thirty-seven films whereas Kong’s resume is comparatively short with eleven films and several television series, which does not include a Netflix anime series deal in the works. Quality versus quantity? I could not say without watching all of them.
Godzilla vs. Kong begins where it left off with a lonely and frustrated Kong stuck on Skull Island relating to Jim Carrey in The Truman Show. Meanwhile humanity is freaking out because Godzilla seems to be terrorizing people for no reason, but is there a connection to Apex Cybernetics? No, when has a corporation ever been evil in movies or real life? Never! We love our corporate overlords and believe that they only have our collective well-being as their utmost concern…obviously! The actual story reminded me heavily of Pacific Rim: Uprising, which I did not like as much as the original, but considering that Godzilla inspired Guillermo del Toro’s kaiju, let’s consider it common property, homage, not theft, and keep it pushing. Also I felt a Jules Verne vibe throughout the story. When Apex’s CEO convinces scientists to look for the birth place of our titular titans, they figure there is no ulterior motive while Kong is literally waving his arms in the back and screaming, “You idiots! It is a trap.” Silly, dumb, enormous ape. Hurrah Citizens United! Corporations are our friends.
Unlike Kong: Skull Island, the human cast is rarely, if ever, as interesting or more so than their gigantic other species counterparts in Godzilla vs. Kong. I don’t know how she identifies, but it was the first time that black and/or biracial thespian Rebecca Hall was underwhelming as the worst mother figure/scientist ever. Alexander Skarsgard is still gorgeous, but forgettable. Demian Bichir is charmingly suave as the mad scientist CEO, and he had some nice moments with the underutilized, briefly charismatic Shun Oguri. It was nice to see Eliza Gonzalez act in her body as opposed to as a CGI character in Alita: Battle Angel, but her character was an odd mix of talk tough, but actually shitting her pants, and her dad seemed to have no idea that she was not actually about that life. I would have enjoyed more about that family dynamic, but alas Bichir and Gonzalez never had a scene together. What a missed opportunity! An uncharacteristically over the top Brian Tyree Henry and understated Julian Dennison inject some humor, which I actually laughed out loud at, but I came for monsters fighting, not laughs, so if all the human characters were left out of the story, I would have signed off on that choice. Millie Bobby Brown was far less annoying than she was in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, but when I left that movie, she was the last person that I wanted to revisit if there was a sequel so……It is not Brown’s fault that writers made her character irritating, but she does not do anything to fight that gravity. Kaylee Hottle makes her onscreen debut as the only person that you need in the movie to move the plot along. Seriously, I normally do not like kid actors, but without her, no one would get their crap together, human or titan.
Godzilla vs. Kong may be the feel good movie of the year. I went on a real emotional journey with Kong as he faces his greatest fears, overcomes overwhelming obstacles and does what none of his ancestors has ever done before. Of all the titans, he is as problematic as people in the way that he enters new arenas like a bull in a China shop with no thought of respecting others and only considering dominance, but he is capable of character development as he learns that being dominant is not everything or always possible and decides to abandon his old value system to make a better future for humanity and titans. There are a few unexpected, but with the benefit of hindsight absolutely predictable plot developments. Mild spoiler: Kong may be an intellectual and scientist himself! I felt as if people really held Kong back for most of the movie and actually got him in more trouble than if he was just living his life, but I ultimately don’t think that he minded, and it all worked out.
Godzilla really does not get the spotlight until the denouement of Godzilla vs. Kong, and if viewers were really paying attention to all his previous appearances, his plot is entirely within his character’s profile. Kong may be smarter and have more depth as a character, but when it comes to fighting, King Kong ain’t got nothing on him. Godzilla sported some sleek moves showing what those spikes can do! Also Godzilla is sort of a smart ass as he smirked when getting the upper hand. I would like a titan linguist because whenever Godzilla and Kong roared at each other, I wondered if they were speaking the same language. Behind the scenes, they are fluent in a variety of human dialects. Kong revealed that to prepare for the role and get in shape for his return to the silver screen, he took some boxing and surfing lessons while maintaining a strict diet of fish and in fact, does not devour the skulls of his enemies though it is his go to move whom many may be unaware of his early career in wrestling. He did take some weapon classes, but I don’t want to spoil which weapon until you see the movie. He is always honing his skills. When he is not acting, he works with other up and coming simians as an acting coach and did a lot of work with the cast from the recent Planet of the Apes franchise! The old man still has life in him yet!
Godzilla is a little more reticent about off screen life because of the ridicule that he faced with body shaming for having a little more junk in the trunk than in his earlier onscreen appearances. Godzilla is considering being more vocal about his struggles with unrealistic monster body images, but has not decided if he is an adherent to body positivity or body neutrality because these terms did not even exist when he just started so he is taking time to get acclimated to the new cultural environment. For him, the denouement really was a visual representation of the battle that he faced against expectations with who he is versus what people expect. Just never change that roar!
