Warner Bros. Pictures
It’s been several years in the making — the first of the modern, American Godzilla movies was released in 2014 — and even after a pandemic-induced delay, the match-up of the titans is finally here! Has the wait been worth it?
In Godzilla vs. Kong, the giant ape is whiling away his time on Skull Island. Except it isn’t his home, it’s a meticulous recreation inside of a massive dome with video screens lining the ceiling to give the impression of the sky. But Kong has actually figured out the ruse and is not happy. But he’s bonded with Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last survivor of the native tribe on Skull Island, and the two can actually communicate through sign language, something no one else noticed. Meanwhile, Godzilla has shown up off the coast of Pensacola, Florida to randomly attack the Apex Corporation facility there, something completely out of character for the giant lizard. Fearing now that Godzilla, who took down all the titans in Godzilla, King of the Monsters, will now come for Kong, a decision is made to take him home but avoiding Godzilla will be tricky (actually impossible).
The head of Apex, Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir), then approaches discredited scientist Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård), about his theory on Hollow Earth, a place in the middle of the planet where titans may live. Things get a little fuzzy in the story here as Lind goes to Monarch to convince Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) to mount an expedition to Hollow Earth to take Kong home (the notion being that Skull Island somehow rose to the surface from Hollow Earth). It’s a treacherous journey for humans who have to endure the effects of reverse gravity (luckily Apex has created special vehicles to deal with that), and everyone agrees that getting Kong ‘home’ is in his best interest. What they don’t know is Simmons has ulterior motives for sending his people, the team from Monarch, and Kong to Hollow Earth. What Simmons doesn’t know is that podcaster Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry) has been digging into the goings on at Apex and teams up with Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) and her friend Josh (Julian Dennison) to infiltrate Apex to find out exactly what’s going on.
Yeah, there is a lot going on here, and perhaps it’s a little too much as some of the Hollow Earth stuff may make you lose track of what’s happening and why. The plot mainly serves as a way to get from one action set piece to the next, and that’s actually okay because the action and FX are quite spectacular (no matter what size screen you’re watching the movie on). Most of what you’ve seen in the trailer, the big battle of the behemoths on the ocean actually takes place within the first 30 minutes or so of the movie, so there is a lot more to come, including the total destruction of another major world city. Longtime fans of the Godzilla films will also be thrilled by the appearance of another legendary adversary — which has been spoiled but for those who avoid spoilers we won’t reveal it here.
Strangely enough, a lot of the main cast really has little to do. The standout is Brian Tyree Henry who makes the most of his screen time by giving an over-the-top performance that adds some comedy to the film, and he works well with Brown and Dennison. Young Kaylee Hottle, in her film debut, also gives a strong, heartfelt performance with no spoken dialogue, and you totally believe her connection with Kong. It really is a remarkable performance. Kyle Chandler has very little screen time after his starring role in Godzilla, King of the Monsters, and Bichir seems to be having fun channeling his inner Khan as the film’s real villain. Lance Reddick delivers one stilted line as the director of Monarch.
Warner Bros. Pictures
The real stars of the film, though, are Godzilla and Kong (and the other ‘titan’) and the team of special effects artists who brought them all to life. The realism brought to the CGI characters is amazing, and the emotion in Kong’s face really helps the audience connect with the ape. We want to see him get home, and we feel his pain during the battles with his adversaries. The scene with Godzilla, Kong and the Monarch vessels on the high seas, and the climactic battle are simply breathtaking. The film wastes no time in getting things rolling and it does not shy away from showing off its stars. I can certainly deal with a weak or silly plot when the visuals are so striking. And for that reason alone I’m giving the film a three-star rating. And while the film is playing simultaneously in theaters and HBO Max, my enjoyment of the film was not diminished by seeing it on a smaller screen.
The question is will this be the last time we see these monsters? The films have been hits, but they’ve struggled to be the blockbusters Warner Bros. hoped they would be. It’s great that they have completed this quadrilogy, and certainly the door is open for the return of Godzilla and Kong, but taking out the rest of the classic kaiju in the previous film leaves Godzilla with no known enemies to battle to retain his status as ‘King of the Monsters’. And there is no post-credits scene hinting at more goings-on at Monarch, so if this is the last film they certainly went out on top.
Godzilla has a run time of 1 hour 53 minute and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of creature violence/destruction and brief language.
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