Godzilla vs Kong (2021)

[Drizzle]

After watching GvK again, I realized that I have to rank the Monsterverse in two separate categories.

Quality:
1. Kong: Skull Island
2. Godzilla
3. Godzilla: King of the Monsters
4. Godzilla vs. Kong

Entertainment Factor:
1. Kong: Skull Island
2. Godzilla: King of the Monsters
3. Godzilla vs. Kong
4. Godzilla

Skull Island is the only one that nailed both the humans and the monsters. Sure, the skullcrawlers could have been more exciting but they got Kong right. Godzilla '14 is a good movie, but it's not really a good Godzilla movie since he's barely in it, although the way he finishes the MUTOs is pretty badass. KOTM is a mess but I give it credit for doing a good job of bringing Ghidorah, Mothra and Rodan to life in a big budget Hollywood blockbuster. And GvK is even more of a mess, but it does have the best fight scenes in the entire Monsterverse, namely the nighttime Hong Kong fight.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

Christ, I haven’t seen an actor with so little charisma get so many chances since Armie Hammer. I thought Alexander Skarsgard would have gone the way of Sam Worthington by now.

 

[antsman41]

It is pretty hilarious to think that in the current Godzilla/Kong MonsterVerse Honolulu, Las Vegas, San Francisco, London, Moscow, D.C., Boston, and now Tokyo... no longer exist.

 

[weezerspider]

I actually think I would prefer American Godzilla films took a similar to a lot of the early 2000s Japanese films where each film was a standalone film and some of them had very different mythology. One director can make a dark, grounded take similar to the original film, while another can embrace the absurd and go all out. I don’t think it would bother audiences at all. James Bond was basically that pre-Craig.

For example, Giant Monsters All-Out Attack uses the same characters, but has a completely different mythology (Ghidorah is a good guy lol).

 

[Deck Rickard]

Christ, I haven’t seen an actor with so little charisma get so many chances since Armie Hammer. I thought Alexander Skarsgard would have gone the way of Sam Worthington by now.

Gotta disagree on that one; he was excellent in Big Little Lies and The Little Drummer Girl, and was pretty much the only thing that kept me watching True Blood up to the end. His role in this is whatever but I wouldn’t use that as a barometer for his acting ability or charisma.

 

[Deck Rickard]

It is pretty hilarious to think that in the current Godzilla/Kong MonsterVerse Honolulu, Las Vegas, San Francisco, London, Moscow, D.C., Boston, and now Tokyo... no longer exist.

LOL yeah I love how they don’t even really address that at the beginning of this movie. I can’t even imagine the fallout from that kind of destruction. Like, would the U.S. even exist anymore?

 

[Another_Fool]

It is pretty hilarious to think that in the current Godzilla/Kong MonsterVerse Honolulu, Las Vegas, San Francisco, London, Moscow, D.C., Boston, and now Tokyo... no longer exist.

Actually Tokyo is ok. It's Hong Kong that got decimated. But yeah considering the amount of cities leveled, I must really commend Legendary's restraint on letting New York off the hook this long. Probably saving it for the IW/Endgame of the Monsterverse.

LOL yeah I love how they don’t even really address that at the beginning of this movie. I can’t even imagine the fallout from that kind of destruction. Like, would the U.S. even exist anymore?

Haha well what's funny is they do address San Francisco in KOTM, but they report it like it was just a 3 car accident in an intersection and not some terrible tragedy that befell the citizens.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I think it would be funny if someone made a movie about a D-List Kaiju monster whose warped sense of logic makes him feel bad for cities like Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Kansas City because they always get left out of giant monster attacks. So he makes it his mission to go decimate all those places. Ya know, to just show them some love.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I am still hoping this leads to Godzilla vs Gamera!!!

 

[samsnee]

It is pretty hilarious to think that in the current Godzilla/Kong MonsterVerse Honolulu, Las Vegas, San Francisco, London, Moscow, D.C., Boston, and now Tokyo... no longer exist.

Why anyone would still be living in a major city makes no sense at this point.

 

[tim amesquita]

im glad this getting good review but my worry is the japan audience i dont think it going to postive reviews over there

 

[Drizzle]

Resizing Goji and the score are the only two real complaints I have.

I thought it was Kong that was sized up to match Godzilla? Godzilla looked to be about the same size as he was in KOTM.

 

[Schlosser85]

I can’t with how ridiculous the plot is in this. Not to mention the several really eye rolling deus ex machinas.

 

[The Big G]

I am still hoping this leads to Godzilla vs Gamera!!!

Toho will never let it happen.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Toho will never let it happen.

Not necessarily true. The battle was briefly discussed by the 2 companies a few times, but ultimately never did for various reasons. In this case, these are films made by Legendary. Not directly produced by Toho. So they may be more willing to allow it if Legendary wanted to get the Gamera rights. I think it happening in this franchise is more likely than a direct Japanese collaboration would be.

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm also a big Heisei fan, and I find that KOTM tends to be most enjoyed by fans of those eras, probably because it unmistakably feels influenced by those films.

I do think the one thing Wingard gets right over Dougherty though is that in the final fights, he keeps the humans mostly relegated to being cheerleaders/explainers and keeping the focus primarily on the monsters. I think if KOTM did that, probably some opinions are kinder on the film.

I agree with you about the theme too. That theme's been there since '54 so I'm not entirely sure why Wingard felt it would've confused the viewers on Godzilla's identity in GvK. At the same time it's not like every Godzilla film used that theme either so it's not like it required it.

Except in these films, Godzilla is definitely more of a hero than other iterations.

 

[flickchick85]

IMAX was definitely the way to see this! It was simultaneously the stupidest and FAR AND AWAY the best-directed film in this Monsterverse. And thanks to that, probably my favorite of the bunch. Goodness gracious, that action was everything I wanted KotM's to be. So glorious (and not muddy and always easy to follow!) on that giant screen. As far as the human characters go, just like in Skull Island, Team Kong were far more tolerable. Like, I didn't actively wish they'd go away at any point during the runtime. Definitely can't say the same for Team Godzilla, but then, nothing's new there. That said, as a viewer who's Team Godzilla all the way, I feel like Goji got the BvS Superman treatment here, which is a shame. Still, the direction and big-screen experience made it a really great time for me. I'll definitely be re-watching this one a lot more than KotM, that's for sure.

 

[Another_Fool]

I can’t with how ridiculous the plot is in this. Not to mention the several really eye rolling deus ex machinas.

Wait. What are you referring to as deus ex machinas?

 

[Web-Head]

I had a blast. Saw it in Dolby and it was honestly such a fun experience. I don't know why a lot of people seem to complain about the human characters, I thought they were all pretty good and it's a monster movie. I'm here to see monsters and they delivered.

Not crazy about either Godzilla (2014) or KOTM but thoroughly enjoyed this and Skull Island.

 

[Fosterson]

LOL yeah I love how they don’t even really address that at the beginning of this movie. I can’t even imagine the fallout from that kind of destruction. Like, would the U.S. even exist anymore?

Certainly it would have been reduced the status of a developing-world country, with so many of its major population centres utterly destroyed and infrastructure devastated. The losses to the US military would have been catastrophic as well and much of what was left would probably have to be mothballed due to not being able to pay for its maintenance.

Also: eventually folks might realise that these monsters only seem to ever attack large urban areas, and so you might get a mass, Khmer Rouge-style exodus of people moving to the countryside.

 

[flickchick85]

Hey what was the aspect ratio on imax?

Pretty sure it's the same as on HBO Max. Definitely wasn't an IMAX ratio.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I almost wonder if Legendary would prefer to stick to Kong for future movies. Some part of me would love to see a Monsterverse Destroy All Monsters. But, a lot is going to depend on Toho. Going to have to hope it does great in Japan.

I mean, they’ve all been pretty successful in Japan so I wouldn’t have too much fear on that front.

Though...I wonder if this doesn’t open the door for Toho King Kong movies. They’ve wanted to use the character for decades now and they’re in a position where they could probably negotiate something with WB/Legendary.

 

[Another_Fool]

Can I just say that I LOVED that GvK had redacting credits like G2014 and KOTM?

 

[antsman41]

Forgot to say, my favorite part (well all of my favorite parts were Kong based) was when Kong put his shoulder back into place with a skyscraper... Lethal Weapon style.

 

[GothamAlleys]

I just recently saw the original Godzilla vs King Kong, the US cut, for the first time and despite being a passive Godzilla fan and enjoying early films, this one, while having certain charm, was quite underwhelming