Godzilla vs Kong (2021)

[Spider-Fan]

Pacific Rim disappointed me. I was ready to love that movie, and it is just kind of okay. I honestly don't think it is any better than the Monsterverse films.

 

[Bren]

Enjoyed GvK even though I thought it was a bit poop. Fights were fun...
The godzilla humans, wish I could completely edit that rubbish out, and the Kong humans bland as room temp water.

Still had fun though.

 

[Stringer]

It seems like Kong was very much stripped of his agency in this movie, which may have worked if it actually factored into the plot in someway. I think Godzilla was better realized as a "monster" than Kong. I still enjoyed it quite a bit, but still like Skull Island more with KOTM behind this one.

 

[TheAlteran]

The first 40 minutes were slow. The Stranger Things chick had no business being back. Hated the Human Characters again. But when you see what you wanna see its glorious. Everything else is a chore. Yet its not the worst of these movies

 

[antsman41]

It seems like Kong was very much stripped of his agency in this movie, which may have worked if it actually factored into the plot in someway. I think Godzilla was better realized as a "monster" than Kong. I still enjoyed it quite a bit, but still like Skull Island more with KOTM behind this one.

For me it comes down to fights and graphics, and this one wins out... while I still think KONG is the better film of all 4, but these eeekks out an extra half point over KONG and G’14.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Just finished it, really enjoyed it and loved how it embraced the sci-fi aspects and silliness and just went full steam ahead.

Kong and Godzilla were great, personally I liked how the main villain featured into the plot. As far as the humans go I liked team Kong but team Godzilla was just there really. I am happy for Wingard that this is doing well critically and commercially as I think he has big potential as a director. Though personally speaking I have no interest in Thundercats.

The action in this was great and the CGI was stunning. Not sure it’s my favourite of the monsterverse yet but it’s up there. And I am totally down for more sequels. Give us Kong conquering the Hollow Earth next please.

8/10.

 

[kguillou]

Just finished. Loved it. The first 30-40 mins had me a little worried. The plot was absolutely ludicrous and it was moving at such a fast pace and the characters were all spouting technobabble nonsense that i really couldnt follow what was even going on and why. But when the movie really gets going it GOES and its vastly entertaining. And the third act is just pure bonkers action. When the two REALLY fight it is a sight to see. Also I loved Junkie Xl’s score. It switched back and forth between his signature big bombastic sound to a more new wave synthi sound that I loved.

I give it a solid 8/10. The story is absolutely stupid, but it absolutely delivers on its title. I just wish I couldve seen this in IMAX with a full enthusiastic crowd but this was made for the big screen.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

There were times in the movie I couldn’t really tell what was on the screen, the production design has issues where I can’t tell what they were going for except ‘futurism’ and neon colors. The conspiracy theorist subplot with Madison sucked as everybody has said. The Kong and little girl storyline and interactions were at least pretty decent or good especially compared to everyone else who are vomiting out exposition constantly. There’s so much action from about the halfway point to the end it became a bit monotonous. Overall I put this one behind Skull Island and KOTM but just ahead of 2014’s Godzilla.

 

[Kane52630]

You're f**kin welcome.

Spoiler

 

[#root]

So like can you run an anonymous podcast for years where you’re trying to expose a corporate conspiracy while working undercover inside the very corporation that’s perpetrating that conspiracy? How do you... not get found out?

Maybe I had higher expectations after seeing all the praise but... this movie was stupid as ****. I get it, I get it, giant monsters fighting, suspension of disbelief, all that but this movie made no sense to me. And I’m not even talking about scifi pseudoscience I mean the plot, character motivations, character backstories etc. Most of the characters and their backstories were inconsequential.

Spoiler

Like why is Serizawa’s son one of the villains? How isn’t that a much bigger deal? Serizawa was one of the biggest characters in this franchise and now his son is a disposable, inconsequential villain? Literally the only connection is the name. He might was well be someone unrelated just coincidentally named Serizawa. Millie Bobby Brown seemed to be only in the movie so that she could stumble on to the MechaGodzilla reveal through a series of non-sensical happenings. Eiza González, Lance Reddick, Kyle Chandler were all wasted. Aleksander Skarsgård was also badly miscast. It seemed like his character was having a difficult time in the beginning looking all rough and bearded but then the next time we see him, he’s all cheery and clean-shaven and apparently overcame the trauma of his brother’s death offscreen. They were also trying to make him comedic but he kept playing the character totally straight and it didn’t work at all imo. The only human characters I didn’t dislike were Rebecca Hall’s and Jia.

I also didn’t love the way Godzilla and Kong were treated here. I thought both had less personality than in previous movies. The only good thing is that the action was well shot and fun but it did bother me how fast and weightless the monsters moved as compared to the previous films. Especially Godzilla and

Spoiler

MechaGodzilla. I genuinely thought that the Godzilla attacking that facility in the beginning was MechaGodzilla in disguise just because it moved so differently. I know it’s Godzilla and these movies have always been very inconsistent amongst themselves so it shouldn’t bother me that much but it did. Also, MechaGodzilla’s inclusion didn’t really make sense at all. Unless I missed something, the villains genuinely seemed to want to build him so that they have something to fight the titans with and protect the earth but they already established that Godzilla is doing that and that he’s left people alone for a few years. And building him is the only thing that’s agitating Godzilla. Seems like they’re creating a solution to a problem that had already solved itself.

I still think KOTM deserved better reception. Yes, the fights were a bit murky but the monsters were handled way better and given more heft. And no character in that movie was as annoying as Brian Tyree Henry’s in this one.

 

[-Arya-]

This was a mixed bag. The human characters once again mostly deliver exposition but at least they aren’t irritating. That’s good enough to make the non-monster fighting scenes tolerable. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the plot at all. It had too many moving parts (the hollow Earth and Mecha-Godzilla/cybernetic stuff really didn’t need to be here imo) and it seemed like things were either purposely rushed or scenes were cut out to shorten the run time. The studio execs must’ve thought that Kong and Godzilla weren’t enough so MechaGodzilla was shoehorned in and to me it didn’t work.

Thankfully the monster fights are good, so it delivered on its promise in that department. Action scenes are mercifully not edited to **** or obscured by particle effects like in King of the Monsters, so I could actually see what was going on. There just weren’t enough fight scenes to balance out the dumb plot. It’s better than King of the Monsters and about on par with Kong Skull Island. I still prefer the 2014 Godzilla movie overall despite its flaws. The story in that movie is more streamlined and feels more impactful than the silliness in Godzilla vs. Kong.

5/10 or maybe 6/10 if I’m generous

 

[Filmfan93]

The action felt very ordinary to me. Because the camera was largely from the creature’s perspective. Bringing them down to our level. At some point it was just man/lizard UFC.

it doesn’t have the weight and awe of pacific rim, which was largely shot from the vantage of mortals.I can’t help but compare the Hong Kong fight of both films and how del toro’s version is so much better.

Yep. Pacific Rim's action and HK scenes are superior to any fight in GvK. There was weight to the hits and the camera placement really emphasized on the weight of these things.

 

[Schlosser85]

The action wasn’t anything special. Two weightless CGI blobs smacking each other around and throwing each other into buildings.

There’s been no sense of weight or verisimilitude since Gareth Edwards left.

 

[kguillou]

The action wasn’t anything special. Two weightless CGI blobs smacking each other around and throwing each other into buildings.

There’s been no sense of weight or verisimilitude since Gareth Edwards left.

I mean...I get what you're saying but I feel like thats just something you have to make peace with regarding CGI. CGI isnt and i dont think ever will be at the point where it could replicate the "weight" of practical effects or animatronics like, say, the original Jurassic Park movies for example. I mean I think we all knew since the day this movie was announced that this was going to be a CGI monster smash fest with buildings falling down and all that. This was basically Man of Steel and The Avengers on steroids.

With that said, I thought Wyngard did an admiral job or making the action look good and clear and added some nice stylish touches to it like the pov cam he added to Godzilla and Kong when they were throwing punches or falling down so you can feel the power of the blows.

 

[kguillou]

Btw guys, did my eyes deceive me or was Lance Reddick in this movie for literally a blink and you miss it 3 seconds?? Did his role get completely cut?

 

[Schlosser85]

Btw guys, did my eyes deceive me or was Lance Reddick in this movie for literally a blink and you miss it 3 seconds?? Did his role get completely cut?

Even after googling him to find out what he looks like, I have no idea where he was in the movie.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Even after googling him to find out what he looks like, I have no idea where he was in the movie.

He was Agent Broyles in Fringe.

 

[Schlosser85]

That doesn't tell me anything.

 

[TheSmoothKnight]

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I mean...I get what you're saying but I feel like thats just something you have to make peace with regarding CGI. CGI isnt and i dont think ever will be at the point where it could replicate the "weight" of practical effects or animatronics like, say, the original Jurassic Park movies for example. I mean I think we all knew since the day this movie was announced that this was going to be a CGI monster smash fest with buildings falling down and all that. This was basically Man of Steel and The Avengers on steroids.

With that said, I thought Wyngard did an admiral job or making the action look good and clear and added some nice stylish touches to it like the pov cam he added to Godzilla and Kong when they were throwing punches or falling down so you can feel the power of the blows.

Yeah I don’t really get what people were expecting in a movie called Godzilla vs Kong when it comes to the fights, and after all of the criticism there was more weight to the monsters than expected for me. Kong was bound to be more nimble and swift in his movements and I thought they captured that correctly.

I really like what what Wingard did here, been a fan of his since The Guest.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

I mean it was an enjoyable movie, but I'd be lying if I thought this was better than KOTM. As far as the Kaiju fights and the visuals, it was just frikkin stunning to watch. But as far as the humans, it's like someone said on the page before they felt both rushed and undercooked. The black conspiracy theorist dude was funny at times then you wanted him to ****; the cute kid who could talk to Kong at times got laughable; then the whole MONARCH/APEX people was just whatever. But again if they established this as a balls to the wall, crazy sci-fi tokusatsu universe back in 2014 instead of going for realism, they would've been on to something.

But the one thing that REALLY irked me

Spoiler

After all this time waiting for an American version of Mechagodzilla, THAT design was the best they could come up with? What in the Mighty Morphin Doc Ock hell was that?

So disappointing. But that aside, the movie was okay. 6/10 from me.

 

[weezerspider]

I mean it was an enjoyable movie, but I'd be lying if I thought this was better than KOTM. As far as the Kaiju fights and the visuals, it was just frikkin stunning to watch. But as far as the humans, it's like someone said on the page before they felt both rushed and undercooked. The black conspiracy theorist dude was funny at times then you wanted him to ****; the cute kid who could talk to Kong at times got laughable; then the whole MONARCH/APEX people was just whatever. But again if they established this as a balls to the wall, crazy sci-fi tokusatsu universe back in 2014 instead of going for realism, they would've been on to something.

But the one thing that REALLY irked me

Spoiler

After all this time waiting for an American version of Mechagodzilla, THAT design was the best they could come up with? What in the Mighty Morphin Doc Ock hell was that?

So disappointing. But that aside, the movie was okay. 6/10 from me.

This complaint makes no sense to me. Toho went from the original Godzilla, which was a metaphor for the nuke less than a decade after it dropped which is about as heavy as it can get to King Kong Vs Godzilla which is about as campy as it can get in three movies. This lines up with how the series has always progressed.

 

[kguillou]

I thought Millie Bobby was much better in this than KOTM and i credit that to Wingard’s direction. She seemed more mature and much less whiney this time. Man was she insufferable in KOTM.

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

That doesn't tell me anything.

I think he shows up toward the beginning of the skyscraper showdown while people are evacuating into the titan bunkers.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

This complaint makes no sense to me. Toho went from the original Godzilla, which was a metaphor for the nuke less than a decade after it dropped which is about as heavy as it can get to King Kong Vs Godzilla which is about as campy as it can get in three movies. This lines up with how the series has always progressed.

So with all that in mind, and if you're at the creative helm of this MonsterVerse, why not just start out establishing that this is a campy world where monsters, aliens and humans all coexist? They could've done that from the get-go by making all these fantastical connections but no, they wanted to focus on Cranston and Elizabeth Olsen. Now when they want to go all out, it feels rushed.