'05 Kong? The same Kong that died to gunfire that MonsterVerse Kong tanked as a teenager?
Oh now we're just being silly.
It is still rightfully the best modern Kong film. In that it actually has a story rather than mostly just two giants punching each other and critics agree.
On second viewing I realized why this film doesn’t really work ergo poor critic rating -
It has far too long of a build up and very little pay off.
Most of the film is kept a mystery to a fault.
The humans are concerned about Godzilla gaining radiation, but what do they think he’ll do with it?
Kong faces evil apes and is curious, but what is his intention about meeting others that is pulling him towards doing so? Why is it important to him? The prior film established that he’s lonely, but there is not even a sense of that here.
There is a big bad out there - Scar King - but his goal isn’t revealed until close to the end.
Dr. Andrews is worried about her daughter’s dreams, but what is the cause for worry? As per stakes.
While all of this eventually gets revealed - it also results in two-thirds of the film having a very flimsy goal, conflict, and stakes.
The fights are almost tacked on. More of the mystery is revealed and then Godzilla fights something. It’s like they’re wary if there aren’t fights throughout audiences will be bored. I can easily see why some reviews have said Godzilla seems like an after-thought.
For all the build up, it cumulates in a relatively short finale action sequence. But it doesn’t reach the heights that it should and could because there are an excess number of close ups making it hard to gauge where everyone is in relation to each other.
For those who say the last film was the same, it wasn’t -
The threat is laid out from the very beginning (albeit a misdirect) - Godzilla is turning against humans ergo they need Kong’s help to stop him from wrecking havoc. Goal, conflict, stakes. Every part of that film is driving towards it which gives it a solid pace.
The action scenes actually meant something. It was Godzilla vs Kong because they were led to seeing each other as an immediate danger and threat. The fights built on top of each other rather than being random monsters thrown into the mix for action as it mainly is here.
Basically the sequel just isn’t structurally sound which is why it drags.
I just hope with this film being a success that there can actually be a solid story next time. They did it before, hopefully can again.