Godzilla vs. Kong is a 2021 American monster film directed by Adam Wingard, which continues the events from Godzilla: King of Monsters and Kong: Skull Island. The film stars Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall and Kyle Chandler, who form the “mostly irrelevant human cast”.
Five years after Godzilla defeated King Ghidorah, during the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Kong is monitored by Monarch within a giant dome on Skull Island. Kong is visited by Jia, the last Iwi native (check out my review of Kong: Skull Island to learn more) and Kong expert Ilene Andrews’ adopted daughter, who is deaf and communicates with Kong via sign language. Meanwhile, Bernie Hayes, an employee of Apex Cybernetics and host of a Titan conspiracy theory podcast, extracts data suggesting sinister activities at a Pensacola facility. However, Godzilla suddenly attacks the facility; during the rampage, Bernie stumbles on a massive device. Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown continuing her dull and predictable performance from the previous movie), a fan of Bernie’s podcast, enlists her friend Josh to investigate Godzilla’s attacks.
Apex CEO Walter Simmons recruits Nathan Lind, former Monarch scientist and Hollow Earth theorist, to guide a search for a power source into the Hollow Earth, the homeworld of the Titans (here’s where the dose of science fiction which allowed us to enjoy monsters, becomes overwhelming). Nathan is initially hesitant as his brother died in an expedition to the Hollow Earth due to a strong reverse-gravitational effect. He agrees after Walter reveals that Apex has developed HEAVs, specialized crafts able to withstand the pressure exerted by the gravity field. Nathan meets with Ilene and convinces her to let Kong guide them through the Hollow Earth via an outpost in Antarctica. Nathan, Ilene, and an Apex team led by Walter’s daughter Maia (another irrelevant casting who adds nothing to the movie) board a modified barge escorted by the U.S. Navy that carries a sedated and restrained Kong. Godzilla attacks the convoy and defeats Kong, but retreats after the ships disable their power and trick him into thinking they are destroyed. To avoid alerting Godzilla, Kong is airlifted to the Hollow Earth entrance, and Jia convinces him to enter the tunnel while the team follows him in the HEAVs.
Madison and Josh find Bernie, who joins their investigation. They sneak into the wrecked Apex base, discover a secret facility underground, and are inadvertently locked into an underground monorail transport to Apex headquarters in Hong Kong, where they unwittingly stumble on a test of Mechagodzilla (thus, continuing the trend in the monster verse to add several monsters and scenarios within a single movie). It is telepathically controlled by Ren Serizawa, the son of the late Ishirō Serizawa, through the neural networks from the skull of a severed Ghidorah head, but is hobbled by its power supply’s limitations. Walter intends to harness the Hollow Earth’s energy to overcome Mechagodzilla’s limitations.
Inside the Hollow Earth, Kong and the team find an ecosystem similar to Skull Island. They discover his species’ ancestral throne room, where they find remains of an ancient war with Godzilla’s kind and a glowing axe made from another Godzilla’s dorsal plates. As they identify the power source, the Apex team sends its signature back to their Hong Kong base despite Ilene’s protests. Attracted by Mechagodzilla’s activation, Godzilla arrives in Hong Kong, and sensing Kong, he directly drills a shaft to the throne room with his atomic breath. In the ensuing mayhem, Maia and the Apex team attempt to escape but their HEAV is crushed by Kong. Kong, Ilene, Jia, and Nathan ascend to Hong Kong, where Godzilla and Kong battle. Godzilla is initially overpowered by Kong, but Godzilla emerges victorious. Kong loses consciousness after being defeated by Godzilla, which makes sense as a nuclear powered lizard would almost always beat a giant ape, right guys?
Madison, Josh, and Bernie are caught by security and taken to Walter. Here Millie Bobby Brown or our dear little Madison, tries her best attempt at being extremely mature for her age and we see the grown man and the fat kid from Deadpool, get scared while Madison remains calm and composed, thus allowing for the customary Hollywood trend of over-correction within gender-norms in movies to continue. I Millie Bobby Brown doesn’t watch out, she will become the next Ruby Rose of making overtly feminized movies which no one every watches. Despite Ren’s concerns over the power source’s volatility, Walter orders him to activate Mechagodzilla. Now possessed by Ghidorah’s consciousness, Mechagodzilla kills Walter, electrocutes Ren and then attacks Hong Kong. Godzilla and Mechagodzilla battle, but Godzilla is overwhelmed. Nathan revives Kong by destroying the HEAV, and Jia convinces him to help Godzilla. As Mechagodzilla overpowers both Titans, Josh short-circuits Mechagodzilla’s controls with Bernie’s flask of liquor (yup, that’s all humans are good for in the movie – for fucking up big time and spilling a drink), momentarily interrupting the mech. Godzilla supercharges Kong’s axe with his atomic breath, allowing Kong to destroy Mechagodzilla. Madison, Bernie, and Josh reunite with Mark Russell, while Godzilla and Kong acknowledge each other before the two go their separate ways. Sometime later, Monarch has established an observation post in the Hollow Earth, where Kong now rules.
Overall Godzilla Vs. Kong is a lot of fun if you ignore the humans, which is easy as they don’t do much and only make the movie worse. If you’re the type of person who cannot watch a movie without meaningful dialogues and composed acting, please avoid this movie. If you can keep your brain aside as you dig into a big tub of popcorn and enjoy seeing things blow up, this is an epic treat which you must enjoy. The most scintillating dialogue within the movie is between the two lead characters:
Godzilla: *screams in a high pitched shrill roar*
Kong: *screams in a loud aggressive heavy roar*
The makers of Monster verse have stumbled onto a money-making formula and just like the Marvel and the Fast & Furious franchise, intend to squeeze every last drop of money from the audiences by giving us wave after wave of monster flicks which do not expand creativity but work wonders for CGI driven action movies.
JAY’S VERDICT
Godzilla Vs. Kong is a definite improvement upon the previous Godzilla: King of the Monsters but the excessively dull human characters and poor dialogue, leave a lot to be desired.
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