My Review on 'Godzilla vs. Kong': What's a King to a God?

"Who bows to who?"

Are you ready to witness the ultimate fight between the mega lizard and the giant monkey?

One of my most-anticipated 2020 movies (formerly a 2020 movie, then it becomes a 2021’s) finally makes its way out! Godzilla vs. Kong is currently playing on selected theatres and streaming service HBO Max. The blockbuster movie initially aimed for a November 2020 release but then got delayed for a March 31, 2021 release. It officially holds a fresh-from-the-oven review on Rotten Tomatoes with a 80%. Pretty neat, isn’t it?

Now that I’ve watched the movie, I have several thoughts to share. Here we go…

Directed by: Adam Wingard

Written by: Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty, Zack Shields

Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures (US), Toho (JP)

Running time: 113 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Short synopsis of Godzilla vs. Kong:

When Godzilla goes rampage all of sudden, the humans begin to find the way out by themselves, which is a very brilliant idea to release the King of the Monkeys aka Kong. The Monarch scientists start their discovery on Hollow Earth and things go awry in the process. Why does Godzilla suddenly wreak havoc? Is Kong really the answer to all of this? 

Short introduction of the characters:

DR. NATHAN LIND: A Monarch geologist who first initiated the Hollow Earth idea.

DR. ILENE ANDREWS: A Monarch anthropologist linguist who has been studying Kong for years.

JIA: An orphaned little girl who forms a great bond with Kong.

MADISON RUSSELL: The daughter of Monarch scientist Mark Russell and the late Emma Russell from the previous movie Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).

BERNIE HAYES: A technician working in Apex Cybernetics.

REN SERIZAWA: The son of the late Ishiro Serizawa. His father was a Monarch scientist and an avid fan of Godzilla.

WALTER SIMMONS: The founder and CEO of Apex Cybernetics, a tech company focusing on titans.

Let’s get going to the review itself.

Godzilla vs. Kong’s bunch of human characters are good enough. Shun Oguri’s Ren Serizawa is my favorite for being a super contrast character with Ken Watanabe’s Ishiro Serizawa. If you watch the previous Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), you will find it interesting on how these son and father are different on each other. Brian Tyree Henry’s character is my fav also. There is this lovely character named Jia, a deaf girl who is played by a deaf talented actress Kaylee Hottle. In the movie, her bond with Kong, who shows his soft side, is super adorable in so many ways. Also, if you are a huge kaiju or MonsterVerse fan, you will get excited with a special appearance of certain character.

Amazing visualization, CGI, and cinematography. That’s what this movie has been winning all those. We get to see more of Kong’s arc in this time with another ancient monsters to be introduced. Godzilla is gigantic as always with his atomic breath. It’s super stunning. Cinematography and color are superb. I like it a lot. I love the way the movie mostly is set in Hong Kong, which is very suitable for its neon and colorful lights decorating in the background. It really gives this Pacific Rim vibes back in 2013. Kaijus have this particular interest on Hong Kong, don’t they?

Wingard’s direction is good enough, seeing that he himself has this big interest on kaijus. It’s great to see each MonsterVerse directors—Gareth Edwards, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Michael Dougherty, and Adam Wingard—has their own pitch on the monsters. They do continue the arc of the monster very well and you’d love to see it. Tom Holkenborg as the movie composer slayed the main themes of Godzilla and Kong. Fun fact, he also released his 4-hours-long score on Zack Snyder’s Justice League this March. A true king right there.

While Godzilla vs. Kong does a very satisfying and enormous fight between two godly and deadly monsters, it does not serve enough on the storyline and plot. The plot is kinda weak and boring. It’s actually a strong plot I believe, but how they present it is not very suitable for that. The fast-paced story gives this feeling that the movie forces too much to finish the colossal story as soon as possible in a very hurried way, and that’s what makes me feel this kind of bitter as a MonsterVerse fan. Previous MonsterVerse films usually run in over two hours. They begin with a great storyline and end it in a proper way. However, this Godzilla vs. Kong doesn’t do so. It tries its very best to wrap the film in less than two hours. No wonder there are several plot holes. Leaving me hanging with unanswered questions on this and that. And yes, I’m kinda disappointed with the short duration that really affects the movie’s plot and story.

In conclusion, Godzilla vs. Kong is a (kinda) good monster movie, indeed. A suitable one if you seek for a blockbuster movie to watch during weekend, but is weak on its rapid storyline that kinda messed up my expectation on the movie as a super-hyped MonsterVerse fan. I imagined this solid and powerful plot of the movie after watching the main trailer, but turns out... Like that. Maybe I expected too much, haha. I’d give the movie a 6/10. 

Watch the main trailer of Godzilla vs. Kong:

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