The first thing that grabbed my attention was Adam Wingard’s name as the director popping up in the opening credits. I thought, huh, now that’s an interesting choice. He’s never done anything that comes close to being this large in scope.
Last film he did was the terrible Netflix film adaptation of Death Note. If you aren’t familiar with his name or work, he mostly specializes in horror, making a name for himself with You’re Next, and The Guest.
He also did a reboot/sequel to Blair Witch, but we don’t speak about that.
Speaking of the large scope of a film, alongside Godzilla vs Kong showing in theaters, it’s also streaming on HBOMax. The place to go apparently for all the big studio releases.
Really looking forward to Dune in a few months when that gets released, not to mention a ton of other titles.
I still can’t get over seeing these big budget movies in the privacy of my home. No leaving to go to theaters, getting annoyed at everything I usually get annoyed at like people and their kids or the smelly food they’re eating…
Now the only disturbance is my cat being annoying.
The thing about Netflix and their big budget releases, they never feel theater made. None of them feel like they should or could be shown in theaters. Even the ones with known director’s attached like Michael Bay.
I guess that’s the point. They never were made for theaters. The movie HBOMax are showing, were meant for theater runs.
I believe I’ve reviewed almost all the Godzilla/Kong movies, so it makes sense I do this one as well. But to recap my thoughts of those films, let me break it down.
I enjoyed Godzilla, I like the take the director had with it, showing us very little monster fighting, saving it until the very end.
Kong: Skull Island I absolutely loved, it really did the complete opposite of what the first Godzilla movie did and handed us a ton of monster on giant ape action as possible.
It also did a great job of delivering a good human element, which most of these films lack heavily on.
That’s what really hurt Godzilla: King of the Monsters, as I hated or cared nothing for the humans in that movie. Millie Bobby Brown is terrible in that movie and she isn’t much better in Godzilla vs Kong either.
Thankfully, the human element is… I don’t want to say trimmed or lightened but they’re less of an annoyance.
Everyone kind of has a reason to be there except for Millie Bobby Brown’s character and her friend Josh, who is meant to be comic relief, even though Bernie the conspiracy theorist and insider working at Apex Cybernetics, a tech company that he suspects is up to something shady, he is also kind of comic relief…
It kind of felt like maybe they thought having this teen girl hang around this grown man the whole time might get awkward, so enter pointless teen male bestfriend.
It didn’t hurt the movie, but it did feel slightly unnecessary.
The plot!
Godzilla has been attacking Apex Cybernetics facilities, killing innocent civilians.
Since the last film, Godzilla is considered the savior of humanity after his last battle with Ghidorah, the multi headed dragon monster.
One thing I really enjoyed was that this movie also acted as a really nice sequel for Kong, as it’s now years later, he’s a bit older and a bit taller since we last saw him, with some gray in his beard. Of course they needed to make him bigger since Godzilla is the size of two skyscrapers.
Kong has also been trapped on Skull Island in a dome facility with people keeping a watchful eye on him.
The fear is that if Godzilla knows of his existence, the two will have to battle it out for the title of top apex predator.
While in this dome, Kong has made friends with a little deaf girl that has taught him sign language. Which I thought was a really cool idea.
The little girl was a native to the island, but a storm a few years back wiped out the people living there, orphaning her, but getting adopted by Ilene Andrews, our renowned Kong expert.
Speaking of experts, this film is filled with them. We have another expert in the field of studying the Hollow Earth theory, played by Alexander Skarsgård. This outcast is named Nathan, I probably won’t ever use his name, so I’m not sure why I’m mentioning it.
He is recruited by Walter Simmons, the head of Apex Cybernetics, the company Godzilla keeps targeting.
He wishes to find the truth about Hollow Earth, tracking it down for a powerful energy source, to hopefully give humanity the upperhand when it comes to defeating a now seemingly rampaging Godzilla.
They theorize that these “Titans” all come from this place and that Kong might be able to lead them there.
Good thing Nathan… I guess I did use his name again. Anyway, Nathan just so happens to know our Kong expert Ilene Andrews.
The two strike up a deal, transporting Kong across the ocean to one of the openings to a rift into Hollow Earth.
But along the way, Godzilla catches wind of Kong and our first battle commences. I’m not really going to say who wins these fights, just know each one gets their moments to shine in let’s just call it a 3 match bout.
I will say however it’s a fantastic first meeting between the two titans, taking place in the ocean, Godzilla’s home advantage.
But Kong is able to hold his own, jumping from ship to ship like stepping stones.
Everyone eventually has to shut everything down and stop moving, showing Godzilla submission. After that he kind of just swims away.
But to get Kong to their destination, they now need to airlift him.
When he wakes, he finds himself in the arctic, where the opening to Hollow Earth is rumored to be.
They tell Kong using sign language that his home is there, maybe even family. Which isn’t that big of a lie, seeing as this is where every monster has come from. Stands to reason others would be there waiting.
After hearing that, he bolts in and everyone follows after in their super advanced ships.
I guess back to the kids and Bernie the conspiracy theorist. When Godzilla attacked the Apex Cybernetics facility Bernie works at, he managed to sneak a peek at a strange device.
Since then, he has been on the hunt to figure out just what exactly it was, thinking it could be the cause for Godzilla to go on a rampage.
The kids are able to track Bernie down by his obsessive use of bleach. Seems he likes to bathe in it to kill any tracking devices that may be on him.
Yeah, he’s kind of weird.
The three of them go back to Apex and discover a secret facility, that connects all the way to Hong Kong, where they are shipping supplies and Skullcrusher eggs, creatures we saw on Skull Island.
As they look around, they find what Apex has been working on.
I don’t really know how much of a spoiler this is, as they even kind of show it in the trailer. But they have been working on Mecha Godzilla. But they need a better power supply as only about 40% of it is functional.
That is why they need Kong to lead them to Hollow Earth, where they suspect an alternative energy source lies waiting.
So now back to Kong.
Kong and the others follow him through Hollow Earth where he finds himself almost on an upside down version of Skull Island.
There he finds these energy stones, anti-gravity allowing him to float around upside down… Even more enemies to battle.
They eventually follow him to a large chamber, where it looks like a giant battle once took place many years ago.
Among the skeletons, Kong finds a battle ax that looks to be made of bone with a piece of Godzilla’s scale, acting as a blade.
Giving Kong a weapon to carry, also I think was a really smart idea. He’s got thumbs, might as well use them!
While in the chamber, he also finds a throne, rightfully taking it.
The ax also seems to help with the unknown energy source Apex is looking for, using it to help get Mecha Godzilla fully online.
But of course this pisses Godzilla off, rampaging through Hong Kong, shooting his atomic breathe straight down into Hollow Earth. Which I guess is possible.
This film is pretty silly at times, so you really have to overlook a few things and just have fun with it. Because this movie is one hell of a fun ride once you laugh off a few dumb moments.
They go full sci-fi, when in previous films the most high tech thing they had was some supersonic jet I believe. Now they have giant robots.
But hey, it’s a movie about giant monsters duking it out, who cares.
Once again Kong and Godzilla go at it in this fantastic and over the top fight. It looks great, it sounds amazing… the whole last 30 or 40 minutes is just a massive spectacle and I loved it.
Kong gets to use his newly found ax, giving Godzilla a few bashes over the head and a blade through the leg or thigh. He’s a meaty boy, so…
Soon after their fight looks to be winding down, that’s when Mecha Godzilla makes his grand entrance.
The mechanics behind Mecha Godzilla are interesting, as they have used the skull from King Ghidorah that Godzilla defeated in the last film.
They’ve managed to use the psychic link the heads seem to have to remote control Mecha Godzilla. However, in the process, they managed to resurrect King Ghidorah, setting him loose on Hong Kong.
Now Kong and Godzilla must team up to defeat Mecha Godzilla, which is also pretty fun and entertaining to watch.
I won’t get into too many spoilers like I mentioned, but in the end of the day, Kong does eventually submit to Godzilla by throwing down his ax, showing him that he isn’t a threat.
The two go their separate ways, Godzilla remains king of the monsters while Kong gets to live out the rest of his life free in Hollow Earth, with everyone still surveilling him. But at least there’s no dome anymore.
And I guess that concludes these series of monster movies. If it had to go out, I’m glad it did with one I really loved.
Really can’t recommend this enough, it gets a SEE IT rating from me.
Next time I might be back with a review for the new Mortal Kombat film. So until then….
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