Luke McWilliams gives his review of the 2021 monster film, Godzilla vs. Kong, starring Alexander Skarsgård and Millie Bobby Brown.
Five years after Godzilla become King of the Monsters, the Monarch agency watches over Kong, keeping him hidden from Godzilla under a giant dome on Kong Island. Apex executive Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir) recruits Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård), a former Monarch geologist turned theorist on the Hollow Earth theory, as a guide in search of a new power source. Nathan visits Kong’s watcher, Monarch anthropological linguist Dr Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), to get Kong to guide them through the Hollow Earth. Soon, however, Godzilla emerges from the ocean to randomly attack an Apex facility!
The first onscreen monster crossover was 1943’s Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, which set offUniversal’s monsters battling throughout the decades. Major comic book labels DC and Marvel would cross their precious intellectual properties, making sure that their status remained unsullied to the point of a predictable story template: a misunderstanding leads to a tussle, and an eventual team-up against a late-comer third party. This template was even used for the title of 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
While the battles between our titans are great comic-booky fun, too much time and effort is given to an unnecessarily convoluted plot with a large cast of thin characters working overtime to spout exposition just to set up our beasties.
Verdict: Great funfor fans of kaiju bash-ups; however, a cleaner, leaner plot would have given our stars even more opportunity to shine. 2.5 stars.
Godzilla vs. Kong is screening at Dendy.
- Luke McWilliams | themovieclub.net
For more film & TV:
