Godzilla vs. Kong

[HalfGlass]

If you combined the best elements of the monster-verse action thus far and take the worst of the human character moments - you get this movie. They’re insufferable this time.

Sadly - I wish this entry still felt more present day and less futuristic. The movie began to feel more like Pacific Rim and less like the Godzilla and Kong movies that came before this one.

Still enjoyable in a dumb fun way - but not nearly as good as I was hoping for.

 

[HHNManics]

Pretty fun film overall.

What the film fails at in terms of character development more than makes up for it in terms of visuals and style. The Cinematography, lighting, color is all so great. The film is loaded with style and each location is gorgeous.

There's a subplot with a few characters that's incredibly boring. These films need to lesser down on the character stuff or strengthen the writing for it. But the fighting also makes up for it. Good popcorn flick.

3/5

 

[Jerroddragon]

Dam....how hard is it for them to get these right?

I'm seeing it firday but it sounds like what I expected

 

[JungleSkip]

Dam....how hard is it for them to get these right?

I'm seeing it firday but it sounds like what I expected

Everything I read about this one says they got it right. Everyone just seems to go into these Godzilla movies expecting it to be something other than a Godzilla movie.

 

[Spookies n' Stuff]

Although I think this was a really solid entry in the series, and the monster action is probably the best so far in terms of them actually going all the way with it without any visual obstructions or constant cutting away, for whatever reason I feel like I still prefer King of the Monsters.

Spoiler

Honestly it might kind of be a stakes thing, since just in terms of stakes KotM felt way more high stakes than this one, as if it was meant to come after this, though I know for a few plot reasons that's not the case. Probably didn't help that this movie was about 20 minutes shorter than every previous film in the series. I guess once we've already seen Godzilla take out Ghidorah, who's a much greater threat than Kong by default, it kinda makes the fights in this one feel a bit less substantial, especially since Kong 100% would have died on multiple occassions in each of the fights without luck and human intervention. Happy it came out as enjoyable as it was, but it did feel like a little bit of a scaling down from the last one.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Everything I read about this one says they got it right. Everyone just seems to go into these Godzilla movies expecting it to be something other than a Godzilla movie.

I mean MCU has really screwed up "fun" movies

They have stuff like Winter solider which is both fun but has a deeper message. Its kinda what happened with the SW sequels as well, people want fun mixed in with something you can at least think is deep.

I'll try to have the best time i can

 

[HalfGlass]

I think at heart I really wish this movie was less goofy and more like Godzilla (2014). I really appreciate how the action sequences are easy to follow in this film, but all of the intrigue was gone.

 

[CoryLevy91]

Overall, I had a lot of fun with Godzilla vs. Kong and would say it was quite the blast. The fight scenes were all very well done and had a pop of playful brightness and kinetic energy that I don't really remember much of between 2014 and KotM. I love that both Kong and Godzilla had more fleshed out personalities, which made their scenes together much more interesting than just big, brooding ones and zeroes grazing each other. I'm an unabashed Adam Wingard fan and I think what he's brought to the series is akin to what Taika Waititi or James Gunn have brought to their Marvel series: a ton of style and personality on a grand scale.

The only pitfall I think it fell into would be the Millie Bobbie Brown storyline. Just a tad too goofy and far too 'coincidentally convenient' at exposition and moving the story along. I really think cutting that bit and tightening the story around the adult characters would have made a much stronger human story. I especially think the death of Walter Simmons would have been much more impactful if his deceit and use of Lind was played up more. Instead he gets a cheap laugh offing in front of the MBB crew.

3 / 5 for me, probably tied with Skull Island for best of the new American kaiju films.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

I enjoyed this. It delivers on what the title promises well. My only major complaint is that one of the subplots is mostly filler; removing the KOTM characters would've improved the film's pacing. Overall, 7/10, and I might rewatch this in Dolby after I get my second dose.

 

[Nick]

Glad you guys enjoyed it. I'm just not really a fan of dumb-fun action movies like this or something like the F&F franchise or Transformers (although I actually loved Bumblebee as it was a genuinely really good movie). I really need some form of character development/attachment or just kinda lose interest. That's just my opinion though, most of you seem to enjoy it so i'm not here to rain on anyone's parade.

 

[rageofthegods]

It's fine. At least this one is having fun with itself.

They're probably gonna make a sequel now that this one is the pandemic recovery standard-bearer. If they do, they need to nuke like, half of these characters and focus on a few. This was less a crossover and more two plot threads sharing a room with not enough oxygen. I don't think Eleven and her dad even interacted with the Kong crew?

 

[Jamesh22]

Kong was definitely the heart of this movie, all the scenes with him in are the high points of the film, and can I just say how amazing and filled with personality he looks in this. The SFX guys deserve huge credit.

I agree with others re the human elements. There was no need to include Millie Bobby Brown or her storyline, and Eiza Gonzalez came across as Megan Fox bad acting wise.

7/10 for me. Sill want more Monsterverse.

 

[Jerroddragon]

7/10. The monster stuff is all great...but so many useless characters and why can only the MCU make side people "fun" like the talking Rock from Thor is a better character compared to 90% of the humans. The Little girl who spoke with sign language was great but everyone else was wasted.....how the hell is that guy a doctor? His daughter understand what was going on with godzilla but not a man who's job it is to understand monsters? lol

Edit here is a good small review for the film

 

[Legacy]

Eh. I thought the human scenes worked in establishing a “why” to all the major plot beats. Especially in the third act. Without the Apex investigation gang, there’s no direct connection for viewers as to why Godzilla is attacking cities. And the Monarch team is critical to why Godzilla hasn’t gone after Kong yet and why he’s going after him now. They were necessary and not so egregiously awful they hurt the entire film.

Although, after this and Enola Holmes, I’m officially of the mindset that Millie Bobbie Brown can’t actually act. She just works as Eleven because that character is supposed to stilted, weird, and uncomfortable.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Eh. I thought the human scenes worked in establishing a “why” to all the major plot beats. Especially in the third act. Without the Apex investigation gang, there’s no direct connection for viewers as to why Godzilla is attacking cities. And the Monarch team is critical to why Godzilla hasn’t gone after Kong yet and why he’s going after him now. They were necessary and not so egregiously awful they hurt the entire film.

Although, after this and Enola Holmes, I’m officially of the mindset that Millie Bobbie Brown can’t actually act. She just works as Eleven because that character is supposed to stilted, weird, and uncomfortable.

She is being kinda type cast right now or directors are afraid to push her in the right direction.

I would not use this film as an acting meter on ANY of these actors. It was made as a dumb dumb action film and I blame the writers more then the actors in this case. This isn't like vin diesel who isn't just a bad actor with bad scripts..he just isn't a good actor ever unless he is literally saying Groot or other one word sentences as a giant robot.

She will grow into better roles, if the Twilight Actors can do it so can she.

 

[Legacy]

She will grow into better roles, if the Twilight Actors can do it so can she.

Kristen Stewart was in movies with Jodie Foster (Panic Room) and Sean Penn (Into the Wild) before Twilight. Robert Pattinson was a major character in the Harry Potter series before Twilight. Taylor Lautner was Sharkboy. Anna Kendrick was in the cult classic Camp and was nominated for a Tony.

Most of the Twilight performers were known in the industry as fully capable (or quite lauded in Kristen’s case) before Twilight. Twilight was the movie that made those good actors famous. Millie had some bit parts in TV shows before breaking out with Stranger Things. There’s a stark difference in a pedigree.

 

[Nick]

Kristen Stewart was in movies with Jodie Foster (Panic Room) and Sean Penn (Into the Wild) before Twilight. Robert Pattinson was a major character in the Harry Potter series before Twilight. Taylor Lautner was Sharkboy. Anna Kendrick was in the cult classic Camp and was nominated for a Tony.

Most of the Twilight performers were known in the industry as fully capable (or quite lauded in Kristen’s case) before Twilight. Twilight was movie that made those good actors famous. Millie had some bit parts in TV shows before breaking out with Stranger Things. There’s a stark difference in a pedigree.

She’ll get big roles just because she is who she is, but she has a huge online following and yet you don’t see her in much. She’s not like a Tom Holland, Saiorse Ronan or Florence Pugh, who are everywhere and doing everything, currently.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Kristen Stewart was in movies with Jodie Foster (Panic Room) and Sean Penn (Into the Wild) before Twilight. Robert Pattinson was a major character in the Harry Potter series before Twilight. Taylor Lautner was Sharkboy. Anna Kendrick was in the cult classic Camp and was nominated for a Tony.

Most of the Twilight performers were known in the industry as fully capable (or quite lauded in Kristen’s case) before Twilight. Twilight was movie that made those good actors famous. Millie had some bit parts in TV shows before breaking out with Stranger Things. There’s a stark difference in a pedigree.

She is like 15...I'll wait a long time before saying she is not a good actress

Hell many actors improve over time, they get more training and better roles.

 

[Nick]

She is like 15...I'll wait a long time before saying she is not a good actress

Hell many actors improve over time, they get more training and better roles.

She's 17. I was looking at what someone like Saiorse Ronan or Florence Pugh were doing around a younger/similar age. In 2008, Ronan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a film that was shot when she was 12 and by 2012 at age 18 she was in Hanna, which is a really good action film and proof she would kill in an MCU movie.

Florence Pugh similarly won awards in 2016 for her breakthrough role (mostly among British audiences) in Lady MacBeth and subsequently would star in Midsommar and Little Women, and is ultimately what has earned her her part in the MCU as well.

I agree that Millie is 17 and anything can happen. But she may have already had a slight breakout moment that no one noticed because it's on Netflix. She was actually very good in Enola Holmes I thought and I remember her performance being praised. I feel like these monster movies just aren't her thing and unfortunately she has spent so much of her teenage years working on Stranger Things along with said Monster Movies that she's hardly had time to fit in any other projects to her schedule.

 

[joelbryant11]

Box Office: ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Sets Pandemic Record With $48.5 Million Debut

"Godzilla vs. Kong" muscled its way to a pandemic-era box office record.

variety.com

Go theaters go!