Review:
"Godzilla vs. Kong"
Release Date: March 31, 2021
Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 113 minutes No one wants to watch a title fight that ends in a disappointing draw. Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard knows this. So do his screenwriters Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein. As part of their responsibility for staging this epic clash of the Titans, the Wingard, Pearson, and Borenstein ensure this long-overdue championship bout gives us a clear winner. They want spectators walking away from the climatic rumble in the urban jungle knowing which of these rival heavyweights is the undisputed King of the Monsters. Which is refreshing because no one wants a repeat of Freddy vs. Jason. In one corner stands Godzilla, repositioned as a threat to humanity after saving the world from alien pretender to the throne King Ghidorah. For unknown reasons, Godzilla is attacking specific locations around the world. It is down to Madison Russell (Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ returning Millie Bobby Brown), best friend Josh (Deadpool 2’s Julian Dennison), and corporate whistler/conspiracy theorist Bernie Hayes (If Beale Street Could Talk’s Brian Tyree Henry) to determine what’s behind Godzilla’s latest rampage. In the other corner stands King Kong, who is all but marketed as the People’s Contender. Part of this is a function of Kong possessing more inherently human traits than Godzilla. He is a misunderstood miracle of Mother Nature who is defiantly territorial and instinctively protective of those under his rule. Kong remains as much a complex study in psychology as he has in past endeavors, including in the MonsterVerse’s Kong: Skull Island. Sure, Kong just wants to be left to his own devices on Skull Island, but he can coexist with humans if they bother to earn his trust. Nothing exemplifies this more in Godzilla vs. Kong than the bond between Kong and Jia, a deaf girl (Texas School for the Deaf student Kaylee Hottle) who teaches the Great Ape to sign. This results in several unexpectedly tender moments in Godzilla vs. Kong between the two friends, some clunky attempts at humor, and a lot of manipulative behavior by conniving adults both good and bad. With Wingard, Pearson, and Borenstein leaning heavily into Kong’s deeply emotional journey, Godzilla vs. Kong without doubt induces the audience to favor the latter when the two engage in fisticuffs. But what actually pushes Godzilla and Kong to fight? While Monarch anthropological linguist Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) notes that “There can’t be two alpha titans,” Godzilla and Kong still need their reasons to tear each other to pieces. And it begins with Apex Cybernetics CEO Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir) persuading Andrews and Dr. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård) to use the captured Kong to show them the route to the Hollow Earth. Simmons wants to harness the energy source of this underground home to the world’s monster population and employ it to kill Godzilla. This excursion into Jules Vernian territory not only heightens the antagonism between Godzilla and Kong but deepens the mythology of the MonsterVerse, allows for the introduction of other colossal foes for Godzilla and Kong to fight, and provides a potential setting for any planned sequel. But, when all is said and done, Godzilla vs. Kong is about the battle royale. Godzilla and Kong meet twice, first in the ocean and then on land. Wingard confidently stages both encounters with the pomp and circumstance that they deserve. He also make full and effective use of the huge budget he never had on his indie genre films You’re Next, The Guest, or Blair Witch by producing maximum damage and chaos whenever Godzilla and Kong go at it. So Wingard achieves his assigned task with ease and with respect to both Godzilla and Kong and their enduring legacies. That said, Godzilla vs. Kong feels more generic in both its point of view and stylistic approach than its MonsterVerse predecessors. Gareth Edwards filled the otherwise lacking Godzilla with a sense of impending doom. Jordan Vogt-Roberts treated Kong: Skull Islandas a Vietnam War allegory. Michael Dougherty found beauty in the horror of the unknown threat in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Wingard presents Godzilla vs. Kong as just a big brawl. Which is fine. Godzilla vs. Kong works on its own undemanding terms. As for the human characters introduced in Godzilla vs. Kong, Rebecca Hall’s somewhat fretful Dr. Ilene Andrews and Alexander Skarsgård’s sometimes heroic Dr. Nathan Lind exist purely to get Kong to where he needs to be. But Hall does enjoy a strong rapport with deaf actress Kaylee Hottle, whose fearlessness throughout the proceedings makes her to Kong what Millie Bobby Brown is to Godzilla. Brown is the only returning MonsterVerse cast member to make an impact in Godzilla vs. Kong, with her onscreen father Kyle Chandler left on the sidelines and her onscreen mother Vera Farmiga absence but mentioned by name. Brown’s Madison remains as devoted to Godzilla as she did in King of the Monsters, but the fear that once fueled her is now replaced with a thirst for adventure. As Madison’s nerdy pal Josh, Julian Dennison provides comic relief while the jumpy Brian Tyree Henry’s constant rants as the paranoid Apex technician Bernie Hayes quickly grow wearisome and distracting. Demián Bichir chews the scenery as the morally dubious Walter Simmons. Eiza González, as Simmons’ equally ruthless daughter Maya, is curiously wasted by Wingard. But the MonsterVerse is not about the friends Godzilla and Kong make along the way. It’s about Godzilla and Kong. And Wingard serves them well. But where does the MonsterVerse go from Godzilla vs. Kong? This is the showdown foreshadowed by Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Godzilla vs. Kong does not offer an obvious path forward. But Wingard’s mandate is not to look to the future of the MonsterVerse. It is put bring this chapter of the MonsterVerse to a close. And while he may not possess the showmanship of Don King, Wingard ably fulfils his obligation as the promotor of the Fight of the Century. Robert Sims Aired: April 1, 2021. Web sites: https://www.godzillavskong.net https://www.facebook.com/GodzillaVsKong/ |
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