Godzilla vs Kong is not a great movie. I mean, they can't write a good movie to save their life, seems like. This is so ridiculous, but I will say... it has its moments. Not very many, but a few. And for me it was worth seeing just for that aquatic battle in the beginning. That was the best part. Anyway, hard to justify paying to see this, but I liked parts of it. It could have been so much better. Some of the themes in the Monsterverse films- the idea of ancient creatures as part of a hierarchy of monsters, the Hollow World idea, the Monarch organization that monitors these threats- they have a lot to work with? And they always blow it. Plus they have some good actors who are tragically under-used. I think Kyle Chandler is in this movie for a whole two minutes?
Still, I think this one is worth it also for the Kong/ Jia dynamic. Jia is a young girl from Skull Island who- spoiler- communicates by sign language with Kong. Other reviewers have noted she may be the best part of the movie, and I kinda agree. Some of the actors in this movie, again, are quite good- I mean Alexander Skarsgard is in this one- but they are, again, under- used. And Godzilla himself has no personality. I went into this movie rooting for Godzilla because I'm ten because I've a soft spot for the old movies, but Kong here gets way more screen time and actually develops, if minimally, as a character.
I was rooting for Kong as a character by the end, and the dynamic that he develops with the big G was nice, but G needs more. The Monsterverse movies are at a crossroads- no one knows if there will be more, and to be honest as bad as the writing/ story is, there probably shouldn't be any more. But who doesn't love Godzilla and smash em ups? There's sooo much potential here, it's a shame really.
Again, there are seeds of a good story here. I would have loved to see the Hollow World be more like Jurassic Park instead of a dull CGI- scape, and I would have liked to see these characters develop more. Monarch is such a cool idea and absolutely nothing is done with it here. So while this movie is hardly essential, I still enjoyed it- a little- for the monster brawls and the budding dynamic between the big G and Kong.
That's cool about the signing! But it's too bad they didn't even use the actors to their potentials. It does seem like they could at least give Godzilla and Kong a bit of character or development.
ReplyDeleteIt was cool! And yeah... it needed way more, although Kong develops a bit!
DeleteAh what a pity. I was hoping this was going to be a good one. I always root for the monkey!
ReplyDeleteHaha I was rooting for Godzilla but Kong was developed way more!!
DeleteI'm not sure I want to see this, but at least I've heard the production quality is really good. That movie poster is perfect!
ReplyDeleteIt is worth seeing, I think, in spite of the silliness. Now that a week has gone by the story was still dumb but I keep thinking about the battles- they were fun!!
DeleteSo cool
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't bad!
DeleteWe were going to watch it just because we couldn't' find anything else but both of us are more Godzilla fans and this doesn't look Team G lol
ReplyDeleteI don't know....maybe we'll watch out of sheer boredom but for now we're watching Lovecraft Country.
Karen @ For What It's Worth
See it! I'm Godzilla fan too and I don't think you'll be disappointed. Although they spend more time on Kong.
DeleteHow is that show?
With a cast like that it is a shame this one wasn't better. At least there were a few good parts!
ReplyDeleteIt has its moments!
DeleteWhy were there so many people taking up space in the movie? I remember these classics were all monster/no people and I loved them for that!
ReplyDeleteI know! Like let's lose the people!!!!
DeleteI think I'll be waiting to borrow this one from the library. I will say that I really liked Kong: Skull Island though. :)
ReplyDeleteI knew going in that this movie wasn't going to be great, and I didn't even care! I love movies like this - I love the action, the huge scale, it's just mindless entertainment!
ReplyDeleteI know this will not be great, but I think we all just want to watch it for the effects and fun and not much else! :D I hear you on the justification of the cost though, so maybe I will wait for this to become a cheaper rental.
ReplyDeleteOh that's too bad. I've been watching a variety of Godzilla movies in the last few weeks. My favourite is Godzilla: King of Monsters. Which one is yours?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed this! My husband watched it the other day and didn't love it, but I think he'd agree with your assessment.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if we really need 2 monsters to go on a rampage? Or to compete with each other? I haven't even seen the trailer for this one, but now I want to. Especially since Alexander Skarsgard is here, I wonder what he's up to after True Blood and Tarzan?
ReplyDelete~Lex
It was my first Kong movie since the 1930s version -- is it the exact same Kong or one of his descendants?-- and my first ever Godzilla. I could've used a few sentences of back story at the beginning since I had no clue what Monarch was or a Titan or who any of those people were or what was happening. Also seemed weird how one minute Kong is in the biosphere and then in a blink he's on the ship. I agree that they could do a lot more story and character development, but maybe the majority of ticket holders just want them to skip all that and get right to the action.
ReplyDeleteI liked it, I mean those fight scenes, boom!
ReplyDeleteI just watched this today! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. I think I'll pass. 😬
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