Thursday, April 8, 2021

Godzilla vs Kong


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.  

24 comments:

  1. 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.

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    1. It was cool! And yeah... it needed way more, although Kong develops a bit!

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  2. Ah what a pity. I was hoping this was going to be a good one. I always root for the monkey!

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    1. Haha I was rooting for Godzilla but Kong was developed way more!!

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  3. I'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!

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    1. It 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!!

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  4. We 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

    I 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

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    1. See it! I'm Godzilla fan too and I don't think you'll be disappointed. Although they spend more time on Kong.

      How is that show?

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  5. With a cast like that it is a shame this one wasn't better. At least there were a few good parts!

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  6. Why 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!

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  7. I think I'll be waiting to borrow this one from the library. I will say that I really liked Kong: Skull Island though. :)

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  8. I 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!

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  9. I 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.

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  10. Oh 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?

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  11. I'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.

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  12. I'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?
    ~Lex

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  13. 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.

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  14. I liked it, I mean those fight scenes, boom!

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  15. Thanks for the review. I think I'll pass. 😬

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