A Reel Review: GODZILLA VS. KONG

GODZILLA VS. KONG, the fourth film in the ongoing “monster-verse” franchise, is a film that has a chance to make up for a lot. Although the series has more than it’s share of fans, the common complaints for the previous three entries range from too many characters, convoluted plots, and stupid happenings. For director Adam Wingard, the epic showdown between two of cinema’s longest-running titans is a monster opportunity to go out with a bang. 

 

Five years after the events of KING OF THE MONSTERS, Godzilla turns inland and attacks Apex Cybernetics. To battle the monster, Apex’s CEO Guillermin (Lance Reddick), and his daughter Maia (Eiza Gonzalez), recruit cartographer Dr. Nathan (Alexander Skarsgard), and Kong’s caretaker Dr. Ilene (Rebecca Hall), to journey to the center of the Earth (called Hollow Earth), to find a power source that can fire up a weapon Apex is developing. Meanwhile, Madison (Millie Bobby Brown), with her friend Josh (Julian Dennison), and conspiracy theorist podcaster Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry), sneak into Apex to find out what they’re up to. 

 

If all that sounds way too complicated for a movie that’s supposed to be about giant monsters fighting, it is. Director Adam Wingard and his team of writers weave a way-too complex and dull storyline involving burrowing into the Earth to find a power source they know nothing about which they think/hope will bring the Apex Weapon to life. To make all this happen, the film uses a massive amount of sci-fi. This world seems to take a giant leap forward in it’s tech in just five years, with massive hologram domes, tunnels and pathways through the planet, and spaceships that can burrow underground. It’s jarring to see, and it’s a lot to swallow. 

 

When we’re not trying to get our head around the sci-fi and its loose logic, we’re bored to tears with (once again), too many characters. Madison and her team only serve the purpose of taking the audience on tour of Apex and easily could have been omitted, and others are less like  characters and more like tools to move the plot forward. 

 

When the monster fights do come, they are a welcome break from the dull humans. Kong and Godzilla slug it out twice in stunning fashion; once in the middle of the ocean and the other in Hong Kong. Both are a thrill and are executed nicely, although the ocean-fight has a stupid resolution. CGI ranges from good to cartoonish. 

 

Director Adam Wingard gets decent performances out of his cast, even though most of the dialogue is ham-fisted garbage. A lot of the script makes no sense; they have underground spaceships can fly through the Earth but they can’t power-up the Apex Weapon, and when they do find the power source at the center of the Earth, they somehow WiFi it up to the surface where it is replicated virtually in 20 seconds. Dumb and lazy. The concept of the Hollow Earth is hard to swallow, especially since this is the first mention we’ve had of it; it’s just too huge of a concept to not have been built up over the course of the last three films. 

 

There is a lot of silliness to GODZILLA VS. KONG, and that may be forgivable if the film didn’t take itself so seriously; a little bit of self-awareness of the ridiculous situations would have gone a long way. And for a grand finale, the film feels a lot smaller than its predecessor, KING OF THE MONSTERS…as the threat Godzilla poses seems to be restricted to the Apex company. This is a film with two or three battles of great spectacle, held together by crap. That’s not enough to go out with a bang. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: Fuck it