My opinion on Legendary Pictures’ Monsterverse seems to be steadily growing more and more favourable the more films come out. 2014’s Godzilla was good, although not exactly landing high on my radar, then Kong: Skull Island had me in a gleeful frenzy at how kitchen-sink the action sequences were, and then Godzilla: King Of The Monsters… well, I named it one of my favourites of that year, as something that literally awe-inspiring deserves such commendation. With all the big studios still doing the COVID do-si-do with their release schedules, I was expecting the latest from this franchise to end up stuck in limbo, given it was one of many that was meant to come out in 2020. But now that it’s here, I can safely say that it is everything I wanted out of a new Godzilla/Kong movie… and even gave me shit I didn’t realise I wanted. Yep, it’s a Deadpool 2 situation.
Might as well get my only real complaint about the film out of the way first, and yes, it’s basically the same as everyone else’s at this point: The human characters are not that interesting. Actually, that might not even making it clear enough: In a franchise that has already been consistent in making the humans far less compelling than the Titans, this manages to reach a new low in sheer lack of engagement. I mean, the casting is pretty good (bringing back Millie Bobby Brown and pairing her with Julian ‘Firefist’ Dennison, Demián Bichir as the head of a tech company that’s not entirely on the up-and-up, a Deaf actress playing a Deaf character for a change in Kaylee Hottle as Jia), but I could not tell you that much about any of them as individuals. Save for Alexander Skarsgård being woefully out-of-place as a meekish scientist and Brown going from having a roar-off with King fucking Ghidorah to playing second fiddle to a second fiddle being a disappointing downgrade.
However, the lack of impact this wound up having on my enjoyment is quite incredible, as the lack of personality didn’t bother me too much for two key reasons: These characters are meant to function more as a collective depiction of our species than as individuals, which they do splendidly, and the level of detail given to Kong himself in terms of personality holds him up as our avatar in this turf war between gods. I swear, even knowing Weta Digital’s pedigree with humanising non-human primates, I was not prepared for just how invested I got with Kong as a character. Seeing him looking out at the sunset, chomping down on fish with a big smile on his face… man, I haven’t gotten feels that strong from a film in a long-ass while.
And speaking of the visual quality, holy shitballs, this looks absolutely fantastic. From detailing the individual monsters in battle, the sheer city destruction in their wake, the beauty of some of the more fantastical locales, even an honest-to-Dudeness moment of sci-fi surrealism with a ship breaching a gravity phenomenon that essentially bleeds colour and sound all over the frame; it may not entirely maintain the ‘ants on a wrestling mat’ effect of KOTM, but with how all-out the filmmakers get on the visual front, it’s difficult to mind too much.
Now, as much as seeing a giant gorilla punch a giant lizard in the face is all the recommendation one should need to watch this film… anyone who has read my past reviews on Godzilla-related films will know that I just have to dig a bit deeper with what’s being shown. I have grown a serious fascination with kaiju films as a depiction of earthbound gods at war, with humanity as microscopic spectators to something far beyond their grasp or comprehension.
And here, with Godzilla representing nature at its most unbound, Kong as the closest thing humanity has to skin in the game (there’s a reason why the only first-person shots we get in the whole film are from Kong’s POV), and Bichir’s Walter Simmons as the avatar of technology as its own separate force, it was quite intriguing to read this as yet another depiction of man wrestling with the gods. How man can ally with and even create a god, but that it’s still the height of hubris to assume we have any means to control one. We may have found our champion in this fight, but treating us interacting with the world around us as a ‘fight’ in the first place is a good way to ensure that we all lose.
Yeah, it scratches some of my theological itches… but we still haven’t gotten into the “shit I didn’t even realise I wanted” part of this whole equation. That comes with the introduction of two amazing words into the narrative make-up: Hollow. Earth. There is a lot of conspiracy theorising in the world-building here, mainly brought in by Brown and Dennison’s third-wheel Bernie (played by Brian Tyree Henry). It’s a situation where things like mass corporate conspiracy, airborne organic monitoring systems, mind-control fluoride in the drinking water, and yes, the trip into the hollow centre of the Earth, feel like ‘common sense’ in a world that was ravaged by a giant three-headed space dragon not that long ago. Not only is this a crossover between Godzilla and King Kong, it’s also the closest we’re ever likely to get to a crossover between kaiju cinema and the Iron Sky universe. That’s a level of cracked-out storytelling that feels made for someone like me.
Audiences wanting to check this out to see Godzilla and King Kong throw down won’t be disappointed, as the filmmakers provide plenty of screen time to the big guys. And with how detailed the effects work on Kong is, and how well the relationship between him and Jia is developed (she is the only human character worth caring about; take that, name-brand casting!), there’s more than enough in that time to keep the cares strong. Beyond that, the film looks incredible, the world-building is delightfully nutty and even subtle in places when it comes to Kong’s own lineage, and as another excuse for me to wax philosophical about giant CGI monsters as analogues for divine beings, it kept up with what I liked so damn much about KOTM. This is the first film of 2021 I find myself properly geeking out over, and even with a few issues with the total package, I still had a blast watching it. I just hope more people get the chance to do so as well.
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