Godzilla vs Kong - A Review

Just the other day I caught Godzilla vs. Kong on HBOMax and have to say that I wasn’t disappointed. I mean here that I expected to see the two monsters fighting one another with little thought to story or plot or character development and that is exactly what I got… two monsters fighting one another.

Yes, the graphics were spectacular. We have come a long way since stop motion photography was the way to create these monsters (King Kong, 1933), or pasting a couple of large dorsal displays on small lizards and then filming them in close up to make them look gigantic (Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1959). I enjoyed Godzilla, in which the model airplanes were firing rockets at Godzilla and then suddenly stopping and dropping into the ocean. I realized they had hit the back drop of the scene. But I digress.

This movie was about the two fighting one another and I guess there are those out there who wanted to see the two of them square off. I’ll point out that the original Godzilla was about 400 feet tall and the original King Kong was much shorter but who pays attention to these sorts of things.

I did notice we got much of the virtual signally into the film, and had the appeal to the Chinese, which is a huge market. Can’t really blame the movie makers for making sure that the huge Chinese audience would find someone to root for. And what’s the deal with the little girls taking important roles in these films. Saw the same thing in Meg. In fact, if not for the children in the movie, the adults would have let the world’s cities be destroyed.

This movie seems to reinforce the idea that you don’t need to worry about story telling as long as you can blow up things and smash buildings. And have the big ape punch the big lizard in the face is always good for a laugh or two.

Here’s the deal on this. If you’re looking for a movie with a little plot and story, this isn’t the film to see. If you want to see the virtue of the children and how the evil adults are ruining everything, then this might be the film for you. If you just want to see classic, animated creatures fight, then this is the movie for you. If you’re over eight years old, maybe the thing to do is find the original films that introduced King Kong and Godzilla and watch those instead.

By the way, by the definitions offered here, this movie was not science fiction. It fits into the sub-category of Sci Fi. It’s not based on current science, scientific thought, or possible future scientific discovery. It is based on the fantasy that there are giant monsters roaming hidden areas on Earth that do not exist. Not to mention the mechanical Godzilla, which might be thought of as possible, but is certainly irrelevant. Just thought I would mention it.

Oh, if you’re not eight years old, I’d give this a pass… unless you want to see the two monsters slug it out. Personally, I’d like to have seen something with a little more depth to it.