When entering the experience that is witnessing Godzilla vs. Kong, one doesn’t expect the same standards to apply in terms of character development or even for all the dots to connect in a straight line. Films such as the latest from Warner Bros. are meant for moments like the one we are living through currently. They rank high on entertainment value… and that is all that matters. As long as there are no gross inaccuracies or valiant overkill in some spoke of this wheel, then the director, screenwriters, and the cast have all done their job.
Helmer Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest) had a tough task before him—take the monster-verse to new levels with this Battle Royale for the ages that find two Titans of the Earth, Godzilla and King Kong, fighting ‘till one falls.
If it seems that every mega-monster movie has a mega-corporation with nefarious intentions driving it, you’re not far off. Put in the background here are Monarch and lucky us, now we have Apex Industries. It’s a fun play on words that the corporation possesses a moniker that is synonymous with being the top predator when that is exactly what Godzilla vs. Kong is all about!
Demián Bichir (who seems to be everywhere lately—Land, Chaos Walking, The Midnight Sky—in the last several months alone) stars as the head of Apex, Walter Simmons, and for some strange reason, Godzilla strikes his Pensacola, Florida facility unprovoked at the commencement of our film. The attack sends employees running to all corners to avoid the nuclear fire-breathing monster, who is supposed to be a protectorate of the human race, or that was what we were told in Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Something is afoot and trying to get to the bottom of it is Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), who is an Apex employee who runs a podcast and sees himself as a bit of a whistleblower.
He gets together with King of the Monsters stars Millie Bobby Brown (as Madison Russell) and Julian Dennison’s Josh Valentine (the latter was a scene-stealer in Deadpool 2 as Firefist). Collectively, the three of them will traverse the globe to prove that the giant beast who protected humans for two films has suddenly decided to attack us and is all obsessed with a dual of giants against Kong.
Meanwhile, Simmons has tapped fringe professor/author Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård) to work with “Kong Whisperer” Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) to lure the giant ape to an arctic locale where an “inner world” entrance exists that will hopefully serve as the key to “taming” these Apex predators from fighting, with humans serving as the casualty landscape.
As was the case with the last Godzilla film, and to some extent, also Skull Island, the connect-the-dots of the human interactions aren’t given much thought in pre or postproduction. As such, there is an enormous gap of emotional connection between the viewer and the human interaction on the screen. I appreciate Kyle Chandler as an actor, but Brown’s onscreen dad is a major scientist in this monster-verse yet is given extraordinarily little to do this time out. But, when Godzilla and King Kong go at it, it is mesmerizingly glorious and epic.
Now, the first fight is by far the best. It takes place on an armada with Kong chained to the cargo ship and on a sedative. Yeah, that. That particular scene allows us to see the best of what Godzilla vs. Kong has to offer. The action is well laid out and how it involves us humans set the table for the entire film that lies ahead.
There is supposed to be a human-titan connection on both sides. On Kong’s corner, that is achieved by Hall and her adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle), who has a touching bond with the enormous ape. In King of the Monsters, that role was played by Brown’s Russell. She’s here in Godzilla vs. Kong but is utilized in a much different manner than she was in her previous turn as the character. She was a human connection to the larger-than-life beast that humanized him and allowed us the audience some sort of connection with what is going on onscreen. That doesn’t happen in the least as screenwriters Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein have Brown’s character simultaneously on the sidelines and in the thick of it in a way that makes no sense whatsoever.
Something absent and sorely needed in this world is any remote sense of what the stakes are as Kong fights his Apex predator rival, Godzilla. Is it supposed to be this colossal and epic confrontation where the future of humanity hangs in the balance? Or is this simply a Tuesday? Obviously, it is supposed to land somewhere more towards the former. It’s just that Pearson and Borenstein, as well as Wingard, seemingly take this aspect for granted. They assume that the audience will innately know the answer to this integral inquiry. Clearly, from what is shown—what with the massive apocalyptic devastation to the backdrop of any of the titular characters’ tête-à-têtes—life as we know it lies in the crosshairs of Godzilla vs. Kong.
Sure, certain characters allude to this element in passing with an offhand line. But this isn’t a throwaway aspect of the storytelling! Lost amongst the spotlighting of the off-the-charts envelope-pushing tech is also the answer. Now, I’m not asking for a specific, if Godzilla loses, this will happen, or vice versa. But I don’t believe that Wingard and his creative team ever took the time to work “the stakes” into the storyline. In fact, the human aspect of this story is lacking anything resembling character introduction and building 101.
Too much is placed on the shoulders of the ensemble. For example, Skarsgård is presented to the audience as a fringe physicist in search of a wealthy like-minded soul. He has accepted the fact that he is the butt of an avalanche of jokes in his field. Enter Bichir and suddenly, the Swedish thespian is running a multi-billion-dollar operation, leading a crew that has been together for some time. Thanks to the gifted talents of the actor, he pulls it off. But with a little extra something-something from the screenwriters, all these characters could have been taken more acutely by the audience. Instead, it’s up to the actor to build their own backstory and arrive on their day to shoot with not only their lines memorized and internalized, but the overall arc of purpose for what each soul in the room has been tasked with achieving.
Also, it’s not a major deal, but certain members of the cast are grossly underused. Eiza González comes to mind. The Baby Driver scene-stealer is Bichir’s daughter and serves as his eyes and ears on the ground. But… Maya is given hardly anything to do… as is much of the supporting cast. Even Brown, fresh from her success in Enola Holmes (and Stranger Things—both on Netflix), is a pale imitation of her character from Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It isn’t even believable that she would cling to a conspiracy theory-loving podcast host as the best way to make a difference to help her compadre, Godzilla, in this spectacularly filmed battle—as established in the previous film.
One character who is given the attention she deserves, especially since she is vital to Kong going along with Lind’s plan, is Jia. The orphaned girl has the most unique and powerful of bonds with the mighty beast. She is the exception, not the rule.
That all being said, it’s not like audiences flock to see films such as Godzilla vs. Kong for character development and motivation! It’s the earth-shaking action and in Godzilla vs. Kong, it is seismic, even on the home screen. In the latest in the Warner Bros./Legendary Entertainment monster-verse, the larger the scope, the better the movie is to experience. Since these titans face off repeatedly and in different sceneries, Wingard’s film is a thrilling joyride.
It’s like the cinematic version of cotton candy—delicious as it goes down, but a half-hour after completed, you’re left with short-term memories of how sweet it was to experience.
How Wingard and his team carry out the action sequences have set a new bar for this type of milieu. It’s jaw-dropping amusement that treats its audiences to set pieces that are the definition of escapism. With a global pandemic moving past its year anniversary and an economy teetering because of that fact, sometimes that is exactly what is needed from our entertainment.
Grade: B