“Godzilla vs Kong” Movie Review

Credit%3A+www.godzillavskong.net

Credit: www.godzillavskong.net

Kole Scheneman

Just a quick disclaimer before we get started, this review will contain spoilers. So if you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want to hear spoilers, click away now.

 

“Godzilla vs Kong” is the fourth movie in Legendary Pictures’ “Monsterverse”, which also includes “Godzilla” (2014), “Kong: Skull Island” (2017), and “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” (2019).

Now, I’ve never seen the other three movies, but I have seen plenty of the older ones AND this one, and that’s what counts right now. You honestly don’t really NEED to see the other movies in order to understand this one, but it would be helpful and probably recommended. One thing I DO know about these movies, is that they have a lot of action.

I feel like one thing this movie does better than the older movies is making the human side of the movie good. A lot of times in Godzilla movies, at least 75% of the movie is human characters talking about random nonsense. 

That might be because of how good today’s CGI is, which allows for you to be a lot more creative with your ideas for a plot, which could also be a good reason to make more sequels.

I think the human characters are very well portrayed, especially characters like Bernie Hayes and Madison Russell. Bernie, played by Brian Tyree Henry, is an employee at the major tech company “Apex Cybernetics,” where he uses his clever wits to get around Apex and extract data for his secret “Titan Podcast,” where he discusses his findings as well as his various conspiracy theories that he has. I feel like his character is very well portrayed. He’s super passionate about what he does, and lives by his words, so you know that he’s not making any of this stuff up.

Madison, played by Millie Bobby Brown, is a huge fan and an avid listener of the podcast, who takes it very seriously. All of Bernie’s findings and theories help her develop her own theory: that Apex is hiding something big. Bernie is immediately excited to meet Madison for the first time because of her involvement with Godzilla and his kaiju counterparts in the past. 

Madison’s nerdy, hesitant, and comic-relief providing friend, Josh Valentine, also tags along, albeit reluctantly. Josh is played by actor Julian Dennison, and I immediately liked his character because in the scene where we first meet Josh, he pulls up to Madison’s house in his brother’s van with the song “Breaking the Law” by Judas Priest playing on the van’s speakers. For me, playing an awesome song like that is a nearly perfect introduction for a character. He’s able to maintain it too. His comic-relief parts are subtle, as they should be, and he’s a side character, and the movie does a good job of keeping him as one by not making him unnecessarily relevant at random times.

One of my favorite scenes with Josh is when he and Madison are at the local store and are trying to find Bernie’s location by describing what they think he might be like to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper doesn’t seem to know who they’re talking about, but when Josh gets fed up and tries to bribe him with money, the shopkeeper opens up and gives them Bernie’s location.

Madison takes them for a wild ride throughout the movie. Her inquisitive and curious personality always keeps the story moving because she’s always looking for more. Her chemistry with Bernie shows multiple times throughout the movie, and they do a great job of showing these two characters coming up with ideas and problem solving together.

What I don’t quite understand is how Godzilla knew that Kong was in the “Hollow Earth” world directly below him. I mean, he’s Godzilla and he’s awesome, but maybe he sensed him down there or something? It’s the same thing with the Apex Headquarters. How did Godzilla know what they were up to? I don’t know, but, either way, it doesn’t really matter. I thought the fight scenes in this movie were awesome, and I feel like Legendary Pictures did a great job of not letting any spoilers leak out about MechaGodzilla being in the movie before it came out.

This version of MechaGodzilla is probably my favorite because of the way he looks, and how, even though there was supposed to be someone controlling him, he had free will, and was sentient.

Overall, I’d probably give this movie a 7/10. I saw it twice in theatres, and will definitely buy it when it comes out on Blu-Ray/DVD. I would highly recommend this movie, and hopefully there will be more sequels to come!