Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse has come to a head with Godzilla and King Kong facing off in the fourth film in the series.
Godzilla vs. Kong picks up five years after Godzilla defeated Ghidorah a.k.a. Monster Zero. The world has lived in peace since Ghidorah’s defeat, with humans and the Titans co-existing.
But suddenly Godzilla attacks a facility in Florida, killing and injuring several people. Many people, such as Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler reprising his role from Godzilla: King of the Monsters) think Godzilla has simply turned on humanity. But others, such as Mark’s daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) believe something else provoked Godzilla’s attack. Madison joins forces with her friend Josh (Julian Dennison) and Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), a former employee of Apex Cybernetics turned conspiracy theorist, to investigate why Godzilla attacked humans.
Meanwhile, Kong is monitored by the Monarch corporation introduced in the 2014 Godzilla film. Kong is contained within a giant dome on his native Skull Island and he forms a bond with Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last native of Skull Island, who is able to communicate with Kong via sign language. Kong is also studied by Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), Jia’s adoptive mother.
Nathan Lin (Alexander Skarsgård), a Hollow Earth theorist, is recruited by the Apex CEO to guide a search for a power source into the Hollow Earth, believed to be the home world of the Titans. Nathan travels to Skull Island to recruit Ilene and convince her to let Kong guide a group through the Hollow Post.
While heading to Antarctica to travel to the Hollow Earth, Godzilla catches up with the team and moves to attack Kong, setting up a modern-day fight of an ancient rivalry between the two species.
The film continues with the group following Kong into the Hollow Earth and Godzilla heading to Hong Kong, where the source of his agitation is revealed in a surprising way.
Godzilla vs. Kong is a visually stunning movie. The visual effects alone are incredible, but all the visuals on screen make for a beautiful movie. It’s an extremely colorful movie, especially with Hong Kong lit up at night during the climax of the film as the Titans battle.
Much of the criticism of Godzilla: King of the Monsters was a weaker storyline. Although some similar criticism has been directed at this film, the criticism is unfounded. The storyline is much stronger than the film’s predecessor. The characters of this film are easy to connect with and you find yourself rooting for most of them (there are a handful who deserve their fates, let’s leave it at that).
The film also succeeds in letting the audience feel empathy for both Godzilla and Kong. On the outset of the film, it seems the viewer should cheer on Kong, as he has a positive relationship with humans, best demonstrated with his relationship with Jia. Meanwhile, the film seems to be anti-Godzilla at first with the seemingly unprovoked attack early on. But as the film goes on, you find yourself rooting for both Titans and it’s hard to pick a favorite between the two.
Godzilla vs. Kong is playing in theatres right now and is available to stream on HBO Max.
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