Visual effects enhanced empathetic titans

Godzilla vs. Kong review

By Tharishi Hewavithanagamage

One of the most anticipated films this year was Godzilla vs. Kong, directed by Adam Wingard. The film is the fourth installment in Legendary’s MonsterVerse and stands as a sequel to both Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island. Godzilla vs. Kong sees the titular characters locked in an epic battle for supremacy, but also brings in new titans and human characters as well into the plot. The new titans featured are, Nozuki, a winged serpent creature, Warbat, and Mechagodzilla. The film explores more titan lore and expands the history of the two titans, making them ancestral enemies. The film stars Kaylee Hottle, Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, and Demián Bichir.

The film picks up years after Godzilla saved the world from Ghidorah. Godzilla has returned to the surface once again, but now is attacking cities unprovoked. Meanwhile, King Kong who used to live on Skull Island is now held captive in an arena that reflects his previous home. With Godzilla constantly on the prowl, searching for Kong, Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) and Jia (Kaylee Hottle) work together to keep King Kong safe. Things change when they are approached by Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård).

Lind is tasked, by Apex Cybernetics CEO Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir), to take Kong to Hollow Earth which apparently contains a strong power source that can defeat Godzilla. Unaware of the true motives behind Apex Cybernetics, the team head to Hollow Earth with Kong, only to realize they’ve played their hand at bringing something far worse to life. The lives of the people, King Kong and Godzilla are on the line as they come face to face with a mechanical nightmare.

First off, Godzilla vs. Kong truly delivers on the visual effects and titan lore. Godzilla looks menacing and unhinged as ever, while it ramps up the tension between the two titans. The movie also serves audiences a look at their kill counts in the battles with other titans, which proves that Kong and Godzilla are unparalleled in their power and capacity to take on other titans, effectively making them perfect matches for the battle of the century. While there is less visible change in Godzilla, King Kong has seemingly aged, but he remains unflinching in his ways. He also wields a Kong-size Battle-Axe this time.

The buildup is intense which allows viewers to pick sides. The fight scenes have been created with incredible precision and mass scale destruction. The punches, the scratches, the heavy blows that are thrown at each other are simply incredible and terrifying at the same time. Every fight scene, even the one against Mechagodzilla is simply gruesome, terrifying and exciting.

The movie focuses more on King Kong than Godzilla or the humans. Kong is depicted as the more sympathetic titan of the two. Kong also showcases a range of emotions and is portrayed as an intelligent, peace-loving titan. He doesn’t actively want to get involved in fighting but is simply looking for his home. Although both titans have a shared home, only Kong gets to delve deeper into Hollow Earth and understand their shared past. However, the film doesn’t dig too deep into ancient history and keeps it strictly relevant to the fight, which is rather disappointing as it doesn’t complete the tale.

Another interesting aspect of Kong is his friendship with Jia. Kong trusts Jia more than anyone else and is very protective of her. The two understand each other through the use of sign language and it helps audiences realize that there is more to Kong than just being an angry titan. The emotional capacity showcased by the two is so authentic and genuine, it’s definitely a tearjerker. Unfortunately the film doesn’t offer much time to get invested in individual stories or characters.

While the two titans receive more screen time, the human characters receive underwhelming focus and dialogue. The human stories are all connected in some way, but the sloppy plot and script leaves the story disconnected and almost absent. Hasty decision making on the part of the humans result in many unnecessary situations that could have been avoided. Furthermore, the story arc with Bernie and Maddie (played by Brian Tyree Henry and Millie Bobby Brown respectively), which focus on identifying Apex’s ulterior motive, comes off as a rushed plot line and feels very disconnected. It appears as if the storylines were made within the confines of the fight between Godzilla and Kong, which is why the plot and script leave no room for the actors to truly shine with their abilities and potential. The story would have made more sense had there been balance in the script and allowed more depth in their plight and emotions.

There’s also the new entry of Mechagodzilla into the MonsterVerse. The giant mechanical version of Godzilla first appeared in 1974’s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and this is the first time audiences get a good view of the hunk of metal on the big screen. Through Mechagodzilla the film sets up the primary conflict as being a very human one. Mechagodzilla simply stands to represent corporate control and greed while also posing the question of who the real monsters are. Abuse of nature’s power for profitable gain and to establish humankind as the alpha species over titans is explored in this film. It certainly drives home the point that Kong and Godzilla seem to have a greater emotional capacity and far greater intelligence than the human characters shown in the movie.

In the end, despite the haphazard plot and dull character arcs, Kong and Godzilla have displayed their visual effects fueled battle of the century. Mechagodzilla’s entry into the MonsterVerse also paved way for the biggest and highly unexpected team-up fight scene that has occurred in the history of the franchise. Also by bringing in Hollow Earth and more information about titan lore, the film sets up well for anyone looking to continue the franchise and plan a prequel to this story. The film is entertaining and lives up to the hype of the battles, mainly because the visual effects are without a doubt the best aspect of Godzilla vs. Kong.