I have enjoyed the majority of the movies in this new Monsterverse
a whole bunch. The first Godzilla entry
in this set was a little somber for my taste and spent way too much time with
the humans, but Godzilla looked amazing and the “Let Them FIGHT” sequences
between Godzilla and the MUTOs were great.
I loved Kong: Skull Island – even though I will always be team Godzilla
as opposed to Kong. Setting that one back in the 70s and letting Sam Jackson
get irritated with Kong was fun.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters was even better, but still way too many
human characters as Godzilla had to deal with piles of other Titans woken up by
eco-terrorists and the Monarch company. He finally defeated Ghidorah in the
end, and we saw that a shady company picked up one of Ghidorah’s spare
heads. Of course, they used that to
create MechaGodzilla for Godzilla vs. Kong in which Kong is starting to outgrow
Skull Island and Godzilla is getting frustrated with people – eventually the
two team up to eliminate MechaGodzilla and Kong goes to live peacefully in
Hollow Earth. And yes, I watched and loved the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters show
on Apple Plus and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Russells.
This movie opens with a stunning sequence of Kong going about his business in Hollow Earth. We see that it is not really all that peaceful as he deals with random monsters, crazy terrain, and a bad tooth. I love this sequence so much because there is no dialogue – the story is told completely visually. Side note – I still want an AVP movie with no humans – we do not need dialogue to understand what is going on. In any case, while Kong comes up to get his tooth pulled talk with sign language to the little girl from the previous movie, Godzilla is ambling around the globe, taking out random titans and leveling up once he consumes their power – apparently preparing for an upcoming threat.
Monarch follows Kong back down to see what is going on, and
all of them learn together about the ‘Scar King’ who is bad news and has been
planning revenge on the surface in general and Godzilla in particular for
years. Kong has to enlist Godzilla’s help,
the humans do what they can to assist, and giant titan battles ensue.
Honestly, this may have been my favorite entry into the Monsterverse
to date. It finally nails the tone by embracing the silliness of the story
while still giving these movie-monster classics their due respect and glorious hero
shots. The effects are lovely, both
leads look astounding, and the human cast is having a great time – perhaps none
more than Dan Stevens and Brian Tyree Henry. Stevens in particular was really
enjoying himself. If you liked the other
entries in the series – you’ll like this one. Kong is great – clearly exhausted
and just looking for some rest (he seems to become King Kong at the end, so
maybe he’s due for a break?) Godzilla is still my favorite – I love when he and
his thick thighs take off running. In this one, he even does a running dive off
the Rock of Gibraltar which is spectacular. Also, him napping in the Roman Colosseum
like it is a giant Godzilla-sized kitty bed? Perfection.
Overall – so fun, great titan battles, good human cast,
perfect popcorn flick – 9/10.
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