Review: Godzilla vs Kong

Okay, so here's what you want to know: there is an actual winner here. That said, as the final installment in a generally well thought-out (if not always successfully executed) series, those involved have clearly thought - a lot - about how to end things in a way that's going to keep everyone happy. Mission accomplished: whoever wins, the other guy's fans also win.

Unfortunately, that sense of being extremely careful not to put a foot wrong extends throughout this somewhat satisfying but never spectacular series capper, resulting in a film that never cuts loose the way a film titled Godzilla vs Kong should. Remember how the tagline for Clash of the Titans was the awesome yet awesomely stupid "Titans Will Clash"? This needed a lot more of that energy.

Still, titans (this series' co-name for giant monsters) literally clash here, so it can't be all bad even if it does take an exceedingly long time - close to an hour - to get to the first major fisticuffs. Before that Kong is in a cage while Godzilla roams the seas, and while Kong is clearly unhappy it's Godzilla that starts something, turning up at a US tech company's vaguely sinister coastal base to trash the joint for Reasons Unknown.

There are humans in this film, a handful of whom are left over from previous installments (notably Millie Bobby Brown reprising her role as A Sassy Teen), so much of the film follows them around as they either a): try to figure out just what the sinister tech company is up to or b): take Kong on a journey to the center of the Earth (which is hollow, don't you know) to collect samples of some strange form of energy that is the only thing that can protect humanity from the now supposedly rampaging Godzilla, and if you haven't figured out where things are going with all this that's only because you already know: this is a film titled Godzilla vs Kong.

Director Adam Wingard has previously focused on smaller scale horror (The Guest, the Blair Witch remake, the not great US live-action Death Note film), which may explain why this really lacks the (occasional) sense of awe the earlier films had for these giant monsters. Kong has always been the more cuddly of the two and much of the film focuses on him; aside from a few early scenes that really stress his size he's nothing to be afraid of. 

In contrast, Godzilla is kept at a remove (he's the antagonist here) but there's no real sense of terror when he's on the scene - he might be positioned as the bad guy, but he doesn't do enough bad guy stuff to build tension that way. Without that sense that as far as these creatures are concerned humanity is irrelevant, the fight, no matter what twists might occur, is just a way to see who's stronger.

Still, when it comes to the actual fight mechanics this does tick all the boxes. Godzilla attacks humans, Kong gets to battle monsters, the lead titans get to fight on each other's turf so the home ground advantage is spread equally - so if you're here to see the monsters size up against each other you won't go home disappointed, even if the final clash (which takes place in an urban setting) could have had a bit more variety as far as the visuals go. 

Unfortunately well over half the movie focuses on the humans, who are either boring, comedy relief, an occasional infodump, utterly irrelevant (Lance Reddick is back for literally one line) or Jia (Kaylee Hottle), a pre-teen deaf girl who as the last human survivor of Skull Island has a primal connection with Kong. 

The presence of her character suggests someone involved knew this story would work best on a mythological level; the scene where someone shorts out an evil computer by pouring booze over it suggests they didn't get their way often enough.

- Anthony Morris