Little represents the epitome of action movies better than a gargantuan, fire-breathing, nuclear lizard battling a giant, angry gorilla to the death in a dynamic adrenaline-pumping two-hour main event with a twist.
This is the excitement the audience gets with “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the culmination of a massive project featuring multiple standalone films — “Godzilla,” “Kong: Skull Island” and “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” — in a cinematic universe referred to by fans as the monsterverse. Since its inception, the creation of the universe always had the main intent of such a showdown between Godzilla and Kong. After delays from the coronavirus pandemic, the long-awaited movie was finally released in theaters and on HBO Max on March 31.
The film begins slowly, with some ominous foreshadowing of another possible unknown entity. Then, quickly, Godzilla and Kong are quickly thrown onto center stage, predestined for an epic battle not only outside the monsterverse but also from within its canon. The two monsters fight in rounds throughout the movie, each taking turns absorbing and delivering punishment like a video game boxing match. In the end, not so surprisingly, the two creatures unite to face a greater villain that has been arising around them the whole time.
“Godzilla vs. Kong” certainly produces vivid action elements and impossible-to-miss fight scenes. It’s not so much the plot structure, but instead the curiosity of the unique scenario that makes this film so attractive. Watching it is like a moth attracted to light — it’s so hypnotized by the light’s luminescent prominence that it isn’t thinking about the hazardous electric voltage. In this case, the moth is the audience and the lightbulb is the film. Heavy effects and CGI are all so unusually compelling that the actual degrading substance, the rushed plot of the film, can be irrelevant.
I certainly recommend “Godzilla vs. Kong” to anyone who loves action, especially anyone who enjoys a fluent and continually released saga of action films, much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s very easy to get what is expected in terms of film structure and content, which may not always be a bad element, depending on the viewer. It’s also definitely worth a watch for the high proportion of constant activity versus filler. For me, the action was so hypnotizing that even the necessary transitions seemed like a direct threat to the constant nonstop flow of the movie.
As with all popular action franchises, you can surely expect more in the future. Rumors of another monsterverse film have already echoed different rumors of iconic comic book characters from the past. The filmmakers have once again intentionally left loose ends and unanswered questions near the end credits in order to keep fans theorizing and wanting more.
As the film articulates: “Kong bows to no one,” and from the looks of it he will be sticking around cinemas for quite some time.