After a year of tumultuous politics, the pandemic and postponed box office successes, it is a blessedly simple joy to see Godzilla and Kong hammer each other out. Directed by Adam Wingard (You’re next, Blair witch), this fourth film in the Legendary MonsterVerse series doesn’t embrace the roots of beasts in the horror genre, as you might expect, but a familiar blockbuster.
In the place of Godzilla: the dark, rainy look of King Of The Monsters is the blue sky in the afternoon and the sunset in a blazing orange. Meanwhile, a climax clash in neon-soaked Hong Kong may have been directed by Daft Punk.
Wingard, let’s not forget, also directed the 1980s embedded thriller The Guest and Godzilla Vs. Kong is a bit like that movie, if Maika Monroe and Dan Stevens were 100 meters tall. The carnage begins when the Big G, established as the protector of the planet in King Of The Monsters 2019, emerges from the ocean to attack the Apex Industries.
Given that this technology company run by billionaire Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir) is concerned with maintaining a balance between humans and Titans, the attack establishes Godzilla as a kind of heel (he has always been in the habit of changing sides in Toho Studios films. ). What’s more, he is moving towards the installation of the Monarch that acts as Kong’s new home, encouraging Dr. Ilene Andrews of Rebecca Hall and Alexander Skarsgård’s handsome geologist Nathan Lind to frantically transport Kong to safety. . I was not so lucky …
None of the characters under 6 feet – or 6 feet 5 inches, in the case of Skarsgård – hold attention, and there are some of them running around. One subplot shows Dr. Andrews’ adopted daughter, Jia (Kaylee Hottle), communicating with Kong through sign language, while another involves conspiracy theorist Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry) teaming up with teenagers Madison (Millie Bobby Brown coming back) and Josh (Hunt for Julian Dennison of The Wilderpeople) for a Goonies-style adventure that never happens. But all this is overlooked when the Titans clash, with the star of Kong: Skull Island having grown from a teenager who was, in the 1970s, to a gray-headed gorilla so huge that he is now no match for his atomic-breathing enemy.
OK, so the bright light steals the VFX’s weight, and the structure of Godzilla and Kong’s relationship is entirely predictable. But seeing these famous monsters share the screen for the first time since King Kong vs. 1963. Godzilla, in a series of skilfully choreographed battles, takes a real hit, even if you can’t help wishing that your local cinema screen was 30 feet high.