Wow, it's been a while. I haven't been reviewing anything lately simply because cinemas haven't been open in the UK and thus I haven't had much to review. I have seen a few new things on Netflix, Apple TV, Disney+ and so on but will probably make another ranking of all of them later on. But, a notable new release starring two big fellas has dropped this weekend, and I have seen it, so discuss it I shall.
Godzilla vs. Kong is the latest installment in Legendary's MonsterVerse, and it was meant to come out a while ago, but was pushed back because of the bother that is that ongoing pandemic. Anyway, it's here now even though cinemas aren't back just yet, which I am glad about. As much as I love going to the pictures and seeing films on a huge screen, I will admit that I haven't exactly felt a considerable cinema-shaped hole in my life in the last year when they've been mostly closed. I'm now at the point where I'd much rather see all the films we've been forced to wait ages for (such as No Time to Die, A Quiet Place 2, Black Widow, etc.) than wait for the cinemas to be open to show them. So, I'm happy that some films are coming straight to our homes for us to enjoy, even if we have to pay around £15 to rent them, and what better film to do so than this.
In the film, Kong is being used to transport a group of people to what's known as 'hollow earth' where they can find a power source capable of destroying Godzilla, now seen as an enemy to humanity. On the way, the two big guys cross paths and a series of crazy, destructive antics ensue.
In all honesty, even though I love analysing films and picking apart all the little things that amount to such a great work of art, so much so that I'm actually going to take a degree in film studies at university next year, I have no problem with what people tend to regard as 'popcorn movies' - stuff that's all about the excitement and entertainment. The moviegoing experience is all about entertainment at its core, so I have no issue with things existing to entertain and just to entertain.
Godzilla vs. Kong succeeds as a really enjoyable and well made popcorn movie. It has all the action and spectacle that one could ever ask for based on what the title promises. It's hard not to be even slightly excited by the sight of these two giants smashing each other, it's just so much fun. Additionally, some of it is executed really well. One battle takes place in Hong Kong, and watching the two clash with all the neon lights in the background was somewhat mesmerising. The 'hollow earth' is also a really well realised environment, with the journey to it being particularly enthralling and the landscape itself being really beautfiul, oddly reminiscent of Ice Age 3 if that means anything to you.
One of the complaints a lot have had about these movies is how the human characters involved are really boring and weigh down the movie. Obviously, you can't just have ninety minutes of non-stop monster fighting as that would just be a headache, so you need some humans to try and ground everything for the audience. The issue with this a lot of the time is that the humans are just forgettable and have no sense of character about them, so they can be quite dull, and made worse when they take the focus away from what the audience has come to see, monsters battling each other. Here, I think there was just the right amount of human characters; the filmmakers definitely know that the audience doesn't care for them, so they made few attempts to make actual characters, which is fine. Even though it would be nice to have compelling human drama alongside the monsters, it isn't a necessity. They fill their role sufficiently - navigating all the chaos in order to ground it for the audience. The focus is more on the monsters, so it was all good.
Naturally, this isn't a perfect movie. One problem I have is that the movie doesn't have much of a wow factor. I haven't seen the Godzilla movie from 2014, but of the clips I have seen, such as the scene at the airport, the sheer scale of this creature is really well conveyed. You get the sense that he is just enormous, and it's kind of amazing. Here, although you're regularly reminded that these beasts are very big, you don't have that same sense of wonder at just how big they are. There aren't many civilian shots to help convey this so that aspect is lost, which is a shame because it does make the film more of a spectacle to behold. Another issue is that it does get a big tiring after some time; once you've been seeing these creatures punching each other and roaring for an hour or so it does feel quite fatiguing. There comes a point where they literally roar loudly at each other for a solid minute and it is a little head-banging.
While Godzilla vs. Kong obviously isn't anything great, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a ton of fun with it. It does exactly what it says on the tin and is a perfectly enjoyable, albeit quite tiring, way to pass two hours. If you are lucky enough to be in a place where cinemas are open and are showing this, I think you ought to try and catch it there as it is certainly made for the big screen, but if you're like me and are limited to your TV at home, I'd still recommend to give it a watch anyway to take your mind off all the nonsense going on in the world at the moment.
I'm going to give Godzilla vs. Kong a 7.5/10
I have seen some other films from 2021, but will get round to discussing them when cinemas come back in the UK, at which point I'll also list off some more great, pre-existing things that I watched for the first time during this whole COVID ordeal - I've seen over 100 now! If you want to keep up to speed with what I'm watching / ranking, follow me on Letterboxd (Jack W) where I log everything I see and update all my lists.
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