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Date: 4/12/2021
In theaters and streaming: ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’
I must admit two things: I’m a huge fan of the original 1933 “King Kong” and have not been impressed with any of its remakes until “King of Skull island” was released in 2017.
The second admission is while I have sat through a number of “kaiju” films – the Japanese word describing the giant monster genre – they have not been my favorite science fiction/fantasy films.
My prejudices have now been revealed.
The last Godzilla movie I saw – prior to the 2019 remake that is part of the currently trilogy – was “Shin Godzilla,” which concentrated on the internal governmental process of reacting to an event such as the appearance of a giant monster, rather than the monster and his actions. It was like Jack Webb of “Dragnet” fame had directed a kaiju film with endless minutes of people sitting around conference tables discussing what to do.
It was like watching paint dry.
The newest Godzilla film (2019) was better than that and put the “monster” into the position of being actually a hero.
So, in this concluding film, we have Godzilla and Kong, who apparently hate each other, duke it out until we have a key plot twist in the last act.
This is, of course, not the first time the two giants have met. Producer John Beck stole an idea from the original Kong animator, Willis O’Brien, that would have had the giant gorilla face off with a huge Frankenstein’s Monster. Beck brought the concept to the legendary Japanese studio Toho and it was changed to a film that pitted Godzilla against Kong.
The film was released in 1962 in Japan and 1963 in the United States. Everything old is new again.
I can say three positive things about this new production: Kong and Godzilla actually have personalities; the end of the film will satisfy fans of each character; and the CGI animation is impressive.
That’s it for the praise.
This film has an amazingly convoluted plot involving an evil corporation; the skull of King Ghidorah – the monster Godzilla defeated in the last movie; podcasters; an underwater transport system linking Florida with Hong Kong; and the existence of a hollow earth.
Got that? Director Adam Wingard presents all of this as fast as he can so hopefully we can’t tell immediately how ludicrous it is.
It also presents a new version of a venerable Toho Godzilla creation.
What the movie lacks are opportunities for any actor to actually have enough to do in order to create a real character. The slack-jawed look of amazement and/or horror is the dominant trait of all of the performances. Kong expresses more emotions and he isn’t real.
Millie Bobby Brown is the nominal star who reprises her character from the last film. I like her a lot from “Stranger Things” and “Enola Holmes,” but she doesn’t get to do very much in this film.
This has been the most successful movie of the pandemic, according to trade publications, both here and around the world. I’m not surprised. It’s a fairly mindless high concept movie that retreads existing franchises in a very loud and bright manner. It works well on a big theatrical screen and has proven to be the movie people actually want to see in theaters.
The timing helps. Vaccinations have started and people seems to be expressing a little more confidence in doing something as non-essential as watching a big monster movie outside of their homes.
If you enjoy seeing giant CGI creatures slug it out, then this is your movie.