Godzilla versus Kong

[TemporalVileTerror]

Short version:  Really fun movie!  Worth watching if you want to see giant monsters fight.  Decently watchable outside of fight scenes, even if you have to shut off your brain for it.   DEFINITELY a big screen movie, though, which is problematic for many of us right now.  King of the Monsters is still better.

 

Longer version:

So, since the pandemic has completely shut down movie theatres in our area, other than drive-ins, the spouse and I decided to rent this off of Youtube of all places.  $25 for 48 hour rental.  Not bad.  Our connection is stable enough that we were able to watch it on the 105cm widescreen with moderately high quality and no framedrops or streaming hiccups.  In fact, given how much trouble Youtube gives me on my own computer, I'm kinda wondering what the deal is there . . . 

 

ANYWAY.  As far as plot goes:  Don't worry about it.  Like most movies of this nature, the plot is mainly there to just hurry up and get you to the next fight scene.  It's not completely flimsy, and the plotholes are forgiveable.  It's definitely not a cerebral film.  You'll probably see things coming from miles away.

 

Visuals are pretty solid.  The facial expressions of Kong are good, but it's the facial expressions of Godzilla that really got me going!  There's one in particular that is hard to describe without being a spoiler, and I know people hate those, so I'll play nice.  The film is FAR LESS murky than either of the previous Godzilla movies.  They really want you to be able to SEE the fights this time.

 

Audio . . . eh.  King of the Monsters soundly defeats Godzilla versus Kong on this front.  It's probably one of the weakest parts of the movie.  Not -bad,- but definitely not as heart-pounding and inspiring as it could have been.

 

The real point of the movie, though, is the Fun Factor!  And here is where it really wins!  My spouse and I were both shouting at the TV at various points.  It felt like watching a sporting event at times.  There's a lot of passion and fun evident from the people who made this movie.  None of the actors seem to be phoning it in, and they're all just so animated and playing their roles with aplomb.  Even if this thing is built on predictable tropes and characters can be a little inconsistent at times, it all comes together with enough energy to just drive the whole thing forward!  And when there aren't actors chewing up the scenery with campy dialogue or elastic facial expressions, there are giant monsters ripping each other apart!

 

But . . . then again, King of the Monsters delivered on that too, and Ghidora was a truly magnificent villain.  The "big bad" in this movie just can't compete with that, let alone the tag-team battle of Mothra and Godzilla versus Rodan and Ghidora in King of the Monsters.  Although, it's definitely interesting to see a battle where a higher level of tactical combat is at play.  Ghidora may have been intelligent, but Godzilla's enemies in -this- movie are much more cunning.  And there are apparently a number of easter eggs in this movie, but again; King of the Monsters is just WAY MORE on point when it comes to homage of the classic era Toho monster movies.

 

Overall, I recommend Godzilla versus Kong.  Have yourself a fun time!

I'm very curious about where they'll take the franchise next time.

[TemporalVileTerror]

This is pretty on point:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGGWC5-q1Ts

Spoilers, blah blah blah.  But yeah.  All kinds of criticisms about plotholes and other nonsense that wouldn't stand in a different film, all addressed with "but giant monsters punching each other."

[Coyotedancer]

Nice! 👍

I admit I've been curious how that one stacked up. I do love a good, smashy giant monster movie.

[Grindingsucks]

I'm always amused by pretentious movie critics griping about the flimsy plot and character development in Godzilla movies.  Like Kaiju flicks have ever been about anything except the awesomeness of giant monsters running amok, beating each other up, and destroying cities.  What a bunch of idiots.  😆

 

I haven't got to see either of the new Gojira movies yet, which maketh me sad.  🙁