Rent Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

Calling Kong a monkey does not end well, even if you are good looking. - Godzilla vs. Kong review by Strovey

Set after the conclusion of the last film, when Godzilla battered the living daylights out of Ghidorah we have another King Kong, Godzilla blockbuster. The whole point of this film, regardless of plot, or actors, is to see these two CGI behemoths pummelling the tar out of each other. So, for all intents and purposes this film completely fulfils its purpose. Godzilla and Kong do batter, punch, kick, fire breath and ram things into each other’s heads all over the place, out at sea, and Hong Kong, which they flatten with some aplomb, in garish, confusing mishmash of roaring, punching, kicking and deafening roaring action.

The actors do not far so well. The story is a bare sketch the sole purpose to get the monsters to fight. For a film, that I guess must really be trying to appeal to younger children at the most the child actors are at the forefront the human action. They do not beat the monsters on screen, but they do beat the adult actors into the background. With preposterous silliness to play with the three main youngsters acquit themselves very well. Millie Bobby Brown is already an established and fine actor so we know that any scenes are going to be fun and believable, equally Julian Dennison since his breakout role in Hunt for the Wilderpeople carries the role of comedy sidekick skilfully and with the ease that some much older and more experienced actors could learn from. Entirely deaf Kaylee Hottle is the newbie and is quite enchanting. The children are the resourceful heroes of the day and should at least get their contemporaries in the audience whooping with joy as unbelievable as their shenanigans are.

This leaves us with the adults, good actors too, but they are very much trailing behind 300-foot monsters, super-kids, explosions and collapsing building. Lumbered with not much characterisation, nails on blackboard dialogue they do their best and leap and jump and look concerned through the running time.

The CGI and effects are good, you can see where the money has been spent although it is for me, once again, noise and light salad, much less than the sum of its parts.

All in all, as a monsters fighting film this is good. Anything else and the weaknesses show. I know that Godzilla vs Kong has many fans old and young alike but purely from my point of view once again we are taking a trip to the continent of Non-Plussed-Land. As my grand daughter said after Skull Island why did they CGI Kong to look like a man in a suit and here we are clearly following the original series and not King Kong, either 1930s or Peter Jackson variants. I just prefer my giant apes not 300 feet tall and to resemble a real ape but that is just me.

Some points to note.

1. Kong was constantly called a monkey throughout the film. Is this a deliberate wind-up by the filmmakers, if it is, not funny, if not that’s probably worse, ignorance.

2. The exceptionally beautiful Eiza González gets killed again, the last film I saw her in was Baby Driver.

3. Over the course of these three films in this monster universe how many people are killed? Honestly it must be millions and the cost or rebuilding would bankrupt the world.

I know it is a silly monster film, I know we are not supposed to take it seriously, but these are the things that just get into under my skin and stay there. I think about them when I am watching the film.

If you like monsters lathering the bejesuses out of each other this is the film for you, if you like some sort of logical storyline to go with this battle, maybe not so much.

Eye candy with no brain required. - Godzilla vs. Kong review by PC

Can a movie be spectacle alone foregoing all other considerations? Godzilla vs Kong poses that question and in the humble opinion of this reviewer the answer is a resounding no. Undoubtably Godzilla vs Kong is heavy on spectacle with a ton of marketing mens summer blockbuster movie selling points. Monster vs monster fight... tick. Monster vs robot monster fight.. tick. Explosions.. tick. Journey to the centre of the earth.. tick. More monsters.. tick. The CGI bill for this movie must have been about 99% of what was probably a sizeable budget. A real shame then that no one thought to buy a decent script and plot with something more than shallow characters. Indeed no one thought to add anything that would have made this movie meaningful, exciting, engrossing, captivating or made me feel anything or think anything other than, wow, thats a-lot of CGI. The cast are quality, I love Brown in Stranger Things, but the poor script and heavy effects eclipsed any chance that they might deliver performances I cared about. If you ignore this review and watch this movie anyway just be advised that you can check your brain in at the door, you wont be needing it here.

weakest recent kaiju movie so far of the new ones - Godzilla vs. Kong review by PJ

I enjoyed the last two Godzilla and kong Island movies especially the first Godzilla movie directed by Gareth Edwards. This though has so many plot hots and unnecessary scenes. The three main fights between Gozilla and kong seem to last luster and visually are probably not as strong from a cgi and action point of view. The dialogue is really poor as is the virtually non exsitant plot. The whole hollow earth section could have been ditched. What is it as well with characters suddenly knowing exactly what stuff is or what it does. Even from a turn your brain off point of view this doesn't stand up. very disappointed and feels like its pandering to the Chinese audience at the cost of a good plot and film.

Great CGI, everything else … awful - Godzilla vs. Kong review by Other Worlds

It has been a while since a Godzilla movie pretended to have much of a plot and in this case it has dropped even pretending.

Fun , when the CGI is front and centre , a waste of time otherwise.

Dreadful - Godzilla vs. Kong review by si

Absolute garbage of a film

Appalling acting.tiresome endless fights between Godzilla & Kong

.film relies heavily on unconvincing CGI.

I was glad when the end credits appeared

Expensive B-movie - Godzilla vs. Kong review by GT

Everything about this film streams asylum movie channel. Even the title. It was so incredibly silly that I just couldn't get into it. I enjoy b-movies but when I plan to watch them I know what to expect and I expected much better with this film. A complete let down.

Fight scenes aside, this is a giant bore - Godzilla vs. Kong review by NP

The plot is every bit as silly as the Showa era Godzilla movies, but almost completely lacking in their charm. You'd think that a film about a giant monkey fighting a giant lizard would allow itself to have more fun! I was simply bored during the whole thing, except for the two big smackdown sequences.