As far as let downs go, GODZILLA VS KONG isn't so bad. It delivers some true eye-popping spectacle or maybe I'm just the easiest mark when it comes to buildings being destroyed and flashy neon colors. I wonder if it's possible I might have enjoyed it more if I was able to see it in my beloved (but now dead-by-Covid) local movie theater? Maybe. On the other hand, I didn't mind watching in sweats with a fridge full of beer either. Ah, why blame the victim (me) though? The sad truth is that this is a movie that does a great job with monsters destroying things and a terrible job creating anything remotely human. I'm a big disaster movie fan so I'm not asking for much as far as characterization goes. I just need a few quick but juicy brush strokes. I'm not looking for more backstory, more info or more time spent with the characters; I just need them not to be dried out charmless husks. I'm curious if anyone can confirm if director Andrew Wingard appeared younger after filming because it truly appears that he sucked the life energy from his cast.
We all want to see the monsters fight its true. We all know going in that we're going to have to endure a bunch of scenes with people looking at maps and computers speaking gobley-goop. It's an agreement we all sign up for. Usually in a well done film the downtime works to create anticipation for the promised eye-candy and may even accentuate the eventual cathartic release random destruction brings. But GVK seems to take it a couple dozen painful steps further and the non-action scenes play like dead air and white noise. I'd say every other movie in this monster –verse series (GODZILLA, KONG: SKULL ISLAND, GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS) dealt with pretty much the same format but were still able to install a sense of wonder and a variety of good and bad human-types to get behind or root against. I'm not sure how nothing remotely like that happens here. To render Rebecca Hall uninteresting, Alexander Starsgard uncharismatic and Millie Bobbie Brown a dead weight is really some sort of unholy cinematic alchemy.
This is a flick that introduces something called the "hollow earth" a stupid concept that a Saturday morning cartoon would be embarrassed to try to sell and yet it's sadly appropriate for such an empty vessel. GODZILLA VS KONG is beautiful, mighty beautiful. There are some incredible visuals that brilliantly call back Bava's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES but I'd almost rather check them out in a special effects reel. Again, I don't think I'm asking for much just to have the bare minimum of believable story and at least remotely relatable characters. Heck, I don't even think my pal Godzilla came across very well, somehow he even seemed like he was there to pick up a paycheck and split and he's (to the best of my knowledge) pure CGI; how does one suck the energy out of something that isn't even alive? Oh well, I loved the fight against the backdrop of neon buildings in Hong Kong, In fact, I'd say its worth the price of admission alone, I guess. Plus there's a pretty nifty surprise special guest star monster I was Mecha-delighted to see. Maybe next time add a puppy in peril though and give me something to wring my hands about.
While I do agree that it lacked the heart of the last movies, the hubby and I were pretty jazzed to see it. Although, I live in a very small place were the theatres are open with less than half capacity, so we were just super happy to see something on the big screen again. I think the director tried to shoehorn too much in. Like my husband said, Although she was cool to watch, Millie Bobbie brown's whole plot could have been taken out and the movie would have played out the same. I was in it for the monsters anyway, lol. I did enough hand wringing when Kong was on the upside-down boat. My hubby is a complete King Kong man and I am a Godzilla girl, but damn, did that monkey steal my heart in this one lol.Plus, I didn't get the devastating emotional blow that Mothra's outcome caused in King of the monsters. Still not over it.
I feel like going on a good, old fashioned rant. I can't even look at these modern CGI shit-fests. Modern movies suck; literally everything about them, I despise. I hate the CGI that makes everything look like a videogame. I hate HD gloss that makes everything look bland and generic. I hate the blatant propaganda (Hollywood movies in particular have always been propagandistic, but in the past it was at least a little more skillfully done). I hate the childish worn out, cliched and rehashed stories, motifs and symbolism constantly appearing in every one of these pieces of shit. I hate the actors who have no personalities whatsoever and who will never have the legacies that ye olde timey movie stars had and have (can you really imagine a future where you are old and grey, saying I want to watch an Alexander Skarsgard movie or an Adam Wingard movie the way one might now say I want to watch a Cary Grant movie or a Hitchcock movie? Will you even remember their names? I seriously doubt it, because they are just that uninteresting and forgettable). I hate the hairstyles, I hate the clothes; again it's all bland and generic current year style, it's like it's not even an after thought, everything and everyone looks the same. I think its actually a good thing that movie theatres are dead; movies nowadays don't even deserve to be shown in theatres, they are not up to the standards that should be required for that. I don't know, just absolutely everything about the now sucks just like Beavis and Butt-Head used to say.
JennyD13,
There is some fun to be had with this movie for sure and I agree Kong really comes off a lot better than the big G who they made into sort of a wet blanket. But yeah, I looooooved Mothra in the last one and I didn’t feel anything close to that with this movie. I do wonder if I had seen it in the theater if that would have helped at least a smidge. Now that I think of it though, they couldn’t even make the mute child who talked to Kong into the heart of the movie and that seems like it would be a cinch. I guess the thing is, in a way, all the other films were working up to this one (and it’s likely the last) so I’m disappointed that its my least favorite of the bunch.
Ghastly1,
Thank you! I was feeling a bit guilty for being so negative but you just made me feel a lot better! And you’re not wrong. So much of this movie reeks of heartless assembly line product. I usually love Rebecca Hall and here she is a dud and I can almost hear her agent saying “the script sucks but do it anyway for the publicity and exposureâ€. And yeah the CGI can be cool but is a definite drawback in some areas. I just watched the 1976 KING KONG again and even though the special effects were not nearly as good you got so much more expression from Kong- especially in the eyes.
Unk,
I'm not really a Godzilla or King Kong fan but I'll take a guy in a rubber suit, stomping on cardboard buildings over a bunch of non-existent 1's and 0's any day. CGI doesn't look real; it just looks shitty and fake in a different way.
I think CGI is actually getting worse; Terminator 2- a film I don't care for and which can sort of be blamed for kick starting all of this relentless CGI non-sense, is now 30 years old. It actually looks better and more realistic in certain parts (specifically when the T-1000 assumes the guise of Lewis the Guard) than do all of these modern "blockbusters".
I don't know what all has changed technologically that could possibly account for it, but they were able to make it more convincing back then, in my opinion. Maybe it had to do with CGI being used relatively sparingly in conjunction with actual physical tangible sets and locations, so it wasn't all you had to look at; now everything is fake and it just takes me completely out of any realm of care or believability.
I think it's time we abolish "positivity" because that is how the powers that be are able to continue to get away with degrading the state of affairs in the movies and more generally overall.
We have been trained to "put a positive spin" on everything for fear of ever entertaining a "negative" thought in our heads or an unkind utterance slip from our lips because "positivity" reinforces and upholds the collective lies which constitute "the system" under which we all suffer. There is safety, anonymity and a temporary stability in the collective but there is also more importantly, a deadening of truth, personality and beauty, of aspirations toward anything higher.
So to those who say "be positive", I, like another uncle, this one aptly named Frank, in a movie about being Home Alone once said "you be positive, I'll be realistic".
Ghastly1,
You might want to take a look at SHIN GODZILLA (2016) which has monsters that are sort of a high/low tech fusion and weighted and not so synthetic. It’s a pretty interesting take imo.
And I think I’ll always feel a little guilty about being too negative about a movie just because I know what its like to work hard on something and for it not to land right or work as I intended for others. It’s really painful and I’d hate to make others feel that way unintentionally. Then again, I apologize to inanimate objects when I bump into them so don’t ever go by me!
And I rally did love the neon city fights in GVK so it did give me something that I’ve never seen before and I really do appreciate that.
Agreed on all fronts, Unk. I thought it was better than King of the Monsters, but worse than Kong: Skull Island and Gareth Edward's Godzilla. Edwards tried to make the horror real in Godzilla, which I appreciated, and John C. Reilly combined with cool monsters and Skull Island, itself, made up for Kong: Skull Island's lack of an ending. King of the Monsters was a mess all around and this one wasn't far behind. I thought Godzilla vs. Kong did the monster fights better than KoTM, but both movies were terrible with the human element and ended up looking like CGI soup. I second the Shin Godzilla recommendation. It is, far and away, the best Godzilla movie since the Heisei era. If you enjoy Kaiju movies, go watch it now and get ready for Shin Ultraman! I recently read that Hideaki Anno is gearing up to make Shin Kamen Rider next and I'm all for it!
*Spoiler Section*
Also, why not reveal that the reason Godzilla isn't acting like Godzilla is that it isn't Godzilla, but MechaGodzilla in a Godzilla shell/skin suit? Having Kong be the same size as and be able to go toe to toe in a fight with Godzilla, then breaking the shell/skin suit to reveal MechaGodzilla would have allowed them to have the real Godzilla show up, be way larger than either of them and kick MechaGodzilla's ass. Kong could have still bowed out in the end and they could have still parted as friends and comrades in battle. I hated the MechaGodzilla reveal. It was so anticlimactic. Just a thought!