Godzilla vs. Kong

Whereas Disney had to put Winnie the Pooh in the vault in order not to irritate the great Xi Jinping, Warner Brothers found a way to not only milk one of its main bits of IP, but also to please China mightily. Kong and Godzilla thus head to Hong Kong to measure their strengths against each other. On the one hand, that means a lot of visually rewarding neon, but, mainly, this time it involves more than just the monsters slightly dishevelling some iconic landmark, as was previously the case. Rather, they literally raze the whole problematic and rebellious Hong Kong to the ground. With, of course, the exception of the Bank of China Tower, which is the dominant feature of their night-time battle, but the monsters don’t dare even to touch it – although this iconic building absolutely asked for some sort of interaction, the filmmakers used their potential on the Central Government Complex and Hopewell Centre. The studio tries to flatter the domestic audience of post-Trump America by nodding to the supposed populist subversives of the Illuminati conspiracies and canonising alternative facts around the Hollow Earth theory in order to ingratiate both groups of their contradictory interpreters (according to some, there is a habitable cavity inside the Earth, while others, based on the example of Kong’s habitat, claim that we live in the cavity and the view of the sky is an illusion). But perhaps it’s actually a well-thought-out and coherent dramaturgical concept that at the moment when the monsters aren’t beating the shit out of each other, the rest of the film is completely out of hand. As with the previous instalments of the new international kaiju franchise, I see parallels with the old films, but that doesn’t make the new one any smarter or more satisfying for viewers. Godzilla movies always somehow reflected the phenomena and social issues of the time in order to be relevant to their viewers, but at the same time, it was all much more entertaining and guileless back then. Today, clearly in parallel with our own time, everything is frantically elaborate, overloaded with absolutely useless information and über-complicated lore. Why don’t they just simply make a monster flick instead of all of those idiotic scenes with human characters who watch the kaiju even when they’re not fighting. I'd rather watch Godzilla just swimming, sleeping or knitting a pair of socks than any of those moronic scenes with human characters. But perhaps we have to be worthy of those scenes with the titans and, when it comes down to it, the fact is that it’s really worth it. (04/03/2021)

The most useless CGI fest of the year, where the characters suck and the script sucks. Technically, Godzilla vs Kong draws heavily on its predecessors and offers absolutely nothing extra. Kong Skull Island, for example, was technically imaginative and delightfully mysterious. This sequel didn't necessarily have a brain, but it could have at least honored the previous installments, or the Godzilla film from 2014. (04/17/2021)

A review from the perspective of a sweaty intellectual who has never left the house, after the 10th Mank and Nomadland without any knowledge of Kaiju, convinced that it is another artistic black and white romantic drama full of emotions, erotica, long shots, lyricism, allegories, and character development, and is ultimately horrified by the result. Oh well. I was hoping that we would watch Godzilla as a housewife drinking wine and constantly taking pills, taking care of four little Godzilla-cubs, and soon a man would come into her life and change it. Yes, King Kong in a tailor-made Armani suit. He is respected lawyer currently dealing with a dark case in the King Skull Tribunal, travels across the country and sees emotionally exhausted Godzilla in a picturesque cafe. Love at first sight, deep romance, emotions to the bone, she doesn't mind at all that King Kong is black because she is not racist, but on the other hand, she is strongly pious and has a dark, drug-filled past. They both experience the most beautiful moments of their lives, but soon there is a crisis that culminates like in The War of the Roses, and, in a plot twist, Godzilla learns that King Kong is actually gay and a spineless scum. Unfortunately, the drama does not unfold with intense atmosphere and an emphatic portrayal the characters, sighed the intellectual sadly. Once every two years, a proper monster movie comes out and it's a problem, but the fact that 400 dramas and soap operas are released annually for a few euros, that's fine. Finally, a movie where I don't have to watch the clock, I don't look around in boredom, thinking that a spider is crawling on the wall, and I won't fall asleep until I finish the last bite of popcorn. The action is properly grand, epic, the fights have verve, the journey to the center of the Earth is more original than another movie about a man with Alzheimer's. The clash of the two titans is definitely more interesting than another dull story, of which there are plenty, and whoever doesn't like it can go watch Malcolm & Marie. 8/10. (04/01/2021)

By this axe I rule! A perfect movie for kids, quoting from old Verne books. The story combines Japanese cartoons from the sixties with the screenplay for Batman v Superman (spoiler: instead of Martha there is a flashy: "I don’t give a shit…"). Both fights are a feast for the eyes. Inventive, dynamic and beautifully filmed. This calls for a movie theater. Whether it is the lights of Hong Kong or paddling in the water, the action looks like a wet dream of all (once child) monster movies fans. Damn the physics and the listless characters. You don’t go to the theater to see a movie like this because of the logic. To the movie theater. Sniff. Whiskey is a savior. I’ll have another... (04/02/2021)

After the previous entry I didn’t expect anything from this Mosterverse, but Godzilla vs. Kong turned out to be quite good fun. You have to approach it accepting the fact that it’s a fantasy spectacle about giant monsters, and forget about logic and physics. Visually, it’s top notch, the fights have substance this time, and the story… well, I wouldn’t say it was interesting – the human characters are still too insignificant for that –, but there were a couple of surprises not included in the trailers. It’s a shame about that line with the black conspirator and the two teenagers, I would discard it and sort if differently. (03/31/2021)