Director: Adam Wingard
Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Duration: 113 minutes
Godzilla vs. Kong (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
Over the years, we have covered all of the new MonsterVerse movies revolving around Godzilla and King Kong. For Godzilla, we have seen him defend the Earth against big bad monsters twice, once in 2014 and another time in 2019. King Kong, however, we saw back in 2017, where the rebooted story went in a totally different direction for once. This time it wasn’t all about beauty and the beast, but rather about the humans once again meddling with nature, when they shouldn’t. It was already hinted at from time to time, but in 2021 it finally happened that Godzilla would take on King Kong, as both now existed in the same universe. We were given a Blu-ray copy of the home release, and we were quite curious to see how much damage these two titans could do. Those interested in reading our old reviews revolving around Godzilla and King Kong in this MonsterVerse can do so by clicking the year of release mentioned above.
Godzilla vs. Kong takes place several years after the events of the second Godzilla movie, and of course, also after the events of Kong: Skull Island. Godzilla has been roaming freely around the globe, basically leaving humankind alone, while King Kong is being studied in a private facility. The giant ape is docile and kind towards its captors but also yearns to be free again. Sadly, it seems the time of peace is over when Godzilla attacks an Apex Cybernetics facility. The world is now declaring war on the giant lizard, but it also becomes clear quite fast that Apex is doing rather shady stuff at their facilities.
Surprisingly, the flow and pacing of this installment in the MonsterVerse are actually spot-on. The movie hands out information when it is required and then digs back into the subject matter: the epic fight between the titans. True, we see the humans scheming in the background again, but for the biggest portion of the movie, you’ll be able to enjoy a lot of action without too much filler content. The runtime of Godzilla vs. Kong is perfect, even with its very simplistic underlying plot.
While there are many big names backing this movie, we felt that the actual battle between Godzilla and King Kong was the true highlight of the movie. Of course, the acting performances were very good for this film, but the characters felt very shallow, and more than often it felt like they were just there because the creators couldn’t justify making a full-length feature film with just monsters duking it out. That being said, we find that Rebecca Hall and the very young Kaylee Hottle steal the show for the most part when looking at the actual acting performances. Milly Bobby Brown also has a leading role in this production, but her character also feels very shallow. The other cast members didn’t perform badly, it’s just that their characters don’t have a lot of depth.
If you’re looking for some extra bang for your buck, we suggest taking a look at the Blu-ray version of Godzilla vs. Kong. This version contains loads of extra content, including typical behind-the-scenes footage, making-of sequences, a lot of lore, and the origins of both titans. There is well over an hour of extra content to explore, and we loved most of it. Some features felt a bit more redundant than others, but for the most part, this is a very content-heavy physical release.
Conclusion
Arguably Godzilla vs. Kong isn’t the best monster movie available, but it is quite an enjoyable movie to watch. The characters in this fourth installment of the MonsterVerse are very shallow, but it seems the focus lies more on the conflict between the titans, and that aspect is highlighted properly throughout the film. The Blu-ray version also comes with loads of special features revolving around the creative process behind the film, as well as background information about King Kong and Godzilla over the decades. If you enjoyed the previous movies, you cannot go wrong with this one. Those who missed the previous films can still enjoy this one as a whole, albeit with a few missing links here and there.
Godzilla vs. Kong (Blu-ray) - Movie Review,
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