Tristan Garland ’22
Contributor
*Spoilers Ahead*
Length: 117 min
Audience Rating: PG-13
Rating: 8/10
Genre: Si-Fi, Action
Ending: Predictable
Released March 24, 2021, Godzilla vs. Kong is the last movie in Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse series.
Godzilla vs. Kong is a beautiful movie that is sure to be loved by fans of the franchise. The movie has a consistent high intensity that will keep you at the edge of your seat for your entire viewing. The cinematography is beautiful and the CGI is stunning.
The story is semi-intriguing: Godzilla attacks a company called Apex in Florida. Apex is a company with the presented goal of the betterment of humanity. The company happens to have much influence and a way to reach the center of a ‘Hollow Earth.’ This Hollow Earth is said to be the secret world beneath the earth from which the titans get their powers.
To get to the center of the Hollow Earth, Apex acquires the help of Dr. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård) and Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall). These two capture King Kong and use him to guide them to the center of the Hollow Earth. While they are on their way to Antarctica, Godzilla attacks the convoy carrying Kong. Godzilla wins the battle between the two beasts, with Kong narrowly surviving by playing dead.
At the same time, Maddison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown), Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Brown), and Josh Valentine (Julian Dennison) break into the Apex facility that was attacked to investigate what drove Godzilla to be so aggressive towards the company. Their quest leads them to Hong Kong, the grounds for the final fight between Godzilla and King Kong.
Dr. Nathan Lind, Ilene Andrews, and Kong find the power source and send it to Apex. At the power source, Kong finds an axe that has the same type of power as Godzilla has in his beam. Godzilla senses this and sends his Nuclear Plasma Beam to the center of the ‘Hollow Earth’ to kill Kong, Kong climbs the tunnel created by Godzilla’s power beam to fight Godzilla again.
Godzilla and King Kong face off in Hong Kong, with the fluorescent lighting illuminating the night set battle. Kong loses again but Godzilla does not kill him; he just incapacitates him via a pressure point on his chest. While Godzilla is doing his victory lap, a Mechagodzilla that Apex built, powered by the source at the center of the ‘Hollow Earth,’ attacks him and almost kills him, but King Kong, who gets a major shock put into him by Dr. Nathan Lind and Ilene Andrews, joins the fight and Kong and Godzilla and up killing the Mechagodzilla after it gets partially shut down by Maddison Russell, Bernie Hayes, and Josh Valentine.
After this, Godzilla and an exhausted Kong have a stare down but don’t fight, as Godzilla retreats into the ocean, giving a sense of mutual respect between the two titans. Despite largely enjoying this movie, the reason for a loss of score is its predictability. The Godzilla vs. Kong movie follows the same plot structure and plot points of every movie that features two big franchise characters fighting, like Captain America: Civil War or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The plot structure is as follows: the two characters have a big fight, but in the end, they always join together to defeat a greater evil.
Other than the predictability, Godzilla vs. Kong has a lot of great elements and is incredibly enjoyable, I would recommend it to any action/sci-fi movie lover.
Photo Credit: Legendary/Warner Bros
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