Movie Review: Godzilla vs. Kong

COVID-19 may not be done with us, but big, dumb, blockbuster movies are back. Based on the surprisingly high $48.5 million opening gross of the latest installment in Warner Bros. & Legendary’s Monsterverse, people have really missed this kind of escapism. And that was despite the fact that it is also available to watch at home for HBO Max subscribers through April 30, where it has also proved very popular. So, is it any good? Well, that’s going to depend on what exactly you’re looking for. The plot is basically a bunch of cockamamie nonsense designed to make sure that the two titular monsters repeatedly wind up in the same place as each other, but one doesn’t watch a Godzilla movie looking for Shakespeare. The impressive cast isn’t given much of any interest to do, but fortunately this movie doesn’t make the same mistakes of Godzilla: King of the Monsters and mostly ignores the human cast in favor of the impressive CGI monsters. The 2 fight sequences are satisfyingly long, full of cool set pieces and directorial flourishes, and surprisingly well-choreographed. For the first time, an American Godzilla movie feels like it truly understands what fans of the character want to see. Watching Godzilla and Kong duke it out in a neon-lit Hong Kong had me smiling like a kid watching one of the original Japanese movies on a Video Treasures VHS tape I had picked up for a few bucks from a rack at Jamesway. It’s no Citizen Kane, but it’s pretty much exactly what I wanted out of this franchise. ★★★★ – Sean Farrell