by Ryan Duvall ’21

The fourth installment of Warner Brothers “Monsterverse” is out. And unfortunately it is  disappointing. After three films, where many monsters were introduced, it appeared that only two were left standing, Godzilla and King Kong. In this film, the two heavyweights do face-off and while the action is great, the story-telling and acting are lackluster. Director Adam Wingard steps out of his typical horror style to put together a movie that was supposed to be one of the biggest action blockbuster films of 2021. Although it has been very successful at the box-office, earning 200 million worldwide after two weeks, it is not necessarily a good movie.

One of the main problems with “Godzilla vs. Kong” is how different it is from its predecessors. The previous films in the monsterverse all appeared to have an emphasis on character development when it came to the humans involved in the movie; however, Wingard’s installment skips that, leaving previously introduced characters to the side in favor of adding new characters whose backgrounds and plotlines are severely rushed. The introduction to a plethora of new characters, plus bad writing, almost set ‘‘Godzilla vs. Kong’’ up for failure. 

However, Wingard did do a few things very well when it came to this movie. First off, the fights between Godzilla and Kong are great, and there is no question that viewers will enjoy the action. And yes, rather than giving us no clear winner like some of these big crossover movies do, there is a definitive winner in “Godzilla vs. Kong.” Additionally, the cinematics are terrific. Wingard does a solid job of displaying the futuristic technology that has been developed in this universe along with the devastation caused by the two Titans when they rumble. The last props to give the film is doing what none of the other’s did – establish a firm relationship between a human and one of the Titans. Wingard creates some emotional heft to the movie to see that through all of the destruction and chaos the monsters do cause that they still care and have feelings like any other living thing. 

So, despite some of the films successes, it still has many flaws and is a bit disappointing as far as blockbuster movies go. The movie is available on HBO Max up until May 1, and has been in theaters since March 31.

Grade: C