Ishiro Honda's King Kong vs Godzilla is a childhood favorite, and so despite its men-in-floppy-costumed confinement, a re-imaging was going to be hard to embrace in my sentimental estimation.
I also feared that the WB/Legendary Films Monsterverse Godzilla vs Kong would play it safe, with mushy attributes, dense double talk and maybe even a superfluous role from the overused Mothra, just to remind us how important a feminine touch is for Cancel Culture action movies. (Gosh, does such a contradiction exist? Oh, yeah, there's that Harry Potter thing.)
However, I'm pleased to report that this new clash of the titans is brutal and virile, an unapologetic triumph on all Hong Kong-crushing counts.
Scripted by Max Borenstein and Eric Pearson and directed by Adam (You're Next) Wingard, Godzilla vs Kong follows all those insinuations found in its trailers (as well those based on fanboy speculation), with Godzilla acting as a misguided aggressor and Kong performing as Earth's potential savior, even if temporarily contained and not always allowed to finish his fights. As expected, Mechagodzilla (for the record, a knock-off of Toho's mighty Mecha-Kong) intercedes in the titanic collision, much like Doomsday in Batman v Superman, securing an earthquaking alliance against the mega-robot's reckless, Apex puppeteers.
The Mechagodzilla component is a welcome, if not necessary one, even though the mean machine has been overused as much as Toho's mammoth moth. At least Gojira's steely counterpart prompts callous battles, no matter the movie or its particular quality. The automaton's inclusion in this instance is no different and may be Mechagodzilla's most fulfilling appearance.
Though the monsters (and there are several) are the focus (thank God), the cast of mortals grants respectable filler: Millie Bobby (Stranger Things) Brown as Madison Russell (reprising her Godzilla King of the Monsters '19 role); Kyle Chandler as Mark Russell (also reprising his King of the Monsters role; while having been a significant costar in Peter Jackson's Kong '05); Rebecca Hall as Irene Andrews (Kong's earnest cheerleader); Alexander (Legend of Tarzan) Skarsgard as Dr. Nathan Lind (a former Monarch geologist and ridiculed, Hollow Earth scholar at Denham University of Theoretical Science); Kaylee Hottle as the pacifying Jia; Demian Birshir as the shady Walter Simmons; Erza Gonzalez as his snarky daughter, Maia; Shun Ogun as cybernetic whiz Ren Serizawa; Brian Tyree Henry as conspiracy-theorist Bernie Hayes; Julian Dennison as nurturing nerd Josh Valentine; in addition to other keen characters and players.
To amp up the supplemental rumble, Tom Holkenborg (aka Junkie XL)'s score is a huge presence onto itself, charging the monster-brawl sequences with the same Wagnerian (if not Ifukube) roll that he gave Zack Snyder's Justice League and Mad Max: Fury Road.
There's nothing profound about this Monsterverse chapter (not even its prehistoric backstory), which is a big reason why I dig it. Unlike the convoluted Godzilla King of the Monsters '19, Godzilla vs Kong steps in sync with the unpretentious Kong: Skull Island and the rambunctious Rampage. In other words, it doesn't have to justify itself with an overabundance of climate crap. Shoot, I'll even give its propagandist CNN insert a pass, simply because the film lets its overriding chips fall where they will.
If cinemas were open to the extent they were prior to the pandemic paranoia, Godzilla vs Kong would be a record-breaking smash. Let's hope its limited, theatrical release and HBO-Max setup is just as successful in its own intimate right, and from there we get that big-budget Destroy All Monsters redux we've been long promised.
