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‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Review: Let’s You and Him Fight

Ape and lizard go toe-to-toe, with a cast of talented humans to comment on the action.

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‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ | Anatomy of a Scene

The film’s director adam wingard narrates the scene where godzilla and kong first spar..

“Hi, I’m Adam Wingard. I’m the director of Godzilla vs. Kong. All right. So here we are, at the big first battle between Godzilla and King Kong on the ocean. And this is why you do these movies. Like, it’s called Godzilla vs. Kong, and from the day that I signed up, this is what I was looking forward to. And you got to do a lot of stuff in a film like this as a director that sometimes isn’t fun. This is a sequel. You have to figure out how to lay out all this exposition and be as efficient as possible with those type of things. But when you get to these moments, it’s all worth it because it’s basically like playing with C.G.I. toys.” [EXPLOSIONS] “So where possible, I tried to anchor the perspective from a point of view that could actually be shot. So all these angles, Godzilla’s fin coming out of the water, we tried to picture, hey, maybe you could strap a camera in this reality to Godzilla’s fin and you’re right there with him. So we tried not to— even though in the CGI world you can do whatever you want, there’s a temptation to just go hog wild and move the camera around 360 and all these things. Like, I tried to anchor that into a reality as much as possible. We broke those rules sometimes because in a movie called Godzilla vs. Kong, you just got to do cool crazy stuff and make it as insane as possible. This is a fight where we’re on uneven terrain. Kong is already at a disadvantage. He’s not as strong as Godzilla. Being on the ocean is a really bad place for Kong to be. He can’t swim as well as Godzilla and he can’t breathe underwater like Godzilla and he doesn’t have nuclear breath, and all these things. And as a director, it gives me a real starting place because I know that the terrain in itself is going to dictate the approach to the action.” [KONG ROARS] [SCREAMING] “This sequence right here is one where everybody was the most nervous on set about shooting it because we got this underwater version of this set, all the actors are in there. And we way over-scheduled this. We had, I think, four days straight of just shooting the actors underwater. And you look at the final version of it and it’s literally, I think, there’s 30 seconds of footage, if that, of the characters underwater. Alexander Skarsgard is actually doing all of his own swimming here, which is really super cool. Where possible, we always tried to link the monster shots with the human shots. Right there, you just saw one of Godzilla swimming. We cut to the back of Skarsgard swimming. There’s Kong, he’s roaring. And then we cut to Skarsgard in a close-up in a similar angle and he’s yelling.” [KONG ROARS] “It’s like you’re dealing with characters that are six foot and below and 300 foot and above. So how do you link them up? You try to find these little visual cues that just subconsciously tie the two worlds in together. And you’re going to see another one right here as Kong comes out of the water and as the boat flips over. This is one of my favorite shots in the sequence because you can see the scale of all the detail of the water. But he’s on all fours. He’s coughing. We cut to Skarsgard, he’s doing exactly the same thing. And you feel like now you’re in both worlds.”

By A.O. Scott

A few nights ago, I watched “Godzilla vs. Kong” alone in my darkened living room. This was far from ideal, but it did make me acutely nostalgic for a specific pleasure that I have gone without for 13 months. There are many reasons I miss going to movie theaters, but one of them I hadn’t really taken account of is the particular delight of watching a bad movie on a big screen.

I don’t mean “bad” in a bad way. It’s a description, rather than a judgment. “Godzilla vs. Kong,” directed by Adam Wingard, is the fourth episode in a franchise, called the MonsterVerse , engineered from fossilized B-movie DNA. As such, it assembles an impressive human cast to run around explaining fake science and calling attention to what is happening in plain sight. “Did the monkey just talk?” someone asks. He did, sort of, but that’s not what anybody is here to see. We paid money to watch him fight the lizard.

Well, I didn’t, but if things were different I might have. Not necessarily as part of a monthly HBO Max subscription fee, mind you. (The movie made $123 million in theaters overseas last weekend.) The spectacle of the titular titans going mano a mano was meant to be witnessed in the presence of restless members of your own species, whose behavior provokes you to groan at the ridiculous parts, laugh too hard at the secondhand jokes and cheer when simian fist connects with saurian jaw.

Absent such company, it’s possible at least to admire “Godzilla vs. Kong” for what it is — an action movie made with lavish grandiosity, zero pretension and not too much originality. An opening sequence gestures in the direction of previous MonsterVerse installments ( “Godzilla,” “Kong: Skull Island” and “Godzilla King of the Monsters” ) while also tapping into the energy-drink rhythms of playoff sports broadcasting. Myths and legends are invoked along with genetics and geophysics, but bracketology is the relevant intellectual discipline.

And the principal aesthetic achievements are the Kaiju and the ape. They fight at sea and on the streets of Hong Kong, and their bodies are rendered in loving, preposterous detail. Kong’s size seems to fluctuate a bit, as if he were a boxer hovering between weight classes. His fingernails are beautiful, though, his teeth straight and his fur impressively groomed.

The movie, written by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein, may tilt a little in Kong’s favor. He has a sweet friendship with a young girl named Jia (Kaylee Hottle), whose guardian is Ilene Andrews, a sensitive scientist played by Rebecca Hall. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgard) is less sensitive, and is ethically compromised by his involvement with Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir), a corporate bigwig who expounds on technological ambitions while wearing a brocade smoking jacket and brandishing a tumbler of Scotch.

You know the type. You may also know the misfit types who take up Godzilla’s side of the story: the paranoid podcaster (Brian Tyree Henry); the nervous nerd (Julian Dennison); the independent-minded teenage girl (Millie Bobby Brown). Brown was in “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” and so was Kyle Chandler, who once again plays her father, the anxious bureaucrat. That movie and the other earlier MonsterVerse pictures were a little more interested in people than this one, which reduces motives and relationships to visual shorthand and indifferently written banter.

The poetry, as I’ve suggested, resides with the beasts. Kong, being a warm-blooded creature, is the more passionate and moody of the two. He also learns to communicate with humans and to use tools, or at least a glowing ax that he finds in a cavern deep under the earth’s surface. (The earth is hollow, in case you didn’t know.) Godzilla is simpler, but also more enigmatic — a small-brained killer whose scaly face nonetheless registers an almost philosophical weariness as well as instinctive belligerence.

Which would you bet on? I’m not going to spoil anything. In spite of the pale-blue death rays that shoot out of Godzilla’s mouth, it’s an old-fashioned donnybrook, a brawl that feels more physical than digital. Kong has broad shoulders and the ability to make a fist, but Godzilla has claws, a low center of gravity and a sledgehammer tail.

It isn’t pretty, and it doesn’t mean much, but “Godzilla vs. Kong” turns its limitations into virtues and makes stupidity into its own kind of ingenuity. The original “Gojira” was an allegory of human recklessness, much as the old “King Kong” was a tragedy catalyzed by human cruelty. They were pop fables, something this slick spectacle doesn’t remotely aspire to be. But it does at least honor the nobility of the brutes on the screen as it caters to the appetites of the brutes on the couch.

Godzilla vs. Kong Rated PG-13. Large animal mayhem. Running time: 1 hour 53 minutes. In theaters and on HBO Max . Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.

A.O. Scott is a critic at large and the co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

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Review: In ‘Godzilla vs. Kong,’ the big monsters brawl. And the audience actually wins

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There is a moment early on in Adam Wingard’s deft, daft “Godzilla vs. Kong” that almost feels topical. A fleet of ships nervously bringing precious cargo across the ocean encounters Godzilla, and his razor-sharp, Himalayan dorsal fins neatly bisect an aircraft carrier or two. With its dazzling, scaled-up, crunchy blockbuster CGI, the sequence plays like a novel solution to the recent boat-stuck-in-the-Suez-Canal snafu that kept the world riveted for days.

But that moment is also notable for being the only time anything in this witty, rollicking, nonsense movie — which mashes up mythologies and movie references into one Jules-Verne-meets-”Tron” event — even lightly brushes against reality. Otherwise, “Godzilla vs. Kong” is magnificent in its refusal to be relevant or serious or important in any way. It’s a truly noble aim when even Ishiro Honda’s dinky 1962 release “King Kong vs. Godzilla,” in which a dude encased in spongy rubber had a couple of hilarious slappy-fights with another dude wrapped in old carpet, billed itself as a media satire.

If the infinitely slicker new movie is an allegory at all, it’s an allegory for what would happen if a really big, tool-using primate had an ancient beef with a really big radioactive dinosaur. And after so many tentpoles that have insisted on being metaphors for this or that, the abundance of sound and fury here — take a bow, Tom Holkenborg, composer of the majestic synth score — blissfully signifying nothing, qualifies as a colossal, giddily escapist relief.

The unseriousness of it all is signaled from the start, when a lumbering Kong — now matured into the largest incarnation of the ornery ape ever — grouchily awakens on a utopian Skull Island like a trucker with a hangover. Sweet doo-wop music plays as he scratches his rear en route to his waterfall shower. Just when it seems like we’re in for all-out comedy, with Kong perhaps ready to toss a few SUV-sized Alka-Seltzers into a handy freshwater fjord, up pops his playmate Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the deaf Indigenous orphan with whom he has a special, narratively convenient bond.

But Kong isn’t playful today; he uproots a tree, fashions it into a spear and flings it angrily into the sky. Unexpectedly, it lodges there, shorting out some circuitry, and so we learn that Skull Island is under a massive geodesic dome, mostly — as exposition machine and Jia’s surrogate mom Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) exposits — to protect the Big Guy from the tingly spidey-sense of Godzilla, the world’s other Alpha Titan with whom Kong has a long-standing Hatfield/McCoy-style rivalry.

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Already horror director Wingard (“You’re Next,” “Death Note”), who seems to have relaxed into blockbuster filmmaking more easily than others who’ve made a similar small-film-to-big-film leap, has shamelessly flouted the don’t-show-the-monster-till-you-really-have-to rule. And immediately he breaks it again, whipping across the globe to Florida where Godzilla is launching an apparently unprovoked attack on one of those Big Secret Facilities that have never in the history of cinema been up to anything good.

This one is run by APEX, a shady conglomerate headed by a clearly megalomaniac Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir), and it’s already under haphazard investigation from the inside by low-level engineer and conspiracy podcaster Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), who gets some of the film’s clunkiest lines, but hey, at least they’re delivered by Brian Tyree Henry. He will soon, along with rebellious teen Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown), survivor of 2019’s vastly inferior “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” and her best friend Josh (Julian Dennison) form an intrepid, if rather irritating, #TeamGodzilla.

Meanwhile, #TeamKong is rounded out by toothy geek Dr. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgard), a largely disparaged Hollow Earth theorist who is recruited by Simmons to convince Dr. Andrews that Kong is their best hope of combating the latest Godzilla rampage. For some reason this will involve escorting Kong to his fabled subterranean ancestral homeland, a perilous journey that can only be achieved with the help of APEX tech.

How the ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ team approached those spectacular kaiju fights

“Godzilla vs. Kong” director Adam Wingard and visual effects supervisor John “DJ” DesJardin on crafting the film’s “bombastic” kaiju battles.

Why any of this has to happen, except maybe to level the playing field (Godzilla’s radiation-beam blasts give him a bit of an unfair advantage over an adversary who’s otherwise just a really big gorilla with an eye for the ladies) is never clear. But then, the plotting of “Godzilla vs. Kong” is rudimentary when it’s not ridiculous, and while it does give a range of very good actors the chance to prove that they too can say things like “Kong bows to no one!” and “There can be only one Alpha!” with a straight face, it’s also very much not the point.

The point instead is Ben Seresin’s fluid and well-lit photography capturing Godzilla silhouetted against the neon of a soon-to-be-razed Kowloon skyline. The point is Kong flinging fighter jets around like they’re darts, and bouncing happily about a zero-gravity underground wonderland, using one pteranodon to beat another pteranodon to death. The point is that we get a fairly definitive answer to “who would win in a fight?” that won’t entirely disappoint either faction, but, to quote an internet joke that remains funny no matter how often you’ve heard it, also is not a cop-out to do with both the antagonists’ moms being named Mothra.

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What it lacks in guiding philosophy, this hefty dose of Kaiju-jitsu makes up for with an inexcusably large budget that could not be more all-up-there if there were actual $100 bills stapled to every inch of the screen — that and the myriad movie references that whip by. Some are blatantly obvious, like the aforementioned “Tron,” “Journey to Center of the Earth,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Jurassic Park” and so on.

Others flicker up so briefly that you might wonder whether perhaps your brain, absent anything else to do, is manufacturing little synapse-firestorms of allusion where none were intended. Is Wingard deliberately referencing Bong Joon Ho’s “Okja”? Michael Mann’s “The Keep”? Are we supposed to think about “Lethal Weapon 2” when Kong appears, quite nonchalantly, to reset a dislocated shoulder? Very likely not. But, like most of the thrillingly well-rendered large-scale destruction, in which evacuated skyscrapers keep getting pulverized by errant swipes of scaly tail or meaty fist, it’s a good time and it doesn’t hurt anybody. At least no one we care about.

So after 2014’s beautiful but rather boring “Godzilla,” the enjoyable, moderately inventive “Kong: Skull Island” three years later, and the absolutely incoherent “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” this fourth entry in Legendary Pictures’ Monsterverse is as dumb as the franchise has ever been. Only this time it knows it and leans into it.

It will disappoint the 14 people who come to “Godzilla vs. Kong” looking for an insightful disquisition on the human condition embodied by relatable characters engaged in logical problem-solving. But who cares, when the rest of us get King Kong in a helicopter-hammock, and a chance to become reacquainted with a concept that has been as absent from recent blockbuster filmmaking as it has from our recent lives. What is it called again? Oh, yes. Fun .

'Godzilla vs. Kong'

Rating: PG-13, for intense sequences of creature violence/destruction and brief language Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes Playing: Opens March 31 in general release and streaming on HBO Max

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Godzilla vs Kong review – duelling monsters make for one hell of a show

The two titans take each other on in a goofy and hugely enjoyable action adventure that delivers the big dumb thrills many of us have been craving

T he last two months of rabid meme-spawning ridicule aimed at the absurdity of Godzilla vs Kong’s very existence had prepped us all for a punchline rather than an actual movie, something to poke fun at rather than have fun with. It wasn’t just because of its inherent, Happy Meal tie-in silliness but also an awareness of what had come before, a young Warner Brothers cinematic universe precariously built on shoddy foundations. Gareth Edwards’s 2014 Godzilla might have boasted a couple of visually audacious sequences but it was mostly a rather unacceptably dull and bafflingly serious reboot. It was at least coherent, something that Michael Dougherty’s noisy 2018 sequel Godzilla: King of the Monsters couldn’t even manage, an unwieldy mess of a thing that was embarrassingly outdone by a canny marketing campaign.

In-between the two, there was more to recommend in Jordan Vogt-Roberts’s Kong: Skull Island in 2017, which was uneven but mostly rather entertaining and surprisingly nasty, bolstered by a keener awareness of what tone a b-movie such as this needs to at least somewhat work. The films had attempted to lay the groundwork for an interconnected world of city-crushing monsters controlled by Monarch, a shadowy scientific organisation, but the convoluted cork board dot-connecting pushed us further away from the good stuff: watching giant creatures destroy things. The commercial failure of Godzilla: King of the Monsters – a film that barely covered its budget and marketing costs worldwide – was surely enough to make Warners second guess their expensive and extravagant MonsterVerse especially after a bullish decision to shoot Godzilla vs Kong before its predecessor had even been released.

The tea leaves weren’t offering up much hope, dampened even further by the pandemic, a film designed for the biggest screen possible modestly unfurling for many of us at home instead (in the US it will be available on HBO Max and in cinemas and in the UK it’s a premium rental). But perhaps this unlikely underdog positioning has ultimately come to Godzilla vs Kong’s rescue because what was initially seen as a bloated and unwanted piece of boardroom product has now become a scrappy little contender, fighting its way from far beneath sea level up to the surface, triumphantly landing on both feet, the striking spring surprise none of us had expected.

After the overstuffed and underwritten jumble of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which links directly to the plot here, it’s a pleasure to see the surer hand of horror director Adam Wingard leap over any similarly soapy setup (he quickly realises we give only the slightest of damns about the humans) and throw us directly into the action, which then barely relents for the ensuing almost two-hour runtime. It’s not that Godzilla vs Kong isn’t also overstuffed but as a whole it’s a more graceful beast, dotting from one plot thread to the other with speed and agility, a proudly defined b-movie that picks goofiness over the strange self-serious pretentiousness that suffocated the Godzillas that came before it. The plot is, of course, just a frantic way to justify why the two titans would come to blows (both had been positioned as protectors of humanity in previous films) and their beef is down to a mysterious threat that is somehow connected to Apex Industries, a company whose headquarters is attacked by a previously dormant Godzilla in the first act. His destructive reappearance leads to global concern that he may now be more foe than friend and so Kong, living in a controlled tech simulation within Skull Island, is recruited to help by leading a group of humans on a deep dive to the core of the Earth, the specifics of which are too silly to get into and also of lesser interest than the main question most readers will have: how are those fight scenes?

While the misleadingly magnificent trailers for Godzilla: King of the Monsters teased a film of immersive action and sweeping, surreal beauty, the film itself offered up confusing choreography, ugly editing and an inability to turn a single stunning image into a sequence of note. Despite genre inexperience, You’re Next and Death Note director Wingard quickly grasps the mechanics of action far quicker and with each of the many, many set-pieces that come, he’s able to keep us grounded while in the middle of chaos, allowing us to follow and feel a part of the manic smashing and crashing (something the first Pacific Rim also struggled to do). The much-hyped battles deliver the giddy thrills we demand but in the moments when the pair aren’t at war there’s also a staggeringly well-built and extensive universe to explore and one that’s barely been teased in the trailers we’ve seen. The journey to the core of the Earth is a film in itself and while visual touches are cribbed from both Star Wars and Tron franchises, it’s all so remarkably handsome that it’s hard to complain.

The humans are obviously of minimal importance (the finale in particular is jaw-droppingly callous in its destruction of an entire city and its inhabitants) but the script, from the Marvel writer Eric Pearson and the MonsterVerse stalwart Max Borenstein, uses the film’s ensemble mostly well, they propel things along without dragging them down. There’s no time for romance between Rebecca Hall’s anthropological linguist and Alexander Skarsgård’s geologist or between Millie Bobby Brown’s Godzilla-stanning teen and her friend Julian Dennison and while Brian Tyree Henry’s conspiracy theorist podcaster does get lumped with comic support, it’s breezy enough not to get annoying. The most impactful human character is played by deaf actor Kaylee Hottle, playing a girl who shares a bond with Kong, whose scenes come closest to giving the film some sort of heart.

But ultimately it works best when operating on the grandest scale imaginable and while there’s a bittersweet tinge for those of us watching it at home, it’s already serving as a reminder why the big screen experience will never go away. This past week, it set a global box office record for a film released during the pandemic (in many territories where cinema-going has returned to a semblance of normality, it’s receiving a standard theatrical release), a welcome boost to an industry suffering an existential crisis. So while, yes, Hollywood and Warner Brothers may end up being the biggest winners in the battle of Godzilla vs Kong, it’s a genuine surprise to report that we, as viewers, also emerge as victors. The last laugh shall be a roar.

Godzilla vs Kong is available on HBO Max and in US cinemas from 31 March and to rent digitally in the UK from 2 April

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‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Review: You’ll Want to See This Titan Throwdown on the Biggest Screen Possible

The two title monsters don't have much brains between them, but they make up for it in brawn. Same goes for the movie that pits them against each other.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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It’s all been leading up to this: the ultimate monster mash — or clash of the titans — “ Godzilla vs. Kong .”

Enticing as an epic slugfest between two of cinema’s most famous demolition experts may sound, there’s really no way to pretend that King of the Monsters and once-and-future-king Kong are evenly matched. A radiation-powered freak of nature, Godzilla has missile-proof skin and atomic breath, whereas his relatively sensitive adversary is essentially a big gorilla. Unlike the all-but-indestructible Godzilla, Kong can feel, bleed and be easily sedated. These two aren’t even supposed to be the same size, although the movie presents them as such — but then, scale has rarely been a sticking point in a series that once saw a man in a rubber suit stomping through shoulder-high power lines.

The way director Adam Wingard (“You’re Next”) figures it, if you have time to think about such things during “Godzilla vs. Kong,” he’s not doing his job correctly. The director intends for you to be impressed, but also to care about these non-speaking characters (but especially Kong, the obvious underdog here). Meanwhile, the human ensemble is made up mostly of conspiracy quacks and pseudo-science hacks, which may resonate in a world spun by QAnon-sense. Still, it’s a relief when their virtual co-stars’ thunderous roars drown out the mumbo-jumbo dialogue. Eyes wide, brains off, ears bleeding — that’s how Wingard wants his audience.

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When Toho Studios unleashed Godzilla on the world in 1954, the raging kaiju spawned sequel upon sequel across several different cycles, as the giant lizard attacked first cities and then other mutant creatures in a succession of showdowns having little consistency to the overarching mythology. Working with Warner Bros., Legendary has been more strategic in laying the groundwork for its so-called MonsterVerse, releasing a Kong reboot (“Skull Island”) with the express intent of pitting the ape against Godzilla in a future blockbuster.

Now, not even the coronavirus can stop these two magnificent beasts from wreaking beautiful mayhem, resulting in some of the most photogenic destruction this side of Michael Bay. Whether it’s staging a rumpus on the high seas or a donnybrook in downtown Hong Kong, Wingard has the vision to deliver iconic fight scenes in a movie with multiple surprises up its sleeve (including another classic opponent to unite the rivals), while mercifully clocking in at under two hours.

The box office (or lack thereof) should make apparent just how drastically the pandemic has hobbled the tentpole business, since this franchise capper — which pays off elements established across three previous films — was poised to become one of Hollywood’s all-time-highest grossers. Warner will release the behemoth simultaneously in theaters and to HBO Max subscribers, although this kind of spectacle begs for the big screen, so buy a projector and beam it on the side of a barn if you can’t safely make it to the megaplex.

The movie opens on Skull Island, where Kong is being kept contained by Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall). The enormous brute has all but adopted a deaf girl, Jia (Kaylee Hottle), which combined with his evolving use of tools, show more smarts than his captors realize. Halfway around the world, crackpot podcaster Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry) promises to expose shady secrets at Apex Industries just as Godzilla makes his first appearance, rising from the sea to attack the robotics research facility.

What’s not clear about the incident is whether the rest of civilization has anything to fear from Godzilla, who seems to have a special beef with Apex boss Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir), one of those greedy weapons manufacturers the movies imagine being a tantrum away from triggering global annihilation. In Godzilla’s prior appearance, 2019’s loud and overcrowded “King of the Monsters,” the lizard served as a positive force of supernatural pest control, ridding the planet of unwanted predators. But Walter doesn’t see it that way. Humans aren’t comfortable anywhere but the top of the food chain, and Apex intends to live up to its name.

Clearly, Walter’s plan is to build something more powerful (classic Godzilla fans can no doubt put two and two together). To pull that off, he enlists nut-job professor Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård), a champion of the “hollow Earth” theory that dinosaurs didn’t go extinct — they just went underground. Their cuckoo mission to reach the earth’s core requires shipping Kong to Antarctica, where he can lead them to this subterranean realm and what Ilene describes as “a power beyond our understanding.” That’s more than enough plot for one movie, especially since audiences didn’t sign up for a Jules Verne adventure, but a beastly battle royal.

From the filmmakers’ point of view, the idea is to get Kong out on the open ocean, chained to a heavily armed carrier, so that he and Godzilla can ring in their first round. In this setting, the helmer has 360-degree access to his combatants, who obediently pose for his dynamic virtual cameras. If “Cloverfield” was the shaky, mock-doc answer to a kaiju movie, then “Godzilla vs. Kong” is its glossy, gleefully artificial antithesis: a fantasy brawl where nearly every shot looks mythic.

Screenwriters Eric Pearson (“Thor: Ragnarok”) and Max Borenstein (who’s been with the franchise since 2014’s “Godzilla”) have a way of complicating things with twists that barely hold water — including “Stranger Things” actress Millie Bobby Brown ’s “Stranger Things”-like bunker break-in. “Godzilla vs. Kong” is most satisfying when it’s at its most simple, which happens either in quiet bonding scenes between Jia and Kong, or else in those deafening moments when the monsters are duking it out.

This they do in a Zack Snyder-esque suspended-animation way, so that fans probably don’t even consciously realize the filmmaker is dialing down the frame rate to accentuate their most dramatic moves (say, when Kong smashes his giant blue ax into Zilla’s face). Back in the day, these franchises relied on endearingly clunky practical effects, using stop-motion and rubber suits to bring the creatures to life. By contrast, this entry amounts to a high-end cartoon, in which computer-generated characters pummel each other on virtual sets.

While stunning, the footage has that hyperreal-to-the-point-of-fake look, where everything is either moodily twilit or smothered in magic-hour honey. Granted, that’s an improvement over both Godzilla’s and Kong’s hokey lo-fi origins. Just because Warner Bros. is treating the adversaries as bona fide A-listers doesn’t mean the rock-’em-sock-’em extravaganza amounts to anything more than a dumb-fun B-movie. Nor should it. Considering the havoc a microscopic virus has wreaked on the past year, being caught between two 400-foot titans doesn’t seem so bad.

Reviewed at Imax Headquarters, Playa Vista, March 24, 2021. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 113 MIN.

• Production: A Warner Bros. Pictures release, presented with Legendary Pictures, of a Legendary Pictures production. Producers: Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric McLeod, Jon Jashni, Thomas Tull, Brian Rogers. Executive producers: Jay Ashenfelter, Herbert W. Gains, Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Yoshimitsu Banno, Kenji Okuhira.
• Crew: Director: Adam Wingard. Screenplay: Eric Pearson, Max Borenstein; story: Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty & Zach Shields, based on the character “Godzilla” owned and created by Toho Co., Ltd. Camera: Ben Seresin. Editor: Josh Schaeffer. Music: Tom Holkenborg.
• With: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir.

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Godzilla vs. kong, common sense media reviewers.

Blockbuster monster mash is heavy on mayhem, light on story.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

It takes courage to stand up to powerful people an

Main characters want to keep balance between monst

Brian Tyree Henry's kooky conspiracy theorist, Mil

Lots of action and sci-fi violence. Big, over-the-

Swear words include "hell," "bitch," "s--t," "damm

CNN is part of the film's world.

Mentions of drinking. Pivotal scene involving a fl

Parents need to know that Godzilla vs. Kong— the fourth installment in the MonsterVerse franchise that started with 2014's Godzilla —is a sci-fi fantasy movie about the age-old battle between two of the world's biggest titans. Like the previous films, it's full of explosive, over-the-top action…

Positive Messages

It takes courage to stand up to powerful people and fight for peace between humans and monsters. Empathy for others is crucial in making the world a better place.

Positive Role Models

Main characters want to keep balance between monsters and humans. Madison Russell, in particular, goes to the limit to save Godzilla from being hurt. Jia speaks to King Kong to help him feel at ease and to find his home. Researchers Ilene Andrews and Nathan Lind use their smarts and access to technology to help King Kong.

Diverse Representations

Brian Tyree Henry's kooky conspiracy theorist, Millie Bobby Brown's brave Godzilla expert, and Rebecca Hall's commanding scientist add a bit of diversity to the film, but White and light-skinned people still propel much of the action. More characters of color are found in supporting roles. The mass death of Skull Island's Indigenous population due to climate change is only casually referenced. Jia (played by deaf actor Kaylee Hottle) is the only surviving member of the tribe and is costumed to look "exotic," with a leather headband and beads. Adding to this othering is her character's unique, almost supernatural connection with Kong, who will communicate only with her. The director and screenwriters are all White men.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Lots of action and sci-fi violence. Big, over-the-top clashes between Godzilla and King Kong, including explosions and Godzilla's nuclear blasts, cause mass destruction in a large city. Gory moments involving the titans (King Kong, Godzilla, Mechagodzilla) tearing apart monsters or crushing humans. High-tech guns used by humans don't result in blood or gore. A character is electrocuted.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Swear words include "hell," "bitch," "s--t," "dammit," "goddamn," and a line that hints at "f--k." Casual uses of "crazy," "stupid," and "nuts," as well as exclamations of "oh my God" and "Jesus."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

Mentions of drinking. Pivotal scene involving a flask and alcohol.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Godzilla vs. Kong— the fourth installment in the MonsterVerse franchise that started with 2014's Godzilla —is a sci-fi fantasy movie about the age-old battle between two of the world's biggest titans. Like the previous films, it's full of explosive, over-the-top action violence, including fights, destruction, and nuclear blasts. There are also some gory moments when the titans tear monsters apart and kill humans, and high-tech guns are used. Language isn't extreme but includes "s--t," "bitch," "goddamn," and more. There are mentions of drinking, and a pivotal scene involves a flask and alcohol. Courage and empathy help the characters succeed. There's Deaf representation with Kaylee Hottle, and other diversity throughout the cast. Alexander Skarsgård , Millie Bobby Brown , Rebecca Hall , and Brian Tyree Henry star. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (28)
• Kids say (101)

Based on 28 parent reviews

Great CGI can't compensate for awful story.

What's the story.

In GODZILLA VS. KONG, the world's two oldest titans, Godzilla and King Kong, meet to have a final epic showdown to decide who's the true king of monsters. Madison Russell ( Millie Bobby Brown ) goes on a crusade to Hong Kong with conspiracy theorist Bernie Hayes ( Brian Tyree Henry ) and her friend Josh Valentine ( Julian Dennison ) to stop Apex Cybernetics from harming Godzilla. Meanwhile, researchers Ilene Andrews ( Rebecca Hall ) and Nathan Lind ( Alexander Skarsgård ) try to help Kong find his lost home near the center of the Earth. Ilene's deaf ward, Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last of her Indigenous tribe, bonds with Kong via sign language, making her one of the few humans Kong trusts.

Is It Any Good?

This movie is great if you only want to see King Kong and Godzilla fight, but aside from their much advertised matchup, there's not much else to it. Characters from previous Godzilla franchise films—including Mark Russell ( Kyle Chandler ) and his daughter, Madison (Brown), are mixed in with new folks to try to flesh out the Godzilla universe. But regardless of whether someone is from the franchise or is brand new, it's hard to know why we should care about them or their backstories. In some cases, we don't even learn their names until near the end of the film.

That lack of cohesion is also present in the threadbare "story." Godzilla vs. Kong knows that its main draw is the CGI fight between the two titular monsters. Apart from that, there's no coherent plotting or character development. Also, despite the diversity in the cast, including Henry, Hall, Dennison, Shun Oguri, Demián Bichir , and Eiza González , there's no true focus on expanding their characters' meaning to the plot aside from using them for the optics of inclusion. For instance, Oguri's character, Apex Cybernetics researcher and Mechagodzilla pilot Ren Serizawa, continues the annoying trend in the current Godzilla franchise of having a Japanese character be part of the cast apparently solely to say "Gojira," the monster's actual name. Along with that, he's mostly a sneering henchman for Bichir's character, Apex CEO Walter Simmons. Simmons' daughter, Maya (González), is also simply a flat villain with limited lines. Overall, the film is a mess. But if you just want to see two legendary titans brawl, it's entertaining for that aspect alone.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Godzilla vs. Kong 's violence and destruction. How does the impact of the massive-scale devastation seen in this type of movie compare to more realistic violence? Do you think these kinds of movies can desensitize viewers to violence?

Why is it important for the human characters to empathize with King Kong and Godzilla? How does King Kong act as a protector?

Kong uses American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate with Jia. What are some advantages to this form of communication? Does this movie make you want to use a signed language like ASL more often?

How does King Kong and Godzilla's battle affect humanity? What's most compelling in monster movies like this one: the story or the nonstop action? Why?

The first Japanese Godzilla filmmakers used monster suits and miniatures to create their special effects, not CGI. If you've seen the 1954 original (or its imitators), which do you prefer: low-tech practical effects, or something more realistic and high-tech? Which usually works better in movies?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 31, 2021
• On DVD or streaming : March 31, 2021
• Cast : Alexander Skarsgard , Millie Bobby Brown , Rebecca Hall
• Director : Adam Wingard
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Science Fiction
• Topics : Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
• Run time : 113 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : intense sequences of creature violence/destruction and brief language
• Last updated : May 15, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Godzilla Vs Kong Review

21 May 2021

Godzilla Vs. Kong

The first meeting between Godzilla and King Kong — the iconic mega-monsters of Japanese and American B-movie cinema, respectively — was in 1962’s King Kong Vs. Godzilla . The premise was that a businessman thought a couple of massive kaiju having a fight would make for good publicity; while the VFX budget may have changed in the six decades since, this is essentially more of the same: a flashy, big-name boxing match to bring in the punters.

Exactly why they’re fighting this time is never really made totally clear. Beyond some muttered dialogue about “ancient rivalries”, it all feels rather reverse-engineered, a pairing purely to sate studios hungry for the next most ambitious crossover event ever. Still, the skyscraper-sized scraps — likely the only reason anyone really wants to watch this — make for by far the film’s most straightforwardly enjoyable moments. Compared to the other entries in this reboot run, the kaiju brawls here are modestly meatier: more coherent than Godzilla: King Of The Monsters , more muscular than Kong: Skull Island . It has a decent sense of scale (if not — still — any sense of the human cost of all this destruction); fight choreography that pleasingly resembles a pub car park punch-up; and impressive CGI that, in Kong, at least hints of the beast once killed by beauty.

Over 40 minutes of runtime pass until the two titans actually meet, and those minutes feel like a slog.

But damn, it makes you work for the fun. Over 40 minutes of runtime pass until the two titans actually meet, and those minutes feel like a slog, as we’re introduced to a new ensemble of Exposition Delivery Units that could charitably be described as ‘characters’. Any time the monsters are not on screen, in fact, is draining. Every ‘MonsterVerse’ movie, from Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla reboot onwards, has struggled to know what to do with the human characters on the ground, and in some ways, this is the worst offender yet for it.

We can only mourn for the classically trained actors forced to deliver aggressively stupid dialogue about “gravity inversion” and “psionic uplinks”. Pity, in particular, poor Brian Tyree Henry , who plays a conspiracy-theorising podcaster plucked straight from outdated stereotypes, given cringing comic relief lines like, “If this wasn’t contributing to world destruction, it would make a great DJ booth!”; and Rebecca Hall , who seems to have the role previously held by Ken Watanabe of attempting to impart some gravitas on what is really a very silly endeavour (“Kong bows to no-one!”).

There are hints of a more intriguing film. One (literal) deep-dive into hard science-fiction world-building is a welcome shot of weirdness, if never fully explored; and an opening sequence of Kong having a shower in a waterfall to a ’50s doo-wop track is nothing if not unexpected.

Ultimately, the real battle here is not between Godzilla or Kong, but between the two movies within the movie: a lovingly rendered, big-budget tribute to B movies of the past, and a crushingly mediocre, cliché-bloated sci-fi. Sadly, the wrong monster wins.

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Godzilla vs. Kong First Reviews: Come for the Giant Monster Fights, Stay for the Giant Monster Fights

Early reviews from international critics say the film delivers on the promise of its title in spectacular fashion but doesn't quite hit the mark in its quieter moments..

TAGGED AS: Action , adventure , godzilla , king kong , monster movies , movie , movies , Warner Bros.

This is the showdown we’ve all been waiting for, whether it’s been for the 59 years since the release of the cheesy old King Kong vs. Godzilla movie, through the three previous installments of the MonsterVerse franchise (particularly the divisive Godzilla: King of the Monsters ), or just over the past year, hoping for a big blockbuster spectacle again.

Does Godzilla vs. Kong live up to expectations? For the most part, yes, according to the first reviews tied to the movie’s international release. It delivers on its title, and if you expect more than that, you probably shouldn’t. Still, this crossover sequel is said to pay off with great-looking action, if the cost is just a goofy plot and uninteresting scenes with puny humans.

Here’s what critics are saying about Godzilla vs. Kong :

Do you get what you came for?

When it comes to the promise of its title, Godzilla vs Kong delivers immensely. –  Kshitij Rawat, The Indian Express

If you’re going into this movie to watch Godzilla and Kong exchange blows and public property be destroyed in creative ways, you will get your money’s worth. –  Prahlad Srihari, Firstpost

The kind of gloriously silly blockbuster we haven’t seen in over a year,  Godzilla vs. Kong  revels in its own outlandish premise and delivers everything you paid for. –  Doug Jamieson, The Jam Report

[It’s] the best monster movie in years… It is everything you would want in this face-off. –  Jonathan Roberts, The New Paper

With its entertainment factor turned up to 11,  Godzilla vs. Kong  lives up to its promise of a monster good time. –  Matthew Pejkovic, Matt’s Movie Reviews

[It] never cuts loose the way a film titled  Godzilla vs Kong  should. –  Anthony Morris, It’s Better in the Dark

How are the fight scenes?

The two Titans cross paths several times in this chaotic spectacle and the results are nothing short of breathtaking… Its action and thrills are immaculate. – Doug Jamieson, The Jam Report

[It] will appeal to anyone who knows how much joy can be sparked watching a giant monkey lay the boot into an enormous, laser-breathing lizard. – Anthony O’Connor, FILMINK

Once the two CGI titans take their swings on one another – the sequence itself is glorious in its stupidity. – Peter Gray, The AU Review

The final clash (which takes place in an urban setting) could have had a bit more variety as far as the visuals go. – Anthony Morris, It’s Better in the Dark

(Photo by )

So the action is better than in the last movie?

Unlike in  King of the Monsters , the colors here don’t overwhelm the frame to such an extent it becomes hard to see the action… It features some of the most seamless mayhem there ever was. – Prahlad Srihari, Firstpost

Unlike the previous  Godzilla  film, the action sequences aren’t hidden by a haze of clouds, smoke, or dust. Wingard showcases every move in the open. – Doug Jamieson, The Jam Report

Responding to earlier criticisms, Godzilla vs. Kong is stuffed with inventively staged action, most of which now takes place in broad daylight. – James Marsh, South China Morning Post

But what if I liked  King of the Monsters ?

If  King of the Monsters  tickled you, then this monstrous battle should suffice. If not, and you want your mindless action to have a little more ironic intelligence, this is one fight not worth the spectator fee. – Peter Gray, The AU Review

The storyline’s silliness might be a deal-breaker for those who appreciated the 2014 iteration’s more sombre storytelling. – Harris Dang, Impulse Gamer

How is Adam Wingard as director ?

Wingard proves to be the right director for the job. He clearly knows what the fans and audiences alike want and for that, he delivers. – Casey Chong, Casey’s Movie Mania

Adam Wingard knows exactly what you came to  Godzilla vs. Kong  to see and he’s happy to serve it up in absolute spades. – Doug Jamieson, The Jam Report

Director Adam Wingard… treats Godzilla and Kong as action stars. – Jonathan Roberts, The New Paper

He has solid timing regarding being sincere and tongue-in-cheek with the story. It makes the time spent on the cast increasingly palatable. – Harris Dang, Impulse Gamer

Wingard has previously focused on smaller scale horror, which may explain why this really lacks the (occasional) sense of awe the earlier films had for these giant monsters. – Anthony Morris, It’s Better in the Dark

There will be fans of director Adam Wingard’s all-action, total-carnage approach, but I certainly wasn’t one of them. – James Croot, Stuff.co.nz

(Photo by Vince Valitutti/©Legendary and Warner Bros. Entertainment)

How does the movie look overall?

One of the most visually spectacular films of the year. – Doug Jamieson, The Jam Report

What did catch me off-guard was how richly cinematic the film looks and how spatialized the action feels. – Luke Buckmaster, Flicks.com.au

Visually, there’s really nothing here that we haven’t seen before. – Jim Schembri, jimschembri.com

The bright lighting robs the VFX of heft. – Jamie Graham, Total Film

How is the writing ?

The plot takes a turn for the better (and weirder)… [and] it gets even more bull goose loony in the third act. – Anthony O’Connor, FILMINK

Godzilla vs. Kong  is an incredibly illogical yet unashamedly gonzo piece of work… that bring[s] the lore to new heights of ridiculousness and delirium that is truly entertaining. – Harris Dang, Impulse Gamer

The plot is unnecessarily complicated… Best to turn your brain off and ignore the temptation to apply logic and reason to such a piece of cinema. – Doug Jamieson, The Jam Report

If you’re going to hype such a film as  Godzilla vs. Kong  as the battle of all battles, you better not waste our time with overblown exposition. – Peter Gray, The AU Review

There are hints of a more intriguing film. One (literal) deep-dive into hard science-fiction world-building is a welcome shot of weirdness, if never fully explored. – John Nugent, Empire Magazine

So much is going on that the film’s running time feels scarcely enough to contain its threads. – John Lui, The Straits Times

(Photo by Chuck Zlotnick/©Legendary and Warner Bros. Entertainment)

And the human characters?

The film’s human characters… are an upgrade compared to previous films. – Matthew Pejkovic, Matt’s Movie Reviews

Finally, they have realized we do not care about humans… we thankfully do not have to spend much time with their problems and feelings. – Jonathan Roberts, The New Paper

They are enjoyably broad enough for the cast to play with and they are all game and know exactly the movie in which they are participating. – Harris Dang, Impulse Gamer

Any time the monsters are not on screen, in fact, is draining. Every MonsterVerse movie… has struggled to know what to do with the human characters on the ground, and in some ways, this is the worst offender yet for it – John Nugent, Empire Magazine

Unfortunately well over half the movie focuses on the humans, who are either boring, comedy relief, an occasional infodump, [or] utterly irrelevant. – Anthony Morris, It’s Better in the Dark

Does anyone stand out ?

Jia is the one human who makes the film an emotional, sincere, and rousing spectacle. She is played beautifully by Kaylee Hottle. – Harris Dang, Impulse Gamer

The star human is Kaylee Hottle as Jia, the young girl who has a connection to the giant gorilla, which gives this movie the right amount of heart. – Jonathan Roberts, The New Paper

Hottle steals focus at every turn with her mute performance that’s the film true heart. – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

(Photo by Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures)

How is Godzilla in the movie ?

Godzilla is reduced to a rampaging reptile for much of the film that feels out of step with his characterization in earlier movies. – James Marsh, South China Morning Post

When it comes to the acting showdown, there’s no contest… [Godzilla] has the voice, and the presence, but he doesn’t have the range. – Jake Wilson, The Age

Godzilla fans may feel irked that Kong gets more screen time. – Jonathan Roberts, The New Paper

The film dissolves Godzilla’s presence through its allegiance to Kong. – Harris Dang, Impulse Gamer

What about Kong ?

Kong isn’t quite rendered as sensitively as Andy Serkis’s mo-cap version in the Peter Jackson film. But his eyes still convey so much emotion. – Prahlad Srihari, Firstpost

Aside from a few early scenes that really stress his size, he’s nothing to be afraid of. – Anthony Morris, It’s Better in the Dark

Will fans of both characters leave satisfied ?

No matter which Titan you wanted to win, you would likely feel satisfied with the outcome. – Kshitij Rawat, The Indian Express

Those involved have clearly thought — a lot — about how to end things in a way that’s going to keep everyone happy. – Anthony Morris, It’s Better in the Dark

Godzilla vs. Kong  releases in the U.S. in theaters and on HBO Max on March 31, 2021.

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Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

• User Reviews
• Kong is not happy in Kong biosphere.
• Incompetent human adults kidnap Kong to bring him to Antartica where there is an entrance to the center of the Earth.
• Kong's naval escort is intercepted by Godzilla. Godzilla and Kong have an epic battle. Godzilla wins round one.
• Kong is air lifted to Antarctica. He and humans fall through a wormhole to the center of the Earth.
• The center of the Earth is replete with light, oxygen, plants, trees, rivers, lakes, waterfalls and of course, dinosaurs.
• Kong is king in the center of the Earth. He even has a throne down there.
• Godzilla burns a hole down to the center of the Earth. Kong climbs up that hole from the center of the Earth, to the surface of the Earth.
• Kong and Godzilla have epic battle. Kong wins round two.
• Kong and Godzilla have another epic battle. Godzilla wins round three.
• Apparently King Kong is controlled by an eight year old deaf child. He virtually does whatever she says. (Thank goodness for the children.) She tells him, "Godzilla is not your enemy. He is your friend. By the way, he needs your help."
• Kong looks over to see Godzilla battling mechanical Godzilla created by evil human corporation run by evil adults.
• Two other children break into the evil corporation and get control of the mechanical Godzilla control board. (Thank goodness for the children.)
• They can't override mechanical Godzilla's program. So one kid pours a drink on the control board to short out mechanical Godzilla. (Thank goodness for the children.)
• Kong and Godzilla decide they cannot be friends. But they will settle for Godzilla controlling the water. And Kong controlling the land.
• Kong returns to the center of the Earth. But he needs human supervision.
• Have invested in the previous Monster Verse films.
• Want to watch brainless popcorn flicks and can suspend their disbelief.
• Want to be impressed by its jaw-dropping visual spectacle.
• Want to witness monsters fight.
• Godzilla: King of the Monsters
• Kong: Skull Island
• Godzilla vs Kong

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Godzilla vs. Kong

• Action/Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi/Fantasy , Thriller

Content Caution

In Theaters

• March 31, 2021
• Millie Bobby Brown as Madison Russell; Alexander Skarsgård as Nathan Lind; Rebecca Hall as Ilene Andrews; Brian Tyree Henry as Bernie Hayes; Demián Bichir as Walter Simmons; Kaylee Hottle as Jia

Home Release Date

• Adam Wingard

Distributor

• Warner Bros., HBO Max

Movie Review

You may think you know about those super-sized beasties that go by the names King Kong and Godzilla. I mean, Kong is this gigantic gorilla that grew up on an ancient, hidden-away island, right? And Godzilla is an enormous scaley prehistoric sea monster that was brought forth from the depths of the ocean by misguided hydrogen bomb tests.

Everybody knows those details!

Well, what if I told you that your understanding isn’t exactly accurate? What if these monsters are a little different than we always thought?

The fact is, those in the know have discovered that these two creatures are actually linked with all other immense monsters we’ve seen through the ages. They’re all part of a group of creatures called Titans . And they come from a hollow core world at the center of our planet.

Ho, ho, didn’t know that , did you?

In addition, each of these predominant pummelers have taken on other monstrosities over the years because they are genetically compelled to do so. Something bubbling down deep in their gargantuan DNA drives these behemoths to fight till there’s only one Titan standing on the king-of-the-hill peak.

And it’s all come down to King Kong and Godzilla, two brawny battlers who have grown bigger and bigger every time we’ve seen them. This is their Godzilla versus Kong thrilla story. (Oh, and there are some generally inconsequential humans running around doing power-hungry and often foolhardy things, too.)

Positive Elements

There are some parents and guardians in the story mix who appear to want to protect their young charges. But they’re really lousy at it. The kids always seem to slip away and do crazy, reckless stuff involving creatures that could crush them into pulp.

A small group of friends attempts to stop a powerful corporation from grabbing more destructive power. (But they really don’t accomplish anything of note.)

Were told that Kong saved a little deaf girl named Jia when her family—who lived on Kong’s island—was killed by a huge storm. Ever since, Kong and the tiny girl have a connection and communicate through sign language. She repeatedly tries to steer the big gorilla away from danger and back to the safety of his home.

Spiritual Elements

Someone says that a company called Apex is “playing god.” And though not strictly spiritual, a scientist believes that the Titans are driven by genetic memories and instincts that compel them to clash when they otherwise wouldn’t.

Sexual Content

One woman wears a formfitting top that reveals some cleavage.

Violent Content

Thumping, crushing and explosive destruction fill this pic from stem to stern. And I have to say, the CGI effects here are incredibly realistic. As Kong and Godzilla (as well as a man-made monster of similar size) bash and brutalize each other, the surrounding scenery gets predictably crushed and obliterated with loud screeching effects.

City skyscrapers are blasted in half with atomic blasts and lasers and smashed with huge fists; they’re crumbled and set on fire as the battlers fall into them or crash through them. A port city area is set ablaze. A group of ships is capsized or, in some cases, broken in half. Forest-like areas are set afire and uprooted; a huge, rocky cavern is devastated by atomic breath blasts and huge explosions. Cars and buses get kicked and thrown about. Military planes and vehicles are hit, blasted, picked up and crushed with explosive glee.

In virtually all of these cases, tiny humans either run from the destruction or get caught up in it. And though we don’t see the bloody aftereffects, it’s implied that hundreds to thousands of people are killed in the midst of all this ship, plane and city devastation. A few exceptions offer closer glimpses of the carnage, though deaths still occur outside the camera’s view.

Some of the battered humans in the mix end up with bloodied faces and arms. But in fact, the most realistic damage is delivered to Kong. He’s nearly drowned while chained and struggling underwater. Battles with Godzilla leave him bloodied, his shoulder dislocated and on the verge of death. At one point, he receives a massive, defibrillation-like shock to his heart.

In one or two cases when Kong kills a huge fleshy foe, he also grabs a huge mouthful of the creature’s goopy inner organs and chews them down. Jet bombers and fighters also hit Godzilla with large explosive bombs, missiles and large-caliber bullet fire.

Crude or Profane Language

There’s one unfinished cry of “what the f— ” and a teen girl’s muffled exclamation could also be an indistinct f-word. A half-dozen s-words are joined by a few uses each of “h—” and “d–n.” God’s name is misused about seven times (including one combination of “God” and “d–n”).

Drug and Alcohol Content

A man carries a flask of whiskey. An Apex executive drinks several glasses of booze.

Other Negative Elements

Two teens and a conspiracy theorist named Bernie break into an Apex building where Bernie has been undercover and stealing information for years. The trio gets several destructive situations and are held at gunpoint a few times. Madison notes that Bernie showers with bleach.

It may seem as if monster movies themselves once rose from the prehistoric, kaiju depths. After all, both Kong and Godzilla first thumped a cinematic foot to the ground and roared imperiously way before most folks reading this review were even born. (Back in 1933 and 1954 respectively.) Since their beginnings, these gigantic people-stompers have collectively starred in nearly 50 live-action films.

Godzilla vs Kong , then, is pretty much exactly what you would expect it to be. I mean, why mess with the expectations of a fanatically faithful fan base? So, you’ve got Kong throwing massive gorilla roundhouse punches that would level a stadium and Godzilla screeching out his patented eardrum-shattering roar while slicing through skyscrapers with an explosive atomic belch.

Beneath their monumental feet, massively muscled arms and scenery-mashing might, heavy naval cruisers capsize and rupture; aircraft get obliterated in fiery bursts; cities are pulverized; and thousands of miniscule humans run with screams on their lips and flying debris raining all around them. And all of that is presented with the most ground-shaking and camera-spinning CGI realism that hundreds of millions of dollars can create.

However, that’s all you get. Don’t come in expecting anything more than that and a bucket of popcorn. You know, like, say, real character development or a genuinely shocking conclusion.

If you’re looking for a story to be involved in, good performances to cheer, or anything worth watching from all those little humans, you’re out of luck. In fact, it’s very easy to wish that some huge hairy arm or scaley tail might shove all those pesky people off into some other movie where they wouldn’t keep annoying us.

I mean, hey, Kong and Godzilla don’t cuss or make a single inane choice. They just crush and smash things. Over and over and over.

Well, I guess that can get old, too.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Godzilla vs. Kong Is Heart-Stoppingly Stupid But Sporadically Entertaining

If all you seek are giant monsters punching each other, don’t let me prevent you from seeing the heart-stoppingly stupid but sporadically entertaining Godzilla vs. Kong . The fourth entry in Warner’s loosely connected “ MonsterVerse ” brings these two legendary beasts face-to-face long enough to be serviceable turn-your-brain-off fodder. And clearly, lots of attention has been paid to making sure the creatures look … well, “realistic” isn’t quite the word, is it? But there is something exciting about the perfectly rendered computer-generated streams of water dripping off every one of the many millions of computer-generated hairs on Kong’s computer-generated body, not to mention the infinite computer-generated crags and jags of Godzilla’s computer-generated scales. There is grandeur in it. I would happily spend half a day watching a computer-generated King Kong romping and splashing around in slow motion in a big body of water. (Still, I do miss the guy-in-a-rubber-suit era .)

But who the hell are all these people , and why the hell are they here? When Godzilla vs. Kong isn’t showcasing monster throwdowns, it mires itself in a barely coherent multicharacter story about a search for a magical world deep, deep beneath our planet’s surface called Hollow Earth, where the so-called Titans (the monsters) originally hail from, and where the mysterious, probably sinister Apex Cybernetics hopes to find a power source that could help defeat Godzilla. The giant lizard, once seen as humanity’s protector , has begun attacking our cities (specifically: Pensacola), and nobody quite knows why. Rogue geologist Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård) wants to use King Kong — currently under a giant, Truman Show– style containment dome on storm-ravaged Skull Island — to help guide the humans to Hollow Earth. To do so, he enlists the aid of scientist and “Kong whisperer” Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), who brings along her young, deaf, adopted daughter, Jia (Kaylee Hottle), an Iwi native from Skull Island who seems to have a special bond with the giant ape.

Meanwhile, Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown), who was saved by Godzilla in the previous film, Godzilla: King of the Monsters , and her friend Josh Valentine (Julian Dennison) connect with Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), a wild-eyed conspiracy-theorist podcaster, to investigate strange happenings at Apex Cybernetics and get to the bottom of why Godzilla has turned its back on humanity. (And because Madison has returned in this film, we need a couple of pointless scenes with her father, played by Kyle Chandler, who gets to stand around and not really do anything.)

The story and dialogue might have been written by a 12-year-old, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if the cast could convey the wonder and invention and absurdity of the material. But the performances vary from frustratingly flat (Hall and Skarsgård) to thoroughly annoying (Brown, Dennison, and Henry) to virtually nonexistent (Chandler), which, given the galactic level of talent involved, suggests that the fault lies with the screenplay or the direction. (Sample line: “ The Hollow Earth aerovehicles are on their way to Antarctica as we speak. I know you people think you’re cutting-edge, but these prototypes we’re loaning you will make what you’ve been flying look like used Miyatas. Forget about the price tag, which is obscene, of course. The anti-gravity engine alone could produce enough charge to light up Vegas for a week. Feel free to be impressed. ” With sub–James Cameronian exposition dumps like that, I’m gonna go ahead and blame the script.) The only person who looks like he’s having fun is Demián Bichir, playing the scheming head of Apex Cybernetics, eager to establish human supremacy over the Titans. He spends almost the entire film in a control room standing around guzzling whiskey, and if you told me he came to set for just one day, I’d believe you — but his grandiose line readings seem pitched precisely to the level of silliness this movie demands.

The party line is that humans aren’t supposed to matter all that much in movies like Godzilla vs. Kong , which is why it’s surprising that there are so many of them here. It’s also not hard to sense a missed opportunity. At their best, giant-monster movies are also disaster movies: We enjoy the spectacle of kaiju mayhem, that cinema-of-attractions frisson of immensity combined with unchecked destruction — but it’s deepened and made richer by the additional spectacle of ordinary (well, “ordinary”) people trying to survive all that chaos and maybe even put a stop to it. This is not a necessary feature of the genre, to be sure, but when it works, it adds urgency and emotion to the goings-onscreen. The problem with Godzilla vs. Kong is that the filmmakers seem to think they’re delivering characters and human drama when all they’re doing is irritating the shit out of us.

But then it goes back to the monsters, and things are okay again. Mostly. The creatures’ first confrontation, in which Godzilla attacks a convoy of ships that are transporting Kong, is suspenseful and inventive: Chained to a boat and unable to attack or flee, Kong finds himself a sitting duck while Godzilla tears its way through the vessels, splitting destroyers with one slap of its tail. That sequence is the high point of the movie because it incorporates a real, tactile world we recognize into the creative, well-crafted havoc. But by the time Kong has headed to Hollow Earth and retrieved a glowing magic ax and seated himself on the ancient throne of his ancestors, you can practically hear the executives salivating over their dumb Tolkienizing of the MonsterVerse, and any connection the film might have had to the real world dissipates. There’s more fighting after that, of course. And a big climactic three-way battle (I won’t say with whom) against the digital neon Hong Kong skyline looks great, even if the destruction remains mostly generic and the humans weirdly hollow. Whatever. King Kong has a magic ax now. Enjoy.

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Godzilla Vs. Kong Review: A Gloriously Savage Monster Beatdown Spectacle

Godzilla vs. Kong delivers what its been promising for months.

Godzilla vs. Kong fulfills its promise as a savage monster spectacle on an absolutely colossal scale. Cities are laid waste, armies destroyed, and countless CGI casualties fall under the beastly beatdown of Hollywood's classic titans. State of the art visual effects and snippets of character development make up for the laborious plot. The film juggles multiple predictable storylines, but is smart enough to keep the marquee attractions front and center. It's a grudge match perfect for popcorn cinema and a sure crowd pleaser.

Godzilla Vs Kong opens five years later on Skull Island. King Kong is kept by the Monarch organization under a huge artificial dome. He bristles in captivity. But has developed a special bond with Jia (Kaylee Hottle), a deaf Iwi orphan under the care of Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), the facility's lead scientist. Meanwhile in Pensacola, Florida, Godzilla attacks the Apex Cybernetics corporation for seemingly no reason.

Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) believes Godzilla is being provoked, much to the consternation of her father (Kyle Chandler). She's been convinced by a conspiracy podcast hosted by a technician (Brian Tyree Henry) who has secretly infiltrated Apex. The company's CEO (Demián Bichir) has a plan to deal with Godzilla's perceived threat. He enlists a fringe scientist (Alexander Skarsgård) to convince Dr. Andrews that King Kong is the key to humanity's Godzilla response.

Godzilla vs. Kong has the alpha titans duking it out epically on land and sea. They bite, scratch, and pummel each other with vicious intent. The no holds barred duels make mincemeat of anyone and anything in their way. Hong Kong takes a pounding that would bankrupt every insurance company in the world. The water scenes have obvious digital qualities, but doesn't detract from the intricate scope of the action. I commend the filmmakers for their audacity in well-lit environments. The CGI effects look incredible overall.

The plot has too many characters and moving parts. The film could have easily cut several speaking roles. They add nothing to the trajectory of the story, which runs long and is unnecessarily convoluted. King Kong does get a bit of an emotional upgrade. He's more intelligent and personable than half of the ensemble cast. Whereas Godzilla is just busy kicking ass and not worried about feelings. I suppose a nuclear-fueled lizard brain has no need for self reflection.

Not to worry folks, whether you're on Team Kong or Team Godzilla , there is a winner to this Monsterverse fight . Godzilla vs. Kong does not cheat you out of a clear cut victor. Their climactic battle makes sense. Even though the outcome is no surprise. The action is phenomenal and definitely worth the price of admission by itself. Godzilla vs. Kong is must see monster carnage. Try to watch this film on the biggest screen with the best sound system possible. Most theater chains are now open across the country with stringent health and safety precautions. Godzilla vs. Kong is a production of Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. It will be released March 31st theatrically and concurrently on HBO Max.

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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Where to watch.

Rent Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

What to Know

Come to Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire for the sheer monster-mashing spectacle -- and stay for that too, because the movie doesn't have much else to offer.

With fantastic effects and plenty of action, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has everything you're looking for from a kaiju adventure.

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Every one of the recent English language kaiju epics from Legendary Pictures has walked a different path, and “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” continues the tradition. This one is a direct sequel to 2021’s “ Godzilla vs. Kong ,” a simple movie inspired by the 1962 Toho Studios film “King Kong vs. Godzilla” that pitted the big lizard and the big ape against each other before teaming them against a robot foe. But rather than just repeat the template in "The New Empire," returning director Adam Wingard and his two co-writers offer a more fragmented and sometimes knowingly silly narrative, cross-cutting between lines of action in multiple locations that all lead to a huge showdown with a lot of creatures. 

Artistically it’s the most hit-and-miss entry in the current MonsterVerse, lacking the cohesive and distinctive vibe that powered all of the others, whether it was the 2014 “Godzilla” (basically “Close Encounters of the Godzilla Kind”), “ Kong: Skull Island ” (a bizarro riff on Vietnam movies), “ Godzilla: King of the Monsters ” (the first “team-up” entry, with lots of family melodrama stirred in), or Wingard’s original, gloriously goofy Godzilla-Kong flick, which owed quite a bit to 1960s exploration sci-fi like “ Journey to the Center of the Earth ” and 1980s Hong Kong and American action thriller/buddy films where the two main guys have to have a fistfight before they team up against a dangerous villain. 

Rebecca Hall ’s anthropologist Ilene Andrews is the main character this time, tending to her adoptive daughter Jia (Kaylie Hottle), and trying to figure out the connection between mysterious energy pulses detected on the Monarch Project’s monster-measuring tech and frenzied drawings that Jia has been scrawling on school desks and scratch paper. The answer—uncovered with help from muckraker/conspiracy podcaster Bernie Hayes ( Brian Tyree Henry ), another character from the last movie—is a return to the “Close Encounters with Godzilla” notion, positing that what they’re all experiencing is a combination distress signal and warning about an impending catastrophe. As intimated in trailers and other promotional material, there’s a secret civilization of giant Kong-like primates imprisoned in an unexplored portion of Hollow Earth, plotting their escape and a takeover of the surface world. Their leader is a scarred and sadistic despot who enslaves his own kind in a mining operation in a hellish volcanic cavern, a set that confirms the filmmakers have seen “ Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ” more than once. 

As somebody who’s been a booster of this franchise from the beginning, it’s my sad duty to report that “Godzilla x Kong” is all over the place, barely working up a proper head of steam before cutting to something else. It makes "King of the Monsters" seem single-mindedly on-message. And it’s even more larded with redundant and wooden “make sure that everybody in the audience understands everything that’s happening at all times” exposition than the previous films. The showdowns are rousing and often brilliantly choreographed, particularly the finale, a multiple-monster main event with lots of other creatures bustling around in the margins. The live-action and motion capture performances are mostly marvelous, despite the bum dialogue and Wingard’s tendency to rush through sequences and whole relationships that might’ve been extraordinary had they been presented with patience and elegance. 

Dan Stevens is a pleasant though functionally absurd addition to the cast. He plays a swashbuckling, poetry-quoting ex-boyfriend of Ilene who's famous for being the first and so far only kaiju veterinarian, and is introduced extracting an abscessed tooth from Kong’s mouth by rappelling down into it from a hovercraft. (I don’t know if it was Shakespeare or Freud who said that a man with a toothache cannot be in love, but this movie offers a corollary: a giant ape with a toothache cannot defend the surface world.) Stevens has real chemistry with Henry, whose dialogue often sounds ad-libbed even if it wasn't. There are times when they seem like they’re at risk of cracking each other up and blowing a take. But the movie fails to take advantage of their connection and build it into something truly memorable. 

Kong’s relationship with a big-eyed little scamp of an ape that he meets while exploring Hollow Earth is a much bigger missed opportunity, although the bits we do see are performed by motion capture performers and the FX teams with imagination and care. The younger ape is essentially an abused child who is treacherous, selfish, and cowardly because he grew up in a cult. He suddenly now has a good parenting model courtesy of Kong, a hairy, burly single dude who lives a solitary existence, is an orphan himself, and had no parent role models (at least not that we know of), yet still treats the younger ape with patience and compassion even when it’s not earned, and makes a decent primate out of him. Adam Sandler has told a version of this tale many times. As presented here, it’s a mirror of what’s happening between Ilene and Jia—the latter reconnecting with her own roots and Ilene growing increasingly sad at the possibility that the girl might outgrow the need for her. Two adoptive parents, two different sets of challenges, but the same basic story: so much could’ve been done, but wasn't.

More for the minus column: The computer generated creature skins look more cartoony than in previous entries. And the screenplay introduces its genuinely terrifying and charismatic villain, Skar King, too late to give him and Kong a chance to build and flesh out their antagonism, as the preceding movie did with Kong and Godzilla's relationship. It’s fascinating to watch the slow revelation of Kong’s value system and realize how starkly it contrasts with the behavior of his evil doppelganger, a swaggering, preening rotter who seems to have been played via time warp by Gary Oldman in the '90s. Kong's triumph here should have felt cathartic: a victory of decency over despotic cruelty rather than narrative box-checking. 

The whole film needed more ape content, really. It's the stuff that really hits. The movie doesn't seem to recognize how powerful it is. A more smartly prioritized film might have focused on the vividly rendered and characterized apes and the humans that follow them around, perhaps to the exclusion of Godzilla, who is treated here mainly as a mayhem-producing force that the movie cuts to regularly because the film has “Godzilla” in the title. (He does have his moments though, like using a pro-wrestling suplex to slam an adversary and sleeping curled up in the Roman Colosseum like it's the world's largest dog bed.)

If you love the “what the hell, let’s try it” sensibility that the Legendary Pictures monster franchise has embraced thus far, you’ll still find plenty here to enjoy. But it shouldn’t have been necessary to go looking for it.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Rated PG-13

115 minutes

Rebecca Hall as Dr. Ilene Andrews

Kaylee Hottle as Jia

Brian Tyree Henry as Bernie Hayes

Dan Stevens as Trapper

Rachel House

Mercy Cornwall

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Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla vs. Kong , directed by Adam Wingard, may not hit HBO Max or U.S. theaters until this Wednesday, but it already opened in 38 markets overseas this past weekend, setting box office records for pandemic-era releases — “the biggest debut for a Hollywood film in China since 2019,” swoons the Los Angeles Times . So no matter which of the titular Titans triumphs in the actual movie, the only Titan that seems to matter to the American movie business — the flailing, repetitive, play-it-safe studio system — can, at long last, Covid-induced theater closures be damned, count itself a winner for once. 

The timing is almost uncanny. No matter when it actually ends — it could be an Antarctic winter — the end of the pandemic was always destined to be a Hot Girl Summer, and by necessity a Summer Movie Season, because that is what happens when people feel cooped up for too long, and when studios have been sitting on their billion-dollar investments for just as long. People miss their public pleasures, like checking their texts during movies and coughing indoors without being suspected of biological warfare. 

So Godzilla vs. Kong is arriving just in time for a movie called Godzilla vs. Kong. What better time for a blockbuster to knock us sideways with seat-rattling, city-crumbling displays of studio money than at the precise moment that theaters are slowly reopening, vaccines being eked out, spring waiting just backstage for its curtain call? On that front, Godzilla vs. Kong is the win its makers need it to be. It is very much one of those “You Need to See This in a Theater”movies that critics are always carping about, even if this is almost never the kind of movie they have in mind. Certainly it’s the kind of movie that comes to mind for most people. The movie is loud , full of butt-jiggling roars and whatnot. The mo-cap special effects, which make even Godzilla look like it has a soul in there somewhere, look really expensive . Also: Godzilla fights King Kong! And it really does play out in that order, the one attacking the other. The Kong of this movie is, to a point, maybe more interested in minding his own business. He is just interesting enough for the prospect of that movie — picture King Kong in a “Can I Live?” T-shirt, chilling, bothering no one — to tantalize.

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But there are conflicts, to say nothing of Mecha, to engineer, and franchises to sustain, and studio investors whose coffers need replenishing — so here we are. The plot of Godzilla vs. Kong matters far less than the basic fact that it’d be a much better movie if it stuck, firmly, to its title. We don’t really need to invent labyrinthine, feebly anti-corporate, cloyingly emotional reasons for Godzilla to beat Kong’s ass (or vice versa). We don’t really need to keep cutting back to the human cast, which is headlined by Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir, with some extra personality by way of Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison — an ensemble so large in number yet miniscule in substance that even some of the most charismatic among their ranks, such as Hall, Henry, or Bichir, can’t quite justify the numbing nothingness of their roles. “There is a sense that the less that humans meddle with stuff, the better, is a general theme,” Hall recently told the press — a statement that the Godzilla vs. Kong makes it impossible for anyone to disagree with, even if it is funny to see Eleven from Stranger Things getting chased through CGI hellscapes by scrapped dino concepts from Jurassic Park ’s cutting room. 

It simply cannot be avoided that Godzilla vs. King Kong is better off when it lets go of its baggage. Kong: funny guy! When he rips a beast’s head off and slurps up oodles of its psychotically green blood: that’s the good shit. When he’s chained to an aircraft carrier — fighting Godzilla with his hands effectively tied — that, too, is the good shit, all the more so for reminding us (contra the unforgivable grimness of 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters ) that there is such a thing as daylight, and that Godzilla and Kong, who are not vampires, look perfectly fine destroying military warships when the sun is out. 

Whereas when Kong is using sign language to emotionally signal to a deaf Māori child named Jia, played by Kaylee Hottle, it seems fair to wonder why we’re here — why we’re traipsing through infantilizing tropes of Indigenous mysticism for the sake of a King Kong movie, beyond getting to score points for representation. They, like the warm and fuzzies the film tries to dredge up, are not earned. But they’re interesting to keep track of. The facile emotional turns of so much recent franchise fare have been a little strange to behold at a distance, if not altogether inexplicable.  You cannot — the logic must go — make your money back on a film that’s “just” about Godzilla and King Kong cat-fighting on a global scale, because you lose the people who care about neither, who want to be pulled in by a “good story” with a few familiar faces. No matter how ill-used those faces or mind-numbing the story; no matter how rigidly unsatisfying the formula; no matter the fact that when your movie is called Godzilla vs. Kong , you’ve already made every other Verzus battle irrelevant.

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Wingard, who directed Dan Stevens in The Guest and is at minimum capable of making a satisfying genre flick with a good soundtrack, told Screencrush in 2017 that it was important to zero in on the emotions — to make people feel the things that he felt while revisiting the Fifties originals he loved as a kid. The word for that is nostalgia, but in the interview, Wingard twists it into something more encompassing. “I really want you to take those characters seriously,” he said way-back-when. “I want you to be emotionally invested, not just in the human characters, but actually in the monsters. If I had my way, I want people to really be teary-eyed at the end of the movie.” Godzilla vs. Kong is, by those standards, an indisputable win for Wingard. But only if yawns account for some of those tears.

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“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” Reviews, Characters and Storyline

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is a 2024 American monster movie directed by Adam Wingard. Produced by Legendary Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it acts as a sequel to “Godzilla vs. Kong” (2021) and is the fifth installment in the Monsterverse franchise, marking the 38th film in the Godzilla series and the 13th in the King Kong series. The cast includes Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns, and Fala Chen, with Hall, Henry, and Hottle reprising their roles from the previous film. The storyline follows Kong as he encounters more of his species in the Hollow Earth and teams up with Godzilla once again to thwart their tyrannical leader and his frost-breathing monster from attacking the Earth’s surface.

After the success of “Godzilla vs. Kong” during the COVID-19 pandemic, Legendary announced the sequel in March 2022, with filming scheduled to begin later that year. Wingard returned to direct, and Stevens was announced as a lead cast member in May 2022. Principal photography took place from July to November 2022 in the Gold Coast, Australia. The movie premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on March 25, 2024, and was released in the United States on March 29. Critical reception was mixed, with comparisons made to “Godzilla Minus One.” Despite this, it grossed $559 million worldwide against a budget of $135–150 million, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2024 and the top-grossing Godzilla film to date. A sequel is currently in development.

• Rebecca Hall portrays Dr. Ilene Andrews.
• Brian Tyree Henry takes on the role of Bernie Hayes.
• Dan Stevens appears as John Trapper.
• Kaylee Hottle plays Jia.
• Alex Ferns is cast as Mikael.
• Fala Chen portrays the Iwi Queen.
• Rachel House is featured as Hampton.
• Ron Smyck is credited as Harris.
• Chantelle Jamieson plays Jayne.
• Greg Hatton appears as Lewis.
• Kevin Copeland is the Submarine Commander.
• Tess Dobré portrays a Submarine Officer.
• Tim Carroll is credited as Wilcox.
• Anthony Brandon Wong is the Talk Show Announcer.

Three years after defeating Mechagodzilla, Kong has established his new domain in the Hollow Earth and seeks out more of his kind. Meanwhile, Godzilla maintains peace on Earth’s surface, eliminating threats like Scylla in Rome before resting in the Colosseum.

A Monarch observation post in Hollow Earth detects an unknown signal, causing Jia, the last survivor of the Iwi tribe, to experience visions. Concerned, Dr. Ilene Andrews, Jia’s adoptive mother and a Kong expert, investigates. Godzilla, sensing the signal, leaves Rome, absorbs radiation at a nuclear plant in France, and heads to the Arctic. Kong discovers a hidden realm near his home where a tribe of his species survives. Bonding with a juvenile named Suko, Kong learns of the tribe’s plight under the tyrannical leader Skar King, who controls an ice-powered Titan named Shimo. Despite losing his axe and sustaining injuries, Kong escapes with Suko’s aid.

Andrews, Jia, Titan veterinarian Trapper, and podcaster Bernie Hayes journey to Hollow Earth to trace the signal. They find the outpost destroyed and encounter the surviving Iwi tribe. Exploring ruins, they uncover a prophecy revealing Skar King’s past and the role of Jia in awakening Mothra.

Equipped with a prototype exoskeletal glove, Kong joins the fight against Skar King and Shimo. Mothra’s intervention leads Godzilla and Kong to confront them in Hollow Earth, with the battle spilling over to Rio de Janeiro. Suko aids Kong in defeating Skar King and Shimo. After restoring balance, Godzilla returns to the surface, while Jia chooses to stay with Andrews. Mothra restores the Iwi’s protective barrier, and Kong becomes the leader of the ape tribe in Hollow Earth.

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Dc preview: justice league vs. godzilla vs. kong #7.

THE BEST-SELLING SERIES REACHES ITS TITANIC CONCLUSION!

Two worlds face annihilation in an all-out war between the DCU and Leg­endary’s MonsterVerse! With the help of Godzilla and Kong, can the Justice League win a battle against a reformed Mechagodzilla and a new, even more deadly, hybrid Titan—a by-product of two worlds, the likes of which neither universe has ever seen!

Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #7

Writer : Brian Buccellato Artist : Christian Duce Release Date : May 21, 2024

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Screen Rant

After godzilla x kong, the monsterverse needs anguirus more than ever.

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How Godzilla x Kong's Biggest Godzilla Change Was Set Up By A 31-Year-Old Rodan Moment

Why godzilla’s atomic power goes from blue to pink in the new empire, todd phillips' hulk hogan biopic gets disappointing update from chris hemsworth.

• Anguirus needs to join the Monsterverse after Godzilla x Kong to balance out Godzilla and Kong's new dynamics.
• Kong now has a sidekick in Shimo, setting up exciting future alliances, while Godzilla remains a loner in the Monsterverse.
• Anguirus is a perfect choice to be Godzilla's ally in the Monsterverse, based on his past relationships and potential backstory.

Warning: Spoilers for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

After Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire , Angurius' long-awaited Monsterverse debut is needed more than ever. Despite being introduced as an enemy to the King of the Monsters, Anguirus has a reputation as one of Godzilla's most popular allies . However, he's still yet to make an official appearance in any of Godzilla or Kong's Monsterverse movies .

With Mothra, King Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mechagodzilla all existing alongside the Monsterverse's Godzilla, it's worth wondering when its movies will get around to featuring Anguirus in a TV show or movie. After all, Anguirus is easily among the most high-profile Toho monsters Legendary hasn't used yet, with some of the other noteworthy options being Destoroyah and Gigan. There's a sense that the longer the Monsterverse goes on, the higher the chances are that Anguirus will eventually appear. And with Godzilla x Kong now in the rearview mirror, the need for him to join forces with Godzilla on the big screen again is at its greatest.

The biggest change that the Monsterverse made to Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was secretly set up by a Rodan scene from 31 years ago.

Godzilla x Kong's Ending Gave Kong A Sidekick (But Not Godzilla)

Kong now has something godzilla doesn't.

Although there's a long list of differences that set Godzilla and Kong apart in the Monsterverse, one thing they have in common is that both are regarded as loners, due largely to the perception that each was the last of their kind. For Kong, Godzilla x Kong's ending changed this in two huge ways. In addition to getting a whole society of Great Apes to lead, Kong appears to have a sidekick now : the Monsterverse's Shimo . The shot of Kong riding her is indicative of a new relationship that'll be relevant to future movies. It would seem that by freeing Shimo from Skar King's control, Kong earned her loyalty.

By taking this route, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire set up an exciting future where Kong rides into battle atop Shimo, who is now on track to be his faithful ally going forward. Consequently, though, creating this exciting path for Kong in the Monsterverse only draws more attention to the fact that Godzilla is still very much on his own . Admittedly, he shares a symbiotic relationship with Mothra, a benovalent Titan who seems to show up when the world is in danger. That said, there's no comparison between that and the fun partnerships he had with Rodan and Anguirus in the Showa era .

During some of Godzilla's 1960s and 1970s films, he was often seen in the company of other monsters. In Invasion of Astro Monster , Godzilla and Rodan were basically treated as friends who fought together throughout the movie. He had the same dynamic with Anguirus in Godzilla vs. Gigan , with the ankylosaurus-like kaiju actually taking commands from Godzilla and helping set up some exciting tag-team moves. In the wake of Shimo switching sides in Godzilla x Kong , the Monsterverse has the tools it needs to create its own take on this sort of relationship , but it'll only be to the benefit of Kong - not Godzilla.

Why Anguirus Is The Perfect Partner For Godzilla In The Monsterverse

Anguirus is a better choice than mothra or rodan.

To maintain an even playing field, the Monsterverse can balance things out between Godzilla and Kong if it finds a way to give the former a Titan sidekick or permanent ally of his own. Mothra is hardly a great fit for this role, as she has the aura of a higher being, a mystical creature who will appear when Godzilla needs her but not accompany him on his adventures or acting as a loyal sidekick. It also wouldn't be consistent with his past alliances with Mothra. It's much easier to see Rodan in such a role, given his past history with Godzilla, but the notion that he only bowed down to Godzilla because Ghidorah lost would raise questions about why he's really on Godzilla's side.

Anguirus, on the other hand, wouldn't come with any baggage. Rather, the Monsterverse could lean heavily on his portrayal in Godzilla vs. Gigan and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla and depict Anguirus as a true friend to the alpha Titan. To do so would allow the Monsterverse to present Anguirus the way he's remembered in Toho's movies. In Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla , Anguirus shared such a close bond with Godzilla that he was quick to recognize that Mechagodzilla (perfectly disguised as Godzilla) was an impostor. He was also adept at teamwork, as working with Godzilla allowed him to make the most of his abilities, including his rolling attack.

The Monsterverse Already Has A Great Backstory In Place For Anguirus

The 2019 easter egg could define anguirus' place in the monsterverse.

As for how Anguirus could be brought into the Monsterverse , the framework for his introduction is already in place. Godzilla: King of the Monsters notably included a massive Toho Easter egg when it briefly showed off a Titan skeleton identical to Anguirus. The Titan skeleton was visible in Godzilla's underwater city just before Dr. Serizawa destroyed it with a nuke. Nothing was established about the city, but its presense in the area lends to the imagination of the audience, who can make their guesses on what Anguirus was doing there. The most obvious assumption to make is that Anguirus lived in Godzilla's city peacefully.

This idea conjures images of the Showa era, back when kaiju like Godzilla, Rodan, and Anguirus all shared a quiet existence on Monster Island. Though Godzilla can be territorial and aggressive toward other monsters, he appeared to get along with most of them quite well, which gave Monster Island a special feel in Godzilla's movies. It's possible that in ancient times, Godzilla's ancient Hollow Earth city occupied a similar role in the Monsterverse. The idea that it - as well as Anguirus and any other monster Godzilla may have shared it with - is now gone makes its fate all the more sad.

Were this to become the official backstory for Godzilla's ancient city and the Anguirus skeleton in Godzilla: King of the Monsters , it would add greater meaning to the Titan's eventual debut and subsequent team-up with Godzilla. The rise of a new member of Anguirus' species could give Godzilla a reminder of a fallen ally from a bygone era, and perhaps someone he'd be willing to trust in combat. With an Anguirus at Godzilla's side in a potential Godzilla vs. Kong 3 , the two could be a perfect counter to Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire's Kong-Shimo duo. And all together, they could create a powerful quartet of Titans for the movie's final battle.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Novelization Dispels Major Shimo Rumor 

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Audiences around the world turned out for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and have effectively secured the future of the MonsterVerse. Needless to say, a lot of people of disparate backgrounds have come together and found common ground in something they all enjoy.

RELATED: Kaiju History – The Humble Beginnings Of The MonsterVerse Lay In A Failed Ambition To Present Godzilla In 3D

However, that hasn’t immunized the film against critics who say it lacks depth and leaves too much hanging without explanation. 

There are always deleted scenes and commentary for the Blu-ray and digital releases that resolve these issues, but if you favor light reading on a sunny afternoon then there is another answer.

RELATED: ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Star Kaylee Hottle Views The Humans As Still Vital To The MonsterVerse

GxK’s novelization is here to fill in the gaps and in the process it’s setting the record straight on a persistent rumor regarding the reluctant nemesis Shimo. For quite a while, it was believed the frosty lizard and Godzilla were relatives.

According to Comicbook.com , that theory can be put to bed as the book takes time to explain they are not kin. It does, however, confirm a few suspicions about the forcibly coerced monster. 

The New Empire – Shimu by in Monsterverse

Shimo did indeed freeze and defeat Ghidorah long ago, and its breath ray “slows down atoms,” meaning Absolute Zero could be achieved. They also give away Shimo’s age of approximately three million years. 

That must be give or take roughly a decade because the book reveals that the story takes place in 2027 and not ‘24 or ‘23 – meaning there is a 6-7 year diegetic gap between films. Between GxK , Kong: Skull Island, and Monarch, the Monsterverse has a real fondness for bouncing around the timeline.

RELATED: ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Director Adam Wingard’s Wish To Rival A Toho Film Could Finally Bring Destoroyah Into The MonsterVerse

Speaking of Kong and Monarch, the novelization answers questions we all had about the BEAST Glove and Project Powerhouse. One reason they had it at the ready when Kong was injured by Shimo’s ice beam was pieces of Mechagodzilla were used to build the upgrade.

Written by Greg Keyes, the novel of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has the following summary that begins, “Writer Greg Keyes returns to the Monsterverse to transport readers ever deeper into the world of Monsters.” 

It adds, “This book explores the events of the film while adding to the history and lore of the Titans, portraying existing scenes from a fresh perspective and expanding upon the film. A must-read for any Godzilla and Kong fan.”

If you must read it, dear GxK fans, the novel of the movie is on sale now.

NEXT: ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Review – Balderdash Of The Titans

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‘godzilla x kong’ follow-up enlists ‘shang chi’ scribe dave callaham to write  (exclusive).

Legendary's 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' has grossed close to $555 million worldwide since its March 29 opening.

By Borys Kit

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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings screenwriter Dave Callaham is going from the Marvelverse to the Monsterverse.

The scribe, known for his action acumen, has been tapped to pen the next installment of Legendary’s Godzilla/Kong monster movie series .

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Adam Wingard directed Empire and created the story with frequent collaborator Simon Barrett as well as Terry Rossio. Legendary has signaled it would like to see Wingard return to the director’s chair after a successful run that also included the 2021 entry Godzilla vs. Kong . But Wingard has no deal at this stage. Complicating matters, the filmmaker is intent on making an original movie , titled Onslaught , this fall for A24, before taking on any other projects.

Still, Callaham knows a thing or two about Godzilla. The scribe wrote the early drafts and received story by credit for 2014’s Godzilla , the movie that kicked off Legendary’s monster mania. The company’s five movies have collectively earned $2.5 billion at the global box office, and last year, it expanded into TV with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters . The show has proven to be a hit for Apple TV+ and now a second season as well as spinoffs are in the works.

Callaham is known for originating The Expendables action franchise and worked on movies such as the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot and Wonder Woman 1984 . He earned praise for writing Marvel’s well-regarded 2021 entry Shang-Chi and co-wrote Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse , which earned a best animated feature Oscar. Callaham is currently writing the third and final film in the series,  Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse , with Phil Lord & Chris Miller.

He is repped by UTA and Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment.

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