The "Monsterverse" has had a rocky road to success. While the 2014 "Godzilla" film continues to be the highest grossing entry, it has been since looked down upon by critics and fans for failing to deliver on its premise and marketing. 2017's "Kong: Skull Island" had issues regarding the over-bloated human cast and odd story decisions, and 2019's "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" failed both critically and financially for its slow pace and human characters. The latter film performed so poorly that it's almost a miracle that this potentially final installment even got released. Surprisingly, the long-awaited crossover match-up not only got far better critical reception, but even managed to earn a profit in the box office, despite being on HBOmax. So, did this surprise hit managed to secure its place as the best of the franchise? Well, let's start with the story. Five years have past since Godzilla killed Ghidorah and the king of the Titans suddenly attacks a private facility belonging to Apex Cybernatics, causing Monarch to believe that Godzilla has turned its back on humanity. The CEO of Apex, Walter Simmons, recruits a former Monarch scientist named Nathan to journey inside the Hollow Earth in order to find a power source that will be able to defeat Godzilla. Nathan is eager to explore the Hollow Earth, but needs a monitored Kong to act as a guide and defence towards potential monsters found inside. Meanwhile, Madison Russell believes that Godzilla must have had a motivation to attack Apex and finds a conspiracy theorist and employee of the company, Bernie, to get the evidence needed that Apex is responsible for provoking Godzilla. As the two plot-lines converge, the ancient rivalry between Godzilla and Kong reignites as a ruthless showdown will come to place. Despite having the shortest runtime of the franchise, the story manages to make it feel longer than it really is as the narrative feels the need to act relevant. Conceptually, the plot-threads aren't bad as the Apex conspiracy, the reveal of Mechagodzilla, the exploration of Hollow Earth, and Kong wanting a place to belong could work really well. However, the issue is once again related to the characters, which I will go over soon. On top of that, the tone is at its most campy and unapologetic. Any sense of weight or seriousness is kept mainly to the monsters as the humans are either acting like cartoons or just not interesting to care for them. The forced humour is also pretty poor at times, though is salvaged by the character of Bernie.
The characters are the most problematic, especially when you realize how salvageable it could have been. Alexander Skarsgard as Nathan Lind is one of the most forgettable lead roles I have seen in a movie, due to how he barely feels involved in the story and his personality is nonexistent. Rebecca Hall as Dr. Andrews, the caretaker of Kong and former fling of Nathan, also doesn't help much in standing out as an likeable character, despite Hall clearly doing her best in her performance. Kyle Chandler as Dr. Mark Russell is barely in the film and he's unlikeable in being dismissive of his daughter's concerns. The villains are perhaps even worse than the lead characters. Demian Bichir as Walter Simmons is just the stock CEO bad guy you've seen in countless shows or movies who is strictly evil because he hates Godzilla. Eiza Gonzalez as Maia, Walter's daughter and an executive of Apex, is a bratty henchwoman whose connections to her father barely amount to anything even when she's killed by Kong, and Shun Oguri as Ren Serizawa is insultingly bad as the evil hairdo son to the deceased Ishiro whose family connections never come up and his reasons for wanting to destroy Godzilla is never explained. Despite all of these boring or awful characters, there are a few that actually work. Jia, a little girl who connects with Kong, is a nice supportive character whose communication via sign language to a bit of heart and charm, Milly Bobby Brown returning as Madison actually improves a bit from the previous film as she spends the film being a Godzilla loyalist, Julian Dennison as Josh is enjoyable as the fearful friend to Madison who constantly worries about their current predicament, and then there's Brian Tyree Henry as Bernie. Bernie is probably the best character in the film due to Henry's charismatic performance, his jokes actually being able to make you laugh, and the scatter-minded underdog role he plays as the whistleblower to Apex. Bernie is so good that it begs the following question: Why wasn't he the central protagonist of the film? It may be challenging, but I think it was quite possible that they could have made Bernie the lead protagonist throughout the film who could tackle both plot-lines at the same time. But no, Nathan is the main character because every other film from the franchise needed to have a bland, brunette, white man as the leading role. As for Godzilla, Kong, and Mechagodzilla, they continue to give these creatures the ability to emote and carry a type of personality to the point that you can understand their motivations is shocking, specifically that more care was put into the CGI monsters than the majority of the human cast. It's sad that they could have easily fixed the character issue if more time was spent on the villains to flesh them out and to just make Bernie the primary protagonist rather than a secondary one.
Adam Wingold has recently been given various projects and responsibilities for his work on this film, even going far as to potentially continue the franchise and be a returning director. This is all due to how he delivered the promises and expectations fans and critics were wanting and show some skill as a great director. Wingold manages to make this film feel the biggest in scope yet in comparison to the previous films, while carrying over the motifs laid out by Micheal Dougherty from the previous film such as the vivid colours. Aesthetically, the film feels brighter, not only because the action manages to take place in the day for once, but it reflects the more light-hearted tone the film offers. The Hollow Earth is a unique landscape with the mirror-esque design and the use of gravity being visually interesting. After all of that build-up, the Hollow Earth feels real to that world and makes sense as the origin for all of the Titans, despite what is shown being only the tip of the iceberg. The cinematography by Ben Seresin is great during the action and exploration sequences in terms of creativity and playing around with the scaling of the battles in contrast to the size of the humans and various environments, but does feel a bit bland in the conversation pieces. The score by Tom Holkenberg is no match for Bear McCreary's offerings, but it's pretty decent with the third act using various themes and pieces to have an epic feel to the film. The use of classic songs to associate with Kong at times are also spot-on in quality and context. The visual effects are as great as ever with more and more detail being put onto the fur and scales of Kong and Godzilla when reacting to water or snow and the various environments such as the ocean, Antartica, and Hong Kong react with such extreme detail to the carnage or movement being taken place. Mechagodzilla, on the other hand, feels the most artificial of the Titans due to its design and it does drag the effects down a bit from being exceptional. The action sequences are probably the best in the franchise, if one can tolerate the pacing. Not only can you see the monsters fight for once, but it's so deliciously over-the-top that it makes the action really memorable and chaotic. The titular fight between Godzilla and Kong doesn't disappoint as the environment around them is used cleverly to aid or hinder the Titans along with creative camerawork that makes the fight feel more realistic despite the cartoonish premise and abilities. The hits and collisions have impact and everything about the fights just feel satisfying. While he's not the most stylized director we've seen from these films, Wingold does a great job in choosing what worked and what needs improvement, while making the final "Monsterverse" film go out with a bang.
"Godzilla vs. Kong" is the definition of a hit-and-miss film. The issues with the movie are crippling with an over-stuffed story that can be sluggish in the first third, a far more cartoonish tone in comparison to the more serious entries, boring lead characters, and laughably awful villains. These issues are even worse when you not only appreciate the positives, but also know how they could have improved the movie in a drastic way. Bernie is the best character in the film due to Henry's performance and the engaging characterization, Madison, Josh and Jia are enjoyable side characters who don't overstay their welcome, Godzilla and Kong are given even more character than ever both in comparison to the human cast and the previous films, Seresin's camerawork is riveting during the action set-pieces, Holkenberg's score is pretty decent by the third act, the licensed soundtrack that relate to Kong are aspired choices, the visual effects improve even more so in detail and authenticity, the thrilling action sequences are the highlights in both the film and the franchise in how creative and kinetic they can be, and Wingold's direction continues to grab the strengths of Dougherty's work and adds upon the creative Hollow Earth and visual clarity overall. The strengths alone can make it rival with the other films, but the weaknesses are just as bad or even worse than its competition.
Verdict: 6.5/10. Can easily fit as both the best or worse of the franchise depending on your view. However, it's the best in pure entertainment alone, regardless of the negatives.
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