"Godzilla vs. Kong" Feature Talkback (Spoilers)

[Yojimbo]

One Will Fall

Godzilla vs. Kong
Release Date: March 31, 2021
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures
Director: Adam Wingard
Screenwriter: Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty, and Zach Shields (Story) and Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein (Screenplay)
Starring: Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza Gonzalez, Julian Dennison, Lance Reddick, Kyle Chandler, Kaylee Hottle, and Demian Bichir
Rated: PG-13 (for intense sequences of creature violence/destruction and brief language)

Plot Summary: Legends collide as Godzilla and Kong, the two most powerful forces of nature, clash on the big screen in a spectacular battle for the ages. As a squadron embarks on a perilous mission into fantastic uncharted terrain, unearthing clues to the Titans' very origins and mankind's survival, a conspiracy threatens to wipe the creatures, both good and bad, from the face of the earth forever.

Comments?

Related Discussions:
-Godzilla (2014) Talkback
-Kong: Skull Island Talkback
-Godzilla: King of the Monsters Talkback
-Godzilla vs. Kong News & Discussion

Related Links:
-Official site
-HBO Max

 

[Pooky]

3 Stars for a last act that truly delivers the goods. A mediocre, occasionally irritating potboiler until then.

I like this more than either of the previous Godzilla movies in the series, though if either of them, particularly King of the Monsters, had action scenes as well staged as this, it might be a different story. I think I might have like Kong: Skull Island more than this, despite being Team G, and it's the only one that has any substantial merits outside of action and effects work IMO, but it still suffered from some serious miscasting and wasn't hugely memorable. This whole series could have been much better.

But I don't want to be too negative; if you want to watch this you'll probably be glad you did.

 

[Classic Speedy]

I'm debating whether to see this in theaters or on HBO Max. Obviously it would be free on HBO Max but part of me wants to see a movie like this on the big screen, plus I've GOT to get out of the house.

James Rolfe gave it a good review:

 

[Yojimbo]

This definitely made up for King of the Monsters in spades. It was really well done, the fights looked leagues better than the previous movies and you could see the kaiju this time in all their glory. The relationship between Jia and Kong was really sweet, an orphan befriending another orphan, and the shocker she taught him sign language in secret. Lot more pathos and ethos in this one.

Bernie, Billie, and Josh were a hilarious trio. The stars/human supporting cast was better than King of the Monsters. Brian Tyree Henry's Bernie as the paranoid conspiracy podcaster was my favorite of the bunch. Rebecca Hall's Ilene did really well in scenes with Jia and Skarsgård's Dr. Lind was decent. The brave/coward joke was hilarious.

The reveal that Apex Mecha-Godzilla was basically an Eva with Ren Serizawa controlling it with a mind link was a great reveal. Wish they linked how the two Ghidorah heads went from Jonah in the KoM end teaser to Apex. Once I saw Serizawa was using the mind link, I knew Ghidorah was eventually going to gain control of Mecha and yup, it did once they replicated the Hollow Earth energy.

Dug the visuals with the trip to Hollow Earth and the whole gravity thing. I'm pretty sure there was tiny beasts there that were homages to Destroyah and Minilla. Very intriguing reveal with Kong's ancestors having their own throne cave and the axe made with a Godzilla beast killed in there used a fin for the weapon and it was a key.

No surprise that Godzilla defeated Kong. The big battle and team up against Mecha Godzilla was killer. I was totally glued to the screen the whole time.

One conceit of this movie is the hi-tech. Of course, if you can accept there's giant monsters and a Hollow Earth, you should accept the hi-tech.... but some of this stuff was kinda out there. Like over several years, MONARCH was able to put a containment dome over all of Skull Island or Apex was able to build secret underground sub-levels and a high-speed secret monorail from Florida to Hong Kong and of course the mental uplink with Mecha. The other conceit was that part in Hong Kong when Godzilla fired its atomic breath to form a tunnel right down to the Hollow Earth throne room... but it got everyone in place for the finale I guess.

The human villains sucked though. The Apex president, his daughter, and Serizawa's son. Really two dimensional and total canon fodder. And Russell was reduced to very few scenes where he was confused dad mostly. And they parsed down Reddick's role a lot. Zhang Ziyi and Jessica Henwick were completely removed.

There were no end teasers, in fact the last scene of MONARCH monitoring Kong in Hollow Earth was originally the end teaser but they moved it up to be the last scene. So it was a nice coda and a 'maybe-finale' to the franchise. If I remember right, the contract with Toho ended in 2020 but due to covid, this came out in 2021. I think with the box office numbers so far, stands to reason the contract will be renewed. I'm sure they have more ideas to further explore Hollow Earth and there's still that Mothra egg to hatch. They didn't really have any real estate to explore MONARCH going public. And I suppose with Ghidorah being an alien, there could be more coming.

 

[reflection01]

To that point there was a whole university (not a department) devoted to theoretical science. That’s going to lead to some out there tech.

Didn’t see the other Gorilla or Kong films. I enjoyed this one. Loved the fight scenes. The humans were OK enough.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[SoundDestroyer]

I've seen movie yesterday, and i thought it was... fine. Wasn't bad or perfect, it was fine.

I think it had TOO MUCH focus on Kong, though.

IMO, gonna give a movie 6-7/10.

 

[Classic Speedy]

Follow-up to my previous post: Despite it being on HBO Max, I ended up seeing it in theaters- this was my first movie-going experience of the year, and hopefully not the last now that things are... improving, albeit not as fast as we'd all like.

I've never been a big giant monster movie fan but it delivered what it advertised: Tons of carnage in the wake of these iconic characters duking it out. I just wish it had more to offer. As others have already said, most of the human characters were serviceable- even an eccentric character like Bernie should've been more entertaining than he was. I did like Jia's bond with Kong, though.

Favorite moment of the film, besides the battles: "Coward." Those who have seen it know what I'm referring to. It was a funny callback that was really the only laugh I had the whole movie.

 

[harry580]

I've seen movie yesterday, and i thought it was... fine. Wasn't bad or perfect, it was fine.

I think it had TOO MUCH focus on Kong, though.

IMO, gonna give a movie 6-7/10.

I didn't see the movie but yeah, I see you what you mean

they could have focus on Godzilla since that's the first word of the title of the movie

 

[TnAdct1]

I think it had TOO MUCH focus on Kong, though.

I watched the film on HBO Max yesterday with my father (while there is a theater nearby that's showing the film, my dad was more interested in watching this on HBO Max). In terms of King Kong getting way too much focus, I can see two reasons for that:

1. Godzilla's basic M. O. is that he's taking care of Titans that he feels that could threaten the Earth, and, along with him not knowing about where Kong stands, most of his plot is the mystery concerning the reason for its attack on a human-based company at the beginning of the film. Kong's story, meanwhile, is about the ape finding where it came from (with the company that Godzilla attacked at the beginning funding the expedition as a means to get an item needed to power Barbara Streisand Mecha-Godzilla).

2. The film's main point is that even if

Spoiler

it ends up losing against Godzilla in their showdown before they team up to stop Mecha-Godzilla,)

Kong is the hero kaiju of the film, with his journey to find where he came from and his bond with the deaf girl.

they could have focus on Godzilla since that's the first word of the title of the movie

Are you even familiar with the classic kaiju films of the 1960's and 1970's? In those films, the focus is usually more towards the second-billed monster.

 

[harry580]

Are you even familiar with the classic kaiju films of the 1960's and 1970's? In those films, the focus is usually more towards the second-billed monster.

well, I like kaijus, I never watched the 1960s and 1970s kaiju films, but I see what you saying here

 

[19MagiswordLane]

I enjoyed it. I can see why most critics loved it. It's more of a crowdpleaser and forgoes human development for more monster fights (Legendary is owned by Wanda Group, a Chinese company, so these Monsterverse films are more caitered to them).

"I love crazy ideas. They make me rich."

It's incredibly bizzare to see this version on Godzilla move so quickly compared to how we first saw him in 2014.

Turns out there was a lot cut out. The orginal cut was 5 hours, so many of the character development was dropped (and a few characters were removed entirely). Despite this, there will be no director's cut, according to Wingard.

Godzilla vs. Kong Director Says There's Enough Footage for 'Five-Hour' Cut

With footage shot but not used for Godzilla vs. Kong, would Adam Wingard do a director’s cut someday?

www.denofgeek.com

 

[Yojimbo]

It's incredibly bizarre to see this version on Godzilla move so quickly compared to how we first saw him in 2014.

4/6: Some of us are slow starters when we first wake up.

4/12: Looks like it will have a profitable theatrical run!

And pushed HBO Max to a new record.

 

[harry580]

4/6: Some of us are slow starters when we first wake up.

4/12: Looks like it will have a profitable theatrical run!

And pushed HBO Max to a new record.

look like hbo max has commit a record, let see how disney plus and paramount plus will do about it

 

[Fone Bone]

Godzilla Vs Kong

An outright classic! My favorite monster movie ever! It basically did everything right. What's not to love?

The big question is how they can pit these two iconic monsters against each other, and not have the fan of the loser go into conniptions and say that their fave was robbed. The movie was very cunning, and I speak as someone totally on Team Kong. Godzilla defeated Kong in 2 of their 3 fights. But Kong saved Godzilla's life at the end, and was the one to destroy Mecha-Godzilla. Brilliant compromise that I'm satisfied with.

I wish we had gotten a news report at the end sort of clearing Godzilla or any real guilt of the attack at the beginning of the film. But that's the only thing I would have changed.

I'll tell you why I'm Team Kong. It's because the movie opens up on a morning montage routine of him set to the song "The Air That I Breathe". I love his friendship with the little girl, and the revelation that he's learned sign language, and that humans are able to communicate with him. And I noted in my Kong: Skull Island review that his ability to use tools could give him an edge to beating Godzilla. It didn't quite help THAT much, but it's surely how he ripped apart Mecha-Godzilla.

This is my favorite version of King Kong. I like that the human characters treat him as the sympathetic hero he is, instead of the menace the humans in the earlier King Kong movies mistakenly said he was. I especially like that for once, the movie ends on a happy ending for Kong! How great it that? A long time coming, and fully earned and deserved.

I should also point out that it's easier being Team Kong because we witness Kong in quiet moments while the filmmakers deliberately keep Godzilla and his motivations a mystery. We still haven't seen any downtime for Godzilla, which is why I am rooting for Kong. Plus Kong interacts with people and doesn't treat them like bugs (unless they deserve it). And his facial expressions are pretty great.

I have SOME bad news to report. I think I enjoyed the movie a LITTLE too much. I know myself pretty well and I suspect if I had seen this in the theater my opinion would be far colder. It would have drained me. Watching it on TV meant I could take bathroom breaks and get a snack from the kitchen when I needed one. A lot of people like Christopher Nolan have given Warner Bros guff for essentially killing the theater experience for a year. I will go one further. It's possibly ruined the theater for me forever. There is a very large chance Nolan was right. I love Avengers: Endgame. I cannot imagine how much more I would have raved about it seeing it on Blu-Ray or streaming first. I have now resolved to catch up on my Marvel movies on Blu-Ray for this reason. I just realized I don't really ever want to go through the hassle of being in a theater to see something I want again. Either I'll pay a 30 dollar fee to stream it the same time in theaters or (more likely) I'll wait for the Blu-Ray. Even if the pandemic ends soon, I realized after seeing this my days of going to the theater might be numbered. What it all boils down to is figuring out if there is a relatively easy way to avoid spoilers for movies I want to see until the Blu-Ray comes out. If there is, that's probably where I'm going to see most of my movies first.

But boy, that was pretty awesome. I was amped after seeing that at home in my underwear at night rather than drained spending a day at the theater. This is how I want to see my movies from now on. *****.

 

[Yojimbo]

4/27: Global box office total estimated to be around $470 million, making it the top earner in the MonsterVerse canon.

4/28: Concept art of Mecha Godzilla.

4/29: Wingard confirms Ren Serizawa's back story wasn't explored due to time.

5/8: Digital release on May 21 and 4K/Blu-ray/DVD release is June 15. Initial info on special features, too.

 

[19MagiswordLane]

There might be more projects on the horizon:

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

Well, that's great to hear. I've enjoyed the films so far.

 

[Frontier]

The MonsterVerse isn't done .