MARCUS CHEONG watches ‘Godzilla Vs Kong’…
Godzilla vs Kong (AU-M/UK-12A/US – PG-13)
In a Word: Noisy
Monsters play the starring roles in Godzilla vs Kong.
The fourth film in Legendary’s MonsterVerse brings the two iconic titans to a head. The result is a big, brash, destructive fight fest that spans the entire globe.
“Godzilla vs Kong is essentially a two hour MMA cage match between the two stars. It trades an octagon for the Hong Kong skyline and the coaches in each corner are a couple of kids. But if you ever wanted to see Kong surf an aircraft carrier and wield a magical radioactive axe, then this is the movie for you.”
For the past seven years, the MonsterVerse has been building towards this showdown. In 2014, Godzilla rebooted the monster franchise and introduced the shadowy Monarch Organization that has been manipulating these Titans. In 2017, Kong: Skull Island reintroduced Kong as the benevolent saviour of a lost island. 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters unleashed a menagerie of monsters on the earth and established Godzilla as an eco-friendly saviour of the planet. This all set the scene for an ancient grudge match between Kong and Godzilla to battle for superiority in Godzilla Vs Kong.
Like its predecessors, the battle between the titans is a result of the true enemy – the hubris of man. This time, the culprit is Apex Cybernetics who are busy defaming Godzilla and manipulating Kong in order to deliver an energy source to power their new super weapon. The journey takes Kong deep inside the core of the Earth, where we are treated to a spectacular view of “a land that time forgot”.
Since the monsters can’t speak and only roar and scream loudly, the dialogue and drama is driven by two subplots following two different children. Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) reprises her role as Godzilla fangirl Madison, on a quest to uncover the Apex plot and restore Godzilla’s good name. Newcomer Kaylee Hottle plays the young Jia, a deaf girl who communicates with Kong by sign language. The supporting characters do the best they can to inject some drama and angst into the plot, but at the end of the day, the story stretches credulity as much as it stretches the laws of science.
Godzilla vs Kong is essentially a two hour MMA cage match between the two stars. It trades an octagon for the Hong Kong skyline and the coaches in each corner are a couple of kids. But if you ever wanted to see Kong surf an aircraft carrier and wield a magical radioactive axe, then this is the movie for you.
Bizarrely enough, if there is a message to be found in all this mass destruction, it is one of peace and understanding if only we could all communicate better. Young Jia signs the critical message “Godzilla. Not. Enemy”. And maybe, if we too realised who the true enemy is, we too would stop fighting the wrong fights.
