Godzilla v Kong
Image courtesy of Google Images
Five years after Godzilla saved the world from King Ghidhora, he attacks a factory in Florida.
CEO of that factory, Walter Simmons enlists Dr Nathan Lind, who believes titans come from Hollow Earth – to head there to find a power source that will stop the titans.
Lind travels with Dr Illene Andrews, the primary carer for King Kong, her deaf stepdaughter Jia – and a group of others – along with Kong to Hollow Earth in order to find it.
Direction
Adam Wingard takes the helm of this sequel in the series, and it’s.. okay.
While there is an overly heavy reliance on CGI, there are a couple of moments that work quite well. The one that really stuck in my mind was when deaf Jia is with Kong in the rain and the ‘sound’ is from her perspective – and it is whisper quiet.
Cast/Characters
I was not much of a fan of most of the cast, as I felt they were either written poorly or miscast.
Alexander Skarsgård plays Lind, who is seen to be an almost agoraphobic academic in the first scene – and then is our ‘hero’ minutes later.
Brian Tyree Henry plays a mixture of personality types, the conspiracy theorist/podcaster who is a germaphobe? alcoholic? Able to swap and change from ‘hero’ to damsel in distress.
Millie Bobbie Brown and Kyle Chandler return from the previous film, with the former getting a little to do – and the latter really only walking in and out of the film, tantamount to a cameo.
Other cast include Julian Dennison (riding on his Deadpool 2 fame), Demin Bichir (in an underdeveloped ‘antagonist role) and the late Lance Reddick – who is only in a small handful of scenes.
Screenplay/Setting/Themes
I found that the writers are really struggling to put across on film – what their original intentions are – and it is clear in this film.
If a movie like this makes you think too hard, then it’s not delivered on what it has set out to do. The Apex/Godzilla, Godzilla/King Kong conflict is almost second fiddle to the journey to Hollow Earth, and then the journey home.
My big up was the fact that for once we did not have a cliche child character, and that Jia actually becomes the ‘hero’ of the film – with her ability to bond and communicate with Kong. I really liked this – and its due to being a parent myself – I have a soft spot for strong written child characters.
Overall
One in a long line of the Titan movies, and it is – just okay. There is nothing to write home about with this film, but its not a fail by any means.
Good for a rainy Saturday night in, but easily forgettable.
3/5