{"id":7222,"date":"2016-05-24T05:21:37","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T23:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=7222"},"modified":"2026-07-17T22:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T17:10:19","slug":"godzilla-vs-kong-review-the-fourth-monsterverse-film-is-the-best-in-the-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=7222","title":{"rendered":"Godzilla Vs. Kong Review: The Fourth MonsterVerse Film is the Best in the Series"},"content":{"rendered":"\nS<\/span>o why are Godzilla and King Kong fighting? Think Rajiv Rai\u2019s Mohra<\/a><\/em>. Two heroes. One is the establishment\u2019s hero, the other the renegade hero. They misunderstand each other and fight until the third act when they realise both have been conned into being enemies by a mastermind.\n\nAdam Wingard\u2019s Godzilla vs. Kong<\/em> is the fourth instalment in MonsterVerse, Legendary studio\u2019s competing franchise in a world where Marvel and DC<\/a> run amok. The preceding films introduced Godzilla and King Kong anew as titans destructing property with godlike impunity.\n\nGodzilla vs. Kong<\/em> begins with the monster ape held captive by the benevolent Monarch, a government agency tasked with handling titanic affairs. Elsewhere, Godzilla pop ups after a three-year sabbatical in the series\u2019s timeline and attacks the offices of APEX, a technology corporation which is, as usual, up to no good in films of this sort. Humans cannot figure out why Godzilla has gone rogue after being the nice guy in previous films, but such are the demands of the screenplay.\n\nKong is brought out of temporary retirement to fight Godzilla. APEX convinces Monarch employees, the scientist Nathan (Alexander Skarsgard), and the linguist Ilene (Rebecca Hall), to lead a team that takes Kong miles underground to a place called the Hollow Earth, home to Kong and sundry titans. This, APEX claims, will solve the Godzilla issue, but it has other plans up its sleeve.\n\n

What\u2019s interesting is the contrast between the sort of hero\u2019s welcome Godzilla and Kong get.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nThe journey of Kong to Hollow Earth is interrupted by the first of two bouts with Godzilla. It happens on water, and Godzilla wins with homeground advantage. Kong is then flown to his destination by the world\u2019s biggest hammock. The portions in Hollow Earth have some of the film\u2019s most gorgeous moments, only second to Godzilla and Kong\u2019s final fight in neon-lit Hong Kong.\n\nThis storyline is crossed with that of young titan enthusiast Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) and conspiracy theorist Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry) breaking into APEX headquarters to investigate what stranger things the corporation is up to. These moments offer the funnies, until the big reveal, which storms out to fight Godzilla and Kong in the climax.\n\nWhat\u2019s interesting is the contrast between the sort of hero\u2019s welcome Godzilla and Kong get. The film opens with Kong waking up in the jungle, scratching his bum, and taking a shower. While Kong is pitched as the everyman protagonist, Gozilla, looking buffer than ever, gets the sexier, more sinister entry.\n\n

\"Godzilla\n

\n

What makes Godzilla vs. Kong<\/em> possibly the best in the MonsterVerse series is how neatly the central anxiety of this series is outlined.<\/p>\n

Warner Bros. Pictures<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nThe opening credits feature computer monitors showing titans \u201cdefeated\u201d by Godzilla and Kong in the previous films. It ends with the two facing one another. Soon, a character notes, \u201cThere can\u2019t be two alpha titans.\u201d With a setup like this, how can you stop this from being a two-hour Mortal Kombat<\/em> fight? How to make it a human story?\n\nThe film\u2019s emotional thrust arrives with Kong\u2019s alienation in the human world. Kong\u2019s digitally generated melancholic expressions have the film\u2019s best acting. His journey to Hollow Earth brings a kinetic road-movie element to the story. Among the film\u2019s best spectacles is Kong making himself at home in his castle, which strongly resembles Skeletor\u2019s pad in Eternia.\n\nThe actors are adequate in their functional roles of adding context and exposition to the CGI fights. The knee-high Kaylee Hottle stars as Jia, the deaf and mute friend of Kong. Hottle\u2019s puppy face softens the literally earth-shattering tone of the movie. As the resourceful Bernie, Tyree Henry is fabulous.\n\nWhat makes Godzilla vs. Kong<\/em> possibly the best in the MonsterVerse series is how neatly the central anxiety of this series is outlined.\n\n

The film\u2019s emotional thrust arrives with Kong\u2019s alienation in the human world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nOn the one hand, the movie revolves around the fear of encountering primitive forces, made more relevant than ever with reports of scientists discovering millenia-old viruses under the ice, while a stubborn pandemic is afoot. On the other hand, there is the classic case of suspicion towards private entities handling science and technology. The antagonist\u2019s Darwinian zeal to dominate what it considers nonhuman threats in the name of global security also has a political edge to it.\n\nWingard and company, however, keep matters as light as is expected from the tentpole-blockbuster template. They don\u2019t delve into philosophising the subtext, although there is scope to do so in this series of films.\n\nFor starters, there\u2019s the burning question of what\u2019s stopping the titans from teaming up to wipe out humans for good and ending this franchise. One of the most radical ways these films can be done differently is moving away from their anthropocentrism. Indeed, why do Thor and Superman<\/a> and Godzilla feel so invested in keeping humanity alive?\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Godzilla vs. Kong begins with the monster ape held captive by the benevolent Monarch, a government agency tasked with handling titan-related affairs. Elsewhere, Godzilla attacks the offices of APEX, a technology corporation which is up to no good. Humans cannot figure out why Godzilla has gone rogue after being the nice guy in previous films.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":433,"featured_media":7225,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nGodzilla Vs. Kong Review: The Fourth MonsterVerse Film is the Best in the Series<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Godzilla vs. Kong begins with the monster ape held captive by the benevolent Monarch, a government agency tasked with handling titan-related affairs. 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