To celebrate 10 years of the MonsterVerse, we’ll review every entry in this epic cinematic universe! Continuing our journey, we discuss Godzilla VS Kong. While Monarch transports Kong to Hollow Earth, he’s drawn into conflict with Godzilla who has recently declared war on humanity after APEX Cybernetics completed their work on Mechagodzilla leading to a massive war in Hong Kong.
Please Consider Supporting The Channel Through Patreon!
Official Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DMan1954
Chapters
Intro 0:00
Development 0:20
Story 2:27
Major Issues 7:32
10:16
What Works 12:43
Confidence 14:58
Rating 16:12
Conclusion 17:29 to END
#Godzilla #KingKong #Mechagodzilla #Monarch #MonsterVerse #GodzillaAwakening #KongSkullIsland #SkullIslandAnime #Godzilla2014 #MonarchLegacyOfMonsters #GodzillaAftershock #GoodzillaKingOfTheMonsters #GodzillaDominion #KingdomKong #GodzillaVSKong #GodzillaFightOrFlight #GodzillaXKongTheHunted #GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire #GodzillaXKong #MonsterVerseMay #Godzilla #Shinomura #SkullCrawler #Kraken #KingKong #SkullIsland #Kong #MUTO #MUTOPrime #IonDragon #Ghidorah #KingGhidorah #Tiamat #Mothra #Rodan #Camazotz #APEX #Gojira
source
The plot holes and lack of carryover from KOTM drive me crazy, but it’s undeniable that this movie is such a fun ass time. I just have to force myself to turn my brain off now to enjoy it
Yeah, Godzilla vs Kong is a fun and enjoyable film to rewatch that brings a rematch to cinema’s two iconic giant monsters in film history, but the film has many flaws and the most important flaw is failing to keep consistency from the previous film in the Monsterverse as a new installment of an ongoing series. Also, the writing and underused of certain characters that should be important to the film like Ren Serizawa and Mark Russell hurts this film a lot, probably due to the constant changes to the story and shifting direction.
Turned my brain off to watch this when it came out like everyone said to do. But now I can’t find the on switch, haven’t been the same since ☹️.
This is truly my favourite movie ever i legit remember the hype and the excitement for the movie and I honestly have been waiting for these two chads to meet each other and fight it’s just my favourite part of the film and the axe made by kongs ancestors became my favourite weapon ever but everything about this movie is literally my favourite but also Godzilla did say to kong if he ever did return to the surface he’d end his life which was pretty messed up I love Godzilla but he just doesn’t care like lol 😆 I respect that
This is exactly how I feel! And it hurts😭
On one hand, I had so much fun watching this movie…
On the other, it made me question the integrity of the monsterverse as a whole. If the people behind the films don’t have confidence in their own ideas then why should we? I felt like an idiot for caring so much about the lore and mythology of the monsterverse, only for large swaths to be ignored in favor of something loud and dumb that’s not worth thinking about after the fact.
No hate to Wingard or anyone else, but it was disappointing for me as a fan to see the series turn into this. It felt like they took the wrong lesion away from Kotm’s reception. But who am I to say? Clearly people cling to this movie and GxK, and I’m happy for them. But it just wasn’t the direction I wanted to see the series go in.
I do really hope one day one of the older scripts surfaces, I really wanna know what the movie we were originally gonna get was gonna be. Watching this, you can tell there's a better movie on the cutting room floor. and it kinda hurt listening to Wingard's commentary cause it had so much less passion as opposed to Dougherty, Jackson, and Borenstien's KOTM commentary. Wingard felt very "we did this just to we can get to this."
You said that this movie feels more like a standalone reboot than a sequel, and I think that looking at it like that might help reconcile my feelings towards it, cause I share a lot of your frustrations with it.
Hey Dman! What do you think of Godzilla walking on all fours like a crocodile in this movie?
I can't say I'm a huge fan of GVK, but I thought that they did great characterization on Kong (aside from him needing help with everything). They really made you feel for him.
This movie is like Freddy vs Jason or Alien vs Predator (the first one, obviously) for me. It's got a lot of stupid shit, the human characters range from boring to annoying, and the lore and world-building is either undercooked at best or contradictory to previous installments at worst. But by god if I don't have a good time watching the titular characters beat the absolute shit out of each other. I can be a simple man, sometimes. I watch big monke and big lizard punch each other, I'm satisfied, even if I do lament the total lack of real material characters like Ren Serizawa have.
Great review and thank you for providing an insightful critique of GVK! Despite it’s obvious flaws once you look into it (and the fact that we kind of never got a proper conclusion to the whole versus bit) it’s definitely one of the cooler monsterverse movies in my opinion. Because of course, seeing two big kaiju throwing hands is just a blast to watch every time.
The hollow earth and the world building in this series still has so much potential for development, and I hope that the next movie can further add to the beauty of the monsterverse, on top of the badass action sequences and emotional moments!
This movie despite its really bad writing still is a really good movie with a lot of heart. I know movies like KoTM get praised because of their Toho influences but what I appreciate about this movie is that it kinda tries to do its own thing rather than be something it’s not for the sake of nostalgia. Sure it has a lot of references to the original King Kong vs Godzilla but it goes way into the fantastical and goes nicely with its sequel. But I guess that’s all thanks to Adam Windgard who is an incredibly talented director with a lots of creative ideas. The fight scenes in this movie are also the best in the Monsterverse or in any Kaiju media ever imo (especially the battle in Hong Kong).
Yeah, the fight scenes and action sequences were great. However, I was pretty let down on the continuity and world building following KotM which set up so much potential. Score was nowhere near on the level of KotM either. That entire film was a damn love letter to the Gman. & a beautiful one at that. Fun popcorn flick but KotM and Skull Island were peak monsterverse imo.
I completely agree with all the sentiments in this video.
Ye by the time I rewetched the movie a few times when it became available for home media, I noticed the problems I didn't notice the 1st time in theaters. You basically pointed out the problems with the questionable plot and lote but at the same time, a really fun movie.
I rewatch this every so often but I can’t help thinking that Adam Wingard has turned the monsterverse into The KingKong Show.
KoTM is my favourite.
Bring back Rodan and Bohemoth!
I hate this movie with a passion. The way they ruined ren serizawa and the dynamic between him and godzilla is just so disappointing. I was hoping that we could see
backstory of ren. I don't care about the titans when they
ruin/remove my favourite characters of the mv.
Man, we could have gotten a great continuation of KotM but it wasn’t meant to be and we’ll never see it in the light.
This film is “fun” to watch but as part of the MV and a Godzilla film it fails to make an impression to me compared to others. It’s just not clicking despite how many people say “we want” more kaiju fight and less human. Good human stuff really add to the story.
The plot is all over the place, disregard pretty much everything from KotM. I really dislike what they did to Mark Russell and Godzilla. You can just cut Mark from the film and nothing would change, he has zero impact on the story. Godzilla just doesn’t have that aura like in 2014 and KotM, you’ve said it. Human plot that is not related to team Kong is pointless.
Nitpick but I don’t exactly like Godzilla’s movement in this game especially when he runs. Feel like they were not using mo-cap (maybe they really didn’t?).
Another thing is the soundtrack in this film….kinda suck. It’s not memorable or really add to any scene much at all.
A fun film to just watch with some popcorn and head empty. Just enjoy it and it’s okay.
2nd favorite movie ever. Idc
9:50 It very much exists in nature, actually, we see these hierarchies in multiple different species. What’s going on with Godzilla’s status is very similar to what happens with lions. When the leader is challenged, he has to respond.
If he loses, he gets killed or exiled, and all his cubs get killed, with little to no protest.
So yeah, of all the dumb things going on in the film, that’s definitely not the one. The most unrealistic part of it, is that Godzilla would get roared back at by a powerful opponent, and would let him live. When these types of animals have someone strong who’s defying them, they go for the kiII.
It's a shame the Monsterverse has taken a total shift in terms of caring about a cohesive lore and serious, yet balanced tone after KOTM was released. To be fair, Toho abandons continuity as soon as a film fails as well since every other Godzilla movie is almost its own film, so it's just bittersweet that the Monsterverse had to resort to breaking everything that was built up so that business can be more profitable.
I give gvk a 8.5/10
I love this movie, the movie has the best fights in the mv, has excellent cgi, made Godzilla a badass, made me love Kong more, Kong and jias relationship is awesome , mechagodzilla was awesome as well and seeing both Godzilla and kong team up and fight each other was peak and was worth 60 years of rematch.
Cons: I was bummed out of the lack of its world building and kotm connections and it being part of a cinematic universe, it should have that world building and connections. Ren serizawa was wasted, mark russel and team Godzilla could have been better and dr Chen was cut out of the movie. I feel like the Godzilla side of this movie was done dirty
You couldn’t have stated this any better. So much potential that fell flat…It’s a good movie but not necessarily what I hoped. Gia was the and still is MVP
To me this is the worst one hands down. Atrocious writing (full of plot holes, contradictions, and just nonsense), flat characters, the treatment of the monsters (Godzilla just being an angry unthinking butthole, Kong being turned into a giant pet, mechagodzilla just being a plot device and participation trophy), terrible world building, and disappointing action*. Makes sense given the behind the scenes drama and wingards approach. For the long awaited rematch/reunion of these two icons this movie was a big let down.
*Hard disagree on knowing who would win not hampering enjoyment. If you know who's going to win before it even starts what's the point? You're just going through the motions waiting for the inevitable out. Knowing who will win off the bat removes any tension and without tension there is no excitement.
Once again perfectly encapsulate a review for something
Thanks, Derek! I concur with 90% of what you've said here. And now the truth behind why "GvK"'s other billed actors were no shows. Its disjointed narrative did it no favours. Likewise for Its lack of character development except for Kong and Jia and its egregious trivialization of Monarch and established lore in favour of paper thin, motivation shallow, main human characters and its Apex villains. The only thing missing from the latter, was literally, the melodramatic moustache twirling … Reshoots to provide ". . .the best audience experience . . ." my ass, Toby Emmerich! You lied through your teeth! It was a completely different movie than the one envisioned by the writers room and Michael Dougherty. On the first watch "GvK" was a unique, thrilling and visually arresting experience, but in re-watches, its flaws are evident and you can feel a lost potential to enhance and expand the MonsterVerse's world building and lore. Fortunately, "GxK: TNE" despite its sometimes goofy tone, managed to accomplish that.
You mentioned that gvk “knows what’s it’s trying to do” and that’s the main reason why I like it more than kotm. It mostly succeeds as a mindless action movie, while I feel kotm fumbles a little on its human story and themes.
Godzilla vs. Kong and Humans.
The amount Kong would've met his end on this movie without humans is so laughable. Still like him though. lmao
I really didn’t like the Bernie Hayes character. Had far too much screentime and really was too goofy a la the hacker from Transformers 1
The action is great, but I hate the minute details of this movie so much. Scanning an energy source to use it? Like I can just scan my duracell batteries and my controller will work? Really, really dumb movie. Maybe I've just gotten old, but things like this just make me not want to watch it again, and when I do, I skip straight to the good parts. I don't do that for any other godzilla movie. Not even the bad Showa era ones.