Godzilla vs. Kong

A succession of epic battles with spectacular special effects that does not take into account that a good story is also needed to make a film work. Godzilla vs. Kong offers what the title suggests, no more and no less.

Adam Wingard, generally associated with the horror genre, chooses this time science fiction to direct Godzilla vs. Kong, the new movie from Warner's MonsterVerse that faces the two titans on screen, something that had not happened since 1962 in King Kong vs. Godzilla by Ishiro Honda. The film begins with a highly personified version of a King Kong in captivity: he wakes up, takes a shower under a waterfall, and even interacts with a girl who offers him a figure, despite all he wants is freedom. At that very moment, in Florida, Godzilla appears again to destroy Apex's seemingly harmless science facility, catching everyone off guard. After what happened, the director of Apex contacts the forgotten professor Nathaniel Lind (Alexander Skarsgård) to make an expedition to the place where the titans come from, an ecosystem inside the earth, to understand their source of energy. The professor teams up then with the researcher Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) to reach this unknown world, using King Kong as a guide and trying to avoid Godzilla, something they will not achieve. The film offers spectacular special effects, with fights that take place in the middle of the ocean, in underground caves, in cities, etc. The attention and care that has been paid to the fight scenes, however, has not been paid to the same extent to the script. Although it fulfills its mission of being visually impressive, it tries to develop too many stories in an insufficient space of time, resulting in not enough relevant plots or giving an abrupt ending to the few of them that make sense. The work of good actors does not save the film from resorting to stereotypical roles, with attempts at easy jokes and ineffective drama. The characters presented, after all, are nothing more than a justification to show the battles of the titans and, on many occasions, they are expendable. In short, Godzilla vs. Kong is predictable and does not shine for the construction of its characters or the development of an interesting plot, but it is interesting as a cinematic experience, especially when viewed in a movie theater. Then and there, it manages to attract attention for its visual and sound impacts, becoming a useful feature film to enjoy good special effects, and accepting that the story leaves much to be desired.

Mark: 6/10

Original review: https://contraste.info/cinema/critica-godzilla-vs-kong/