Godzilla vs Kong

Godzilla vs. Kong follows Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island and is the fourth film in the MonsterVerse. It also stands as the 36th film in the Godzilla franchise, and the 12th film in the King Kong franchise but also the fourth Godzilla film to be produced entirely by a Hollywood studio. Available since today in the USA in theaters and in streaming for a month on HBO Max, this film stands out as the most successful and impressive segment of this saga. The cast includes Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Shun Oguri in the lead roles.

Legends collide in Godzilla vs. Kong, as these mythical adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kong and his protectors embark on a perilous journey to find his true home. They are accompanied by Jia, a young deaf orphan girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, who wreaks havoc on the entire planet. The epic clash between the two titans, brought on by unseen forces, is only the beginning of the mystery that lies at the heart of the Earth.

While theaters are still closed in France and are slowly recovering in the United States, Godzilla vs. Kong easily stands out as the first real blockbuster of the year after the rather disappointing Wonder Woman 84 aired on HBO max last December 25. While Wonder Woman 84 looked pretty good on a TV set, we have to admit that Godzilla vs Kong is made to be discovered in Imax as the fight scenes between Godzilla and Kong are numerous as well as other scenes featuring other gigantic monsters including a Mechagodzilla who will turn out to be the real villain of this movie. It would be interesting to compare the structure of this film with that of the confrontation between two other icons of American cinema, Batman and Superman.

The fusion of two universes in Godzilla vs Kong is much more successful as the scenario is not only based on the confrontation of these two behemoths but rather on the underground universe that really connects them and in which Kong seems to be perfectly in his place as the undisputed king of this universe. In the same way, as much as Godzilla represents Japan and the misdeeds of nuclear testing, Kong seems to represent a glorious America that even threatened and unable to face an enemy all the stronger that the fight looks as deadly as memorable. It is therefore not a pure coincidence that the shadow of Pearl Harbor seems to hover constantly over this successful and imposing film.

From the very beginning of the film, the script cleverly sets the scene, if only through the opening credits that remind us of the highlights of the previous Monsterverse films. We also discover a much bigger version of Kong than the one we discovered in Kong: Skull Island. Moved to a simulacrum of Skull Island; Kong seems to have been placed in captivity to be better controlled but also to try to better understand his habits. His bond with a young mute orphan girl will have an important impact on the story. In the same way, we find in this film the heroine of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) relayed here to a simple secondary role.

The spectacular scenes follow one another with a real rhythm and avoiding any overdose as it was the case in the previous films of this saga. Godzilla vs. Kong is the most successful film of this cinematographic saga and surpasses in many details the too noisy and messy Godzilla: King of the Monsters. We will appreciate in particular the long confrontation in Hong Kong between Godzilla and a Kong who is certainly weakened but ready to give his life to save the humans from Godzilla's uncontrollable power. As one might expect, these two icons of the cinema will combine their strength against an enemy even more powerful than them and controlled telepathically at its origin by one of the important members of Apex, Ren Serizawa, the son of the late Ishir? Serizawa.

Adam Wingard's direction proves to be effective despite a sometimes disjointed script and human characters with either dialogues lacking originality or lacking a real psychological thickness. It is easy to understand that the audience's attention will be focused on Kong and Godzilla and the film gives the audience what it really wants. The director of You're Next (2011), The Guest (2014), Blair Witch (2016), Death Note (2017) delivers here simply his best film and especially his first American blockbuster and while respecting the specifications that Warner Bros. imposed on him proves to be smart enough to make some excellent and successful winks to Die Hard, to Lethal weapon 2 but also to The Rock showing that he is not only an excellent director but that he has been able to impose his own style to the Monsterverse universe.

Of course, we would have liked to have an extra scene at the end of the movie as it was the case of the previous movies of this Monsterverse but by its numerous qualities and its excellent rhythm, Godzilla vs. Kong keeps all its promises and is simply the best American blockbuster of this year. We can't wait to see it again in IMAX, if only to see Kong, our favorite character in this film, whose humanity and beastliness can be felt in every scene.

Godzilla vs. Kong
Directed by Adam Wingard
Produced by Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric McLeod, Brian Rogers
Screenplay by Eric Pearson, Max Borenstein
Story by Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields
Based on Godzilla by Toho, King Kong by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper
Starring Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Jessica Henwick, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir
Music by Tom Holkenborg
Cinematography : Ben Seresin
Edited by Josh Schaeffer
Production company : Legendary Pictures
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures (Worldwide), Toho (Japan)
Release date: March 26, 2021 (United States)
Running time : 114 minutes

Seen on March 31, 2021

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