Thursday 25 March 2021

Film Review: "Godzilla vs. Kong" (2021).


"One will fall" in Godzilla vs. Kong. This monster film directed by Adam Wingard, written by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein and based on the character of Godzilla created by Toho and the character of King Kong created Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper. It is a sequel to Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and Kong: Skull Island (2017), as well as being the fourth film in Legendary's MonsterVerse. It is also the thirty-sixth film in the Godzilla franchise, the twelfth film in the King Kong franchise. Kong and his protectors undertake a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titans—instigated by unseen forces—is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth.

In September 2015, Legendary moved Kong: Skull Island from Universal to Warner Bros., which sparked media speculation that Godzilla and King Kong would appear in a film together. In October, Legendary confirmed that they would unite Godzilla and King Kong in Godzilla vs. Kong, with a May 29, 2020 release date. In March 2017, Legendary assembled a writers room to develop the story for the film, with Terry Rossio leading a team consisting of Patrick McKay, J. D. Payne, Lindsey Beer, Cat Vasko, T.S. Nowlin, Jack Paglen, and J. Michael Straczynski. Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields provided rewrites to ensure that certain themes from King of the Monsters were carried over and that some characters were properly developed. In May, Wingard was hired to direct. By early November, Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir, Zhang Ziyi, Lance Reddick and Jessica Henwick were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in April 2019. Filming took place throughout Queensland, Australia, as well as New York and Hawaii. In June 2020, Tom Holkenborg was hired to compose the film's score. The film was delayed several times, and was originally scheduled for a March 13, May 22, May 29 and November 20, 2020 release date. It was later pushed to a May 21, 2021 release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic However, it was ultimately moved forward to a March 31, 2021 release date for both a theatrical release with a simultaneous release on HBO Max.

Once again, despite the stellar cast, the characters are still hollow. But, once again, that's expected when the show is all about Godzilla and Kong.

The story is a little bit of hollow and a little bit forced... but - big but!- Godzilla and Kong make up for it. The return of Godzilla and Kong and all of their friends is pretty amazing and pretty epic.

Simon says Godzilla vs. Kong receives:



Also, see my review for Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Death Note.

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