Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) - 3/5

After a long and unnecessary preamble this movie eventually becomes exactly what its title promised. The fights are bashy, fun, and not nearly as dumb as the talky bits with the humans. The visuals aren’t as gorgeous as they were in the previous film, but here the fight choreography feels more grounded and brawly and less wide-shot cinematic. Fortunately the human plots are only cardboard pablum, not aggressively offensively stupid like King of Monsters and Skull Island, so it’s an improvement. The first 45 minutes are so completely disposable I recommend coming to the theater late to save yourself the boredom.

Closest comparison: It’s like Godzilla: King of Monsters and Kong: Skull Island got together to play Pacific Rim 2.

Setting: Exotic Adventure
Plot: Homeward Bound
Tone: Kaiju

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - 3/5

The monster visuals are gorgeous, and that’s certainly where they put their money. Unfortunately, the plot is very dumb and overly complicated, to the point that we don’t get to see monster stuff until about 50 minutes into the movie. The upshot is that the parts with humans fall back into the ‘so bad it’s good’ category, so if you like imitating Mystery Science Theater 3000 you’ll have something to do while you wait for the monster fights to start. Once the fighting starts it’s exciting and very entertaining, well worth the price of the ticket on its own, though it seems overly focused on giving the audience good PC desktop wallpapers.

Closest comparison: It’s better than Godzilla (2014), but not as good as Kong: Skull Island.

Setting: Kaiju Monster
Plot: Adventure
Tone: Action/Drama