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

Pacific Rim: Uprising - 3/5

It's the big, dumb, kinda fun little brother of the first one. The talky bits are too long, the characters are shallow, the acting is passable, the writing is poor. But you get to see giant robots punch giant monsters (and sometimes other robots). Honestly this movie barely clears the 3/5 threshold for me. If you go in with low expectations you can have a lot of fun. But it's not a good movie.