Sage Brislen | Writer
May 7, 2021
What a classic movie concept. It’s Captain America: Civil War, it’s Batman vs. Superman, Batman vs. Dracula, Monsters vs. Aliens, Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf, and it’s Godzilla vs. Kong; the battle of the century, you just can’t miss it.
Godzilla vs. Kong was a widely anticipated movie, likely brought about by a recent trend in the interest of monkeys and apes. Many even posted polls on their Instagram stories sparking dialogue around who would be the winner: Godzilla or King Kong? I think most people were more interested in seeing the battle scenes than actually enjoying the plot of the movie. To be fair, it was pretty much the only good part. Hats off to the effects team and talented animators behind such elaborate visuals. Especially compared to the 1962 Godzilla vs King Kong. For reference, a screenshot of the battle scene where Kong tries to choke Zilla with a tree. Amazing to think these visuals were once considered “advanced.”
In the most recent movie, there’s no doubt that the fight itself and the effects that made it happen were revolutionary. But the storyline tanked. It is full of gaps and unrealistic scenarios with completely unnecessary characters.
The writers basically tricked the viewers into thinking the fight would be between Godzilla and King Kong just like all the other fight movies (only because the movie is titled “Godzilla vs. Kong”). Instead, they introduced a cyborg Godzilla created by a private tech organization to fight the Godzilla-Kong team.
Surprisingly, the movie actually had some popular actors such as Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven from Stranger Things) who of course had to play another moody teenager. While Brown herself is recognized as an actress with mature talent, the character Madison Russell (tech company manager’s daughter), who played in this movie was very poorly written and had no significance whatsoever. Many of the main characters simply ate up screen time and could’ve been taken out of the movie entirely with no effect on the story. One of the only characters that made an impact was the nerdy sidekick, Josh Valentine.
Josh Valentine is actually exactly the same character as Belshnickle from Christmas Chronicles 2 who is played by the same actor, Julian Dennison.
Despite being such a poorly written and uncreative character, Josh saves the day by delaying the reaction time of “Mecha-Godzilla” by seconds because he poured whiskey on a lab computer, unattached to the giant metal being.
Other than the third-party technological abomination, the movie copied the original 1963 movie. Even flying in Kong on a helicopter. Very on-brand.
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