Movie Review: ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ an action-packed rollercoaster

By Matt Pascarella

Run time: 1 hour, 53 minutes

One is King of the Monsters; the other is King of the Apes. What would happen if the two met? Could the world handle it? I wanted to see this movie for one reason and one reason alone: the fight scenes. In previous Kong movies, the King battled dinosaurs which was quite a special effects sight for the eyes.

In “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the special effects are detailed and incredible. There are several scenes where the two fight each other and I was not disappointed by their battle. The movie is available through streaming services and stars Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobbie Brown, Rebecca Hall, Eliza Gonzalez, Kaylee Hottle, Julian Dennison, Brian Tyree Henry, and Demian Bichir.

These two behemoths each have movie franchises that have been around for a while. Godzilla and Kong have even met before in the early 1960s. When I saw the two were meeting again in a modern-day movie, I was interested. It was kind of like seeing two heavyweight boxers go head-to-head in the ring, except this time the boxers are monsters, and they are each hundreds of feet tall. At one point Kong punches Godzilla and the monster hurdles through the water. Kong then leaps from a barge into the water. As the barge explodes, the beast and monster resume their battle. This is a fun movie.

Kong is somewhere on Skull Island where he is being contained. A deaf little girl, Jia (Hottle) is the only one with whom Kong will communicate. After Godzilla attacks technology company Apex Cybernetics, CEO Walter Simmons (Bichir) asks Dr. Nathan Lind (Skarsgard) to help figure out why Godzilla attacked. Kong is brought from Skull Island on a barge with Dr. Andrews (Hall), who has been looking after Kong. Lind tells Andrews they need to use Kong as an ally against Godzilla. It could save the world.

Is Apex Cybernetics hiding something? Can Godzilla be stopped? What happens to Kong?

I loved the action when these two went head-to-head. While I felt like this movie is probably meant to stand on its own, it might help if you’ve seen others – but is probably not 100 percent necessary. I don’t think I was rooting for one or the other; it was just fun to see their interactions.

I found this to be a relatively fast-paced movie. It did have a few slow spots but was well worth the rental. It had great detail in the special effects. The detail in Kong’s fur and nails almost makes you almost believe this is an actual giant ape. Godzilla has great detail in his face; when he screams or roars you see it shake. When Godzilla and Kong fight, individual pieces of glass fall from the shattered buildings they hit. These are great action sequences with a lot of explosions. It also has a soundtrack with some decent songs to accompany all the action.

An ape thumb and a monster claw up.

Available to rent on Google and Apple. <