Directed by Adam Wingard
Written by Eric Pearson, Max Borenstein
Starring Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Kyle Chandler
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of creature violence/destruction and brief language
Runtime: 1 hour 53 minutes
Streaming on HBO Max and in theaters March 31

by Garrett Smith, Contributor

Premiering simultaneously on movie theater screens and HBO Max today is Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong, the exciting culmination of a 4-film cycle that began in 2014 with Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla. Following the typical trajectory of the Toho Titan’s career, these movies have gotten increasingly strange, moving further and further away from the grounded approach of Edwards’ movie. And thanks to another unique director in Wingard, this chapter boldly and confidently takes the franchise into full-on sci-fi/fantasy territory, feeling very much like a Saturday morning cartoon brought to life with dynamic special effects and outstanding production design.

Godzilla vs. Kong finds Kong living out his days on Skull Island under careful watch of Monarch anthropologist Dr. Andrews (Rebecca Hall), where he has bonded with the last remaining Iwi native of the island, a deaf girl named Jia (Kaylee Hottle). A mysterious tech company called Apex Cybernetics believes they have discovered a power source of great magnitude that only Kong can help them access. At the same time Godzilla begins resurfacing and attacking Apex laboratories, seemingly unprovoked. As the two Titans converge on one another, Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) seeks the help of her friend Josh (Julian Dennison) to find Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry), an anonymous Apex employee who also hosts a Titan-conspiracy podcast, in order to uncover the truth of what Apex is really up to.

I left that description about as vague as I possibly could to help preserve the wild surprises that this movie has in store for you. Wingard is clearly a fan of both the Godzilla and Kong franchises, and in particular seems to be recalling Heisei- and Millennium-era Godzilla vibes, which I’m personally a big fan of. These eras of Godzilla featured futuristic vehicles and weapons, alien races (even mutants), and leaned heavily into science-fiction to deliver big, blockbuster thrills. Wingard has put his own spin on some of these details, even down to uniforming his cast in matching jumpsuits–as was common in those eras–and leaps headfirst into the science-fiction concepts that were always at the fringes of Legendary’s MonsterVerse. There’s a sequence about halfway through this movie that left my jaw on the floor thanks to just how koo-koo-bananas it was, and the movie just does not let up from there. It is wall-to-wall big monster action, full of colorful, neon frames and cheer-worthy character beats for both Kong and Godzilla. I had a big, dumb grin on my face through this whole big, dumb movie.

I do think there will be audiences that this works for better than others. As a big Godzilla fan, I like that his movies can range from very serious to very fun, and all the flavors in between are just as sweet. If you’re familiar with Godzilla’s history as a franchise in Japan, what started as a dark, frightening metaphor became a children’s icon over time. While Godzilla would still get used to great dramatic effect throughout his career, more often than not he’s a protector of humanity, and occasionally even a friend and mentor to children. I bring this up to say that if you’re only interested in Godzilla when he’s taken a little more seriously, and when the human story is as developed as the monster plot, this may not be to your flavor. This is a movie designed to make 10-year-olds into fans of these characters, and does so by really developing them into the lead characters of the movie. Kong and Godzilla have huge personalities here, and an interpersonal dynamic that we get to watch develop and play out over the course of the movie. It’s very fun and entertaining, though you’ll have to settle into the human characters existing solely to fill in the gaps that our silent heroes cannot.

Personally, Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters was a bit more my speed when it comes to Godzilla and his Titan crew. I like the majesty he presents them with, and the undercurrent of real-world anxiety about climate change and late-stage capitalism that drives that movie. But what Wingard delivers here is so unexpected in such hugely entertaining ways that I couldn’t help but be swept up by it. It’s a pop-tart through and through, with all the hallmarks one can expect from a Wingard movie, down to some winning needle drops and well-planned punchlines. And perhaps best of all, it develops Kong into a worthy opponent for Godzilla and a character I am now fully in love with. Going into this movie I was extremely Team Godzilla, but coming out of it I’d like to populate my shelves with some Kong toys right alongside MY BEST BIG BOY, and if you know me you know that is no small feat.

It’s big, it’s dumb, and it sure is fun. Enough so that my friends and I have already rented a movie theater so that we can safely catch this on the big screen, where it really does deserve to be seen.

All week long, we’re celebrating the clash of the titans that is Godzilla vs. Kong! It’s Kongzilla Week! Read all of the pieces here!