Spoilers might topple a few buildings.

Full disclaimer, I am not a huge fan of either franchise. That being said, I was rooting for Godzilla. I am going to probably go into obvious spoilers that you should’ve guessed right out from the start. There’s very little surprises in a movie like this, or I should say any surprises that matter. If you are expecting the two titans to duke it out, you’re going to be entertained most of the time. The movie does try to expand the mythology but to be honest we’re not terribly invested in back story here. Let’s just get to the battle.

(Credit: Warner Bros.)

Godzilla vs Kong (2021) was directed by Adam Wingard, based on the screenplay by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein. Godzilla is the initial antagonist, attacking a facility for apparently no reason. Kong is the chosen defender of humanity, a perceived natural enemy to Godzilla. Kong is brought out of hiding because he might instinctively lead us to an energy source that will save the world blah blah. There’s a plot involving a suspicious mega company, an idealistic youngster (Millie Bobby Brown) who wants to discover why Godzilla attacks, a failed scientist (Alexander Skarsgård) with a theory that nobody believes but turns out to be completely true, a conspiracy theorist blogger (Brian Tyree Henry) with a theory that nobody believes but turns out to be completely true and a smattering of other characters.

The great news is that the movie does deliver some cool fighting scenes between Kong, Godzilla and a few other opponents that get in their way. The movie has ties to recent previous films from both characters making them part of the same franchise (or cinematic universe if you prefer). Of course, the suspicious mega company ends up being the real antagonist of the film. Yes, humans were the monsters all along as it usually happens in these kinds of films. When you bring together two characters/franchises that have had any sort of following, you will want to have each monster have its moment with neither really getting a permanent victory. Eventually, you just have to reveal a third antagonist that will lose to the monster “heroes” to keep everyone happy.

Recommended only for fans of either IP with reservations. It’s going to be obvious that we can’t have one monster completely win over the other (although at some point it does seems one does). This is going to be one of those “humans were the real monsters all along” sort of films, but the important value here is in the huge fights where we’re willing to suspend our disbelief and just be kids again. So, get the popcorn, do your best Kong or Zilla impression and let’s hope the neighbors don’t complain about the noise.

That will do for now.