REVIEW: Godzilla Vs. Kong

by Connor Foughty

A movie sought to end the debate over who is truly the king of all movie monsters by pitting the biggest two together on the big screen. But to fully understand the mega-mashup you have to know the history.

The Godzilla franchise is one the oldest giant monster movie franchises in existence. The first film, Godzilla, was directed by Ishirō Honda and released by Japanese studio Toho in 1954. 

Since its introduction, Godzilla grew into more than the monster that began as an allegory of the aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The franchise has grown to include 36 movies including the latest Godzilla vs. Kong.

In America, the monster movie franchise that dominates is King Kong. This franchise started in 1933 and grew to include 12 feature films.

The rivalry between Kong and Godzilla has been long-standing since the first Godzilla VS Kong film was released in 1962 by Toho. 

After 59 years we finally get a definitive answer to who is truly the King of the Monsters. The movie was originally slated to be released in late 2020 but was then pushed back to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The movie opened up some amazing visual effects as the Warner Bros. Pictures logo made out of stone with Kong’s face next to it. The logo is joined on screen with the now familiar logo for Legendary Pictures, which has produced the last three Godzilla movies. The camera pans out revealing a cave drawing of Godzilla and some primitive people. 

The opening scene clearly reveals an improvement in both sound and graphic design.

One of the biggest complaints about the past two Godzilla movies was the heavy focus on the human aspect of the film. 

In this latest release, you can see Legendary pictures listened to the franchise’s fans like Andrew who recently watched the movie.  

“I just wanted monsters fighting, and that’s all I got,” Andrew said. “I could care less about the human interaction and there was little of that. And I’m happy that there was little of that. You know, we got Kong and Godzilla fighting. That’s all I wanted.” 

Without giving away the answer to the greatest question of the film, fans of both monsters found something to cheer about.

“I’m kind of glad that there was like an infinite winner,” Andrew said.

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