GODZILLA VS KONG
Fighting tooth and paw
RELEASED OUT NOW!
2021 | 12 | Blu-ray (4K/standard)/dvd/
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Director Adam Wingard
Cast Alexander Skarsgård,
Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry
Is Godzilla vs Kong a bold experiment in avant-garde storytelling, where human characterisation is sacrificed at the altar of a pair of skyscraper-sized beasts? Or is it a tenuous excuse to make sure a pair of Titans get into some heavyweight bouts? We’re plumping for the latter, but who cares about coherent plotting when the pay-off is a big lizard wrestling a gorilla?
A step up from its Monsterverse predecessor King Of The Monsters, Godzilla vs Kong has fun mixing corporate skulduggery, bonkers adventures inside the Hollow Earth, and nods to the back catalogue of Godzilla studio Toho. The Homo sapiens are undeniably surplus to requirements, but this remains an entertaining turn-yourbrain-off blockbuster. And neither of the eponymous combatants has a mum called Martha.
Extras With the movie defined by its monster-sized scraps, it makes sense that the bonus content feels like the running order for a WWE fight night.
Three featurettes go into detail on each of the main battles, while “Godzilla Attacks” (six minutes) – the only extra on the DVD version – focuses on the big lizard’s Jaws-inspired assault on a research facility.
“Kong Discovers Hollow Earth” (eight minutes), “Kong Leaves Home” (eight minutes) and “Behold Kong’s Temple” (six minutes) detail the development of the king, his relationships and his worlds, while “The Rise Of Mechagodzilla” (seven minutes) introduces Godzilla’s robonemesis-cum-doppelganger.
The best featurettes, however, are two short docs that dive into the respective screen histories of the iconic lead characters (10 minutes/eight minutes). There’s also an entertaining commentary from enthusiastic, monster-literate director Adam Wingard.
Richard Edwards
Lance Reddick pops up briefly as a Monarch official. He’s called Guillermin – a nod to the director of the ’76 King Kong.