The monster film is all action, no meaning. What a relief.
In Godzilla vs. Kong, the plot is just an excuse to get to the titular brawl. The film follows a team traveling to Hollow Earth—the secret underground home of titans such as Godzilla and Kong—on behalf of a shady corporation seeking to harness its energy source. They transport Kong away from Skull Island so that he can guide them on their quest, but, uh-oh, Kong and Godzilla are ancient rivals, and, oh no, two apex predators can’t exist at the same time. What could possibly happen when they cross paths?! Pure chaos, of course, but chaos that’s strangely soothing to take in. The story isn’t thematically interesting, nor does it offer much to analyze. Neither Godzilla nor Kong is a metaphor for some greater crisis; they’re just two creatures in a mesmerizingly choreographed boxing match, pummeling each other to pieces. At this stage of late-pandemic exhaustion, watching a film actively reject relevance and refuse to dwell on human emotion wasn’t an annoyance, but a relief. Out today on HBO Max, Godzilla vs. Kong is the sort of loud, mindless blockbuster that Hollywood rolls out in the summer. But it’s been almost two years since the last normal summer-movie season, and if the film’s impressive overseas ticket sales are any indication, viewers returning to theaters crave sensory overload, not careful plotting. Apart from Jia (Kaylee Hottle), a little girl from Skull Island who can communicate with Kong and becomes distraught when he does, none of the characters’ anxiety and paranoia leave much of an impression. Every bit of dialogue serves only to help explain why a dinosaur with radiation breath must fight an overgrown ape. I realized, as Kong swung his radioactive ax (he gets a radioactive ax) at Godzilla’s tiny lizard head, that I’d missed the sweet simplicity of a popcorn movie. This film is not meant to be watched, but to be gawked at. The camera swoops underwater as Godzilla drags Kong beneath the ocean; it crouches under their bodies as they spar on land; then it zips close to their faces to capture their snarls. Godzilla hurtles into a skyscraper, glass raining down on his back. Kong leaps off a battleship to avoid a burst of his enemy’s atomic breath. Their fights take place against spectacular backdrops too: The ocean showdown happens at sunset, golden hour illuminating the waves.
