The best way I can describe “Godzilla vs. Kong” (2021) is that it feels like an early 2000s movie, and I mean that as a compliment. Early 2000s movies had the bare minimum needed character development, but the directors knew why the audience was there. The films were self-aware; they didn’t have grand aspirations to be overly pretentious human dramas. I miss times at the movie theater where it felt like I could just go and have a fun time, even if the movie was disposable.

 

“Godzilla vs. Kong” was released on March 31, and as one may suspect, it’s a movie where Godzilla and King Kong fight. Basically, some scientists try to find a mythical location, and they believe Kong can lead them to it, all while Godzilla is out in the world wreaking havoc. 

 

Throughout the Godzilla movies Godzilla has turned into a somewhat “moral villain,” who usually balances the scales of justice by fighting a more destructive freak of nature, so why does it appear he is killing innocent people in this movie? Kong was sent to stop Godzilla who was going on a rampage in the first place because Apex Cybernetics was building a monstrous machine that would rival his power. Of course, eventually, the two titans sort their issues out.

 

It’s like director Adam Wingard knew why people would want to see the movie — to see monsters fight monsters — and he delivered in the best way possible. Wingard does so many fun things with the fight sequences for “Godzilla vs. Kong.” First-person camera angles are used, which simulates a camera being on the monsters’ arms. When they throw punches, it creates a great, sort of dizzying effect. The fights are gorgeous and very satisfying; the special effects have truly reached an amazing period.

 

The films I tend to enjoy the most are psychological thrillers or comedies; I truly was not expecting to like this movie at all. I guess all I needed was to shut my brain off for one hour and 53 minutes and space out to some very high-quality CGI fight scenes. I really had a good time with “Godzilla vs. Kong” because it basically gives the audience exactly what they want: it doesn’t overstay its welcome or waste too much time with humans you may not care about, and really the only aspiration for the film is entertaining you as much as possible with a series of epic battles between Godzilla and King Kong. And they do not disappoint. That is what most people want to see and that’s what’s on the movie poster. “Godzilla vs. Kong” delivers that 100%, especially toward the second half of the movie.

 

There is one part of the film that I think Wingard knocked out of the park. There’s a young, deaf girl named Jia (Kaylee Hottle), who is able to communicate with Kong, which was absolutely the heart and soul of the movie. It created some touching moments that I didn’t expect.

 

Mikkalah Janay, junior audiology major at Missouri State University, recently viewed “Godzilla vs. Kong” in the iMax with a few friends.

 

“It was a really good action movie,” Janay said. “One of my favorite things about it was that you don’t have to have seen the previous Zilla or Kong movies to understand the plot, but there are also tons of things in the movie to look for if you’ve been following the storyline from the other films. It was very well directed and I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes one of the biggest movies released this year.”

 

One complaint I have is that the human characters are pretty boring. Most people watch these movies for the monsters, but it would still be nice if the characters were more entertaining. The cast includes Millie Bobby Brown, Alexander Skarsgård, and Rebecca Hall. Several of the human characters did provide a large amount of comedic relief, which I really enjoyed.

 

“Godzilla vs. Kong” may not be for everybody, but if you are just wanting to be mindlessly entertained, you’ll have a great time.