Fun fact: A sequel to Peter Jackson’s King Kong was initially in development for years that would’ve been entirely set on Skull Island, but it ended up becoming the Kong: Skull Island film for the MonsterVerse that came out in 2017 instead.
The film felt like a tribute to the Showa Era Godzilla movies, which I'd be all for if more focus went towards monsters. The Showa Era gave us - Godzilla flying with his atomic breath. - Shaking hands with Jet Jaguar - Doing the Safety Dance - Did a flying drop kick using his tail. And there's not much of that here. But Baby Kong was cute at least.
I felt we had plenty of that Showa goodness in this one - zero gravity fights, excessively goopy character intros, Kong knocking that one ape stone cold with a single punch, Suko getting used as a nunchuck, Godzilla and Kong speed-running the whole fight from _They Live_ , Godzilla dive-bombing again - but I can see some people still wanting more of that in this, especially if they think the human characters are still a nuisance (which I didn’t find that to be the case). I guess the only real question going forward with these Monsterverse films (if they continue making them) is how far will they be able to go - what is the limit?
*Plenty* of kaiju films have strong human elements and stories, its not just the "reasonably sized" ones, also the kaiju *are* characters, especailly in the monsterverse
I would say the movie was very good but of course people just can't help me comparing it to Godzilla minus one even though those movies are two completely different animals. One is about postwar Japan so it's meant to be thought-provoking the other one is. Just Popcorn entertainment.
they're both films that feature the Godzilla character. If they didn't want it to be compared to Minus One, it should have been called Giant Lizard X Kong: The New Empire
@funkymonkey2k425 That's stupid. Those movies are completely different animals. But I know the usual suspects can't wait to call everything they don't like woke. And two different Godzillas from two different universes.
@@davidhouston6475 nope. Both Godzilla, so WB should have used a different copywritten character if they wanted to avoid comparisons. Just like how no one is complaining about a comparison between Michael Myers in the first Halloween and Michael Myers in the remakes, no one should complain about a comparison between two versions of Godzilla that came out literally MONTHS apart.
@@funkymonkey2k425 that is absolutely idiotic. Godzilla as a character is meant to be used in different ways and have different interpretations and the movies aren’t made to have the same themes everytime
@@streetgamer3452 who said that? thats just how the movies have been made recently, back in the day it eased into the goofiness and had a decade long hiatus because the goofiness killed the box office revenue, then it was more serious stuff until the 21st century and even the millenium movies didn't do good either. sit down son.
In my opinion, any film worth watching is worth watching in black and white... and I do so regularly! My favorite recent example is "Zack Snyder's Justice League"!
When I was in college I wrote a paper for my film history class defending why we need human characters in Kaiju films. In essence the humans are bystanders to what are essentially walking natural disasters and near God like beings that can't do much other than watch, survive and in the worst case scenario accept their fate. It's basically something they have to live with and adapt to. I think the best way this is portrayed in the Monsterverse is in the TV show Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. And outside of the Monsterverse with Gareth Edwards' breakout film Monsters, Cloverfield and Pacific Rim.
Godzilla Minus One and even Shin Godzilla showed that you can do the human part fun/interesting. Same with Jackson's Kong. With this they miss the opportunity to make a fun Indiana Jones/The Mummy adventure film with the human part
The director of this movie does acknowledge that Godzilla is more of a guest star in this one and said they plan on swapping the focus in the next movie.
This movie is a blast. Exploring the hollow earth and seeing it's crazy wildlife is just awesome and seeing Godzilla Mothra and king Kong together on the big screen in Kaiju history is just legendary. Bring on future Godzilla movies ToHo and legendary. Also saying Kaiju can't interact with humans because of how big they are is completely wrong they can interact with them when they notice them. Godzilla done that numerous times even when he's a villain or hero. Mothra done that and even king Kong when he became a Kaiju.
Gotta say I feel like I’m the only one who didn’t mind the human cast. Seems like no matter what they do the make the cast work fans can’t get behind it but I didn’t mind them. They did their jobs and did them well. I personally liked the moments between Ilene and Jia
You’re Wrong Wolfula, King Kong Is A Good Guy, All He Wants Is To Live In Peace, And Protect Those That Look Out For Him, Godzilla Is The Real Bad One, He Brings Destruction To Humanity, Even When He’s Fighting Other Monsters, Cities And Places Are Always Getting Destroyed Because Of Him, Godzilla Is The Real Bad Guy, Not Kong, Kong Is The Real Hero
Godzilla is a lot more versatile than Kong. Plenty of movies have had him play a different role and had him embody a different meaning. The Godzilla in the Monsterverse is completely different from how he is in Minus One, and both are completely different to how he is in Shin Godzilla. Kong has always leaned into a more heroic or at least neutral portrayal.
You Guys Just Get it, Godzilla Is A Dumb Lizard, Reptiles Have Tiny Brains, Kong Is A Smart Ape, And Primates Have Larger Brains, They Think Very Fast, They Even Learn How To Use Weapons To Fight And Defeat Their Enemies, And Just Because Godzilla Is Stronger, Doesn’t Mean He’s Not Smart, And P.S, Kong Punches Godzilla Several Times, Cause All Godzilla Uses Is His Raw, So It Doesn’t Make Him A Better Fighter, Kong Is Still A Better Fighter Then Godzilla
The movie has 60 minutes of monster screen time as opposed to the 40 minutes of human stuff, I dunno, I respect your opinion, I get its not for everyone, but this is the most Kaiju stuff in a film like ever.
A very fair take on Kaiju films honestly. I think there's this tendency among Kaiju fans likely because of the years critics and others have spent dunking on the genre and denouncing it to just be on the defense whenever anyone has problems with a film but your take is well-explained and totally understandable and I can see how it informs your thoughts on Godzilla x Kong, a film that I've yet to see but from what I can tell from reactions and reviews from fellow Godzilla fans it's basically a giant love letter to the Showa era of monster punch-ups which means if you're already tuned into those kinds of films it's probably not gonna be as appealing.
The film when the monsters fight is excellent imo unfortunately it drags when the humans are involved, the best sequence for me was the 20 minutes of silence with kong and his journey, interested to hear your thoughts Doc
The "x" in this film's title is meant to be silent. Also, the MonsterVerse is really Legendary Entertainment's baby, not Warner Bros. While WB has co-produced and distributed the theatrical MonsterVerse, they, for instance, have nothing to do with Netflix's Skull Island anime series, or Apple TV's Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. These two MonsterVerse TV shows are all Legendary's.
Nah, it was brilliant. The most pure fun I've had at a theatre in years (Minus One was great too). I took my 12-year-old son and he was glued to the screen throughout.
The appeal of Kaiju movies is to watch cool fight scenes that capture the kid playing with action figures vibe When the human storyline is good or interesting that’s a bonus, so yeah it’s safe to say you just don’t get it man That said you’re take on this particular movie was pretty much spot on
Loved Minus One, and while I thought the other Godzilla films were okay I just don't have any urge to see this one. I say this a lot, but I never thought I'd see the day. You could have seen First Omen Mr, I mean Doctor Wolfula and spent that $12 and left the theater a bit happier I think.
The doc basically said everything I've been thinking with this cg Godzilla franchise 👏also I like the philosophy of why you like smaller monsters and creatures more, it's a fair take indeed when you have something like let's take Jurassic park again.. You have a different and more intimate sense of danger and fear
Exactly. They should allow a proper second solo Kong film down the line especially since Godzilla could’ve been removed from the plot of this movie and not much would’ve changed. Since these movies are successful, they definitely should consider it. Have a variety of both solo standalone films and occasionally crossovers. I think Legendary might do that anyway since the MonsterVerse is raking in money, and they can next give us a Godzilla 3 and a Kong 2 after the success of this film because a third crossover in a row would be just too repetitive.
Watching GXK in a way I describe it as a pretty good and a fun Popcorn Film, Although I’m not gonna lie I got vibes from Rio, HTTYD2, and God of War 2018 watching Godzilla X Kong and I Laugh with It out in the Theater and while I like Shimo she does look like a Skylanders called Flashwing.
You have to respect the lore building. I love cinematic lore building and we have now had 5 monster verse films and they built up such an interesting world.
I think that the reason that this Kong is so much bigger is because he's actually the son that King Kong and Lady Kong have at the end of King Kong Lives. That's also why he looks less like a giant Gorilla and more Sasquatch like as although Lady Kong is of a similar species, she's not the same as King Kong. So he's not the same Kong from the original movie or even any of the remakes. He himself isn't familiar with the hollow Earth until Godzilla VS Kong because he'd never been there before, but his father, King Kong, may have been from there or his parents were from there or something like that. As for Kong being a "bad guy", I don't think he was ever the real villain of any of his movies. He's a monster in the sense that he's large and destructive, but he's not a monster in the sense that he is evil, because he's just living his life until the humans show up. Carl Denham is the real villain of the original film as well as the remakes of it as far as I'm concerned. He's the one who brings King Kong back to America to put on display. If someone put a hungry shark into a swimming pool, then the evil one is the person who put the shark in the pool and not the shark itself which is just trying to survive.
Dude you are way off in this video. In GXK the monsters are the lead actors and the humans are supporting actors. In giant monster action genre people just want WWE Wrestling. In giant monster drama the humans are the lead while monsters are supporting.
Love that you been on it recently!! Been doing lots for 2024, very appreciated. Feel bad you didn't see minus one in theatres. Every reviewer talks about how great the human characters are, that's fine but also too easy. Godzilla minus one was amazing because when Godzilla did his atomic blast everyone cheered, then the actual blast happened and that theatre felt it. That's cinema 😊 got my savage as fuck shirt. Excellent
I absolutely loved this film, but criticisms like this do feel genuine, and are good to listen to. But I will definitely say, you are in for a TREAT when you get your hands on Minus One.
I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. It was the most "fun" of the monsterverse movies and delivered the most monster action which is what I'm looking at this stage of development. I'm just happy we get such a variety of movies. My only complaint is that when they dump lore on you, it's ALOT. Almost too much lore, but that's par for course. I remember there being way too much exposition in some of the old Godzilla movies.
Yeah I liked Godzilla a LOT as a kid but these movies just seem like cartoons at this point. It's cool if anyone still love 'em,, sure. They just look very padded and really unnecessary.
i knew this movie sucked based off the humans treating kong like hes a personal friend. "Kong bows to no one". Really. a skyscraper size ape and you talk about him like hes your co worker. Im a die hard godzilla fan. godzilla v mothra 1964 is the best godzilla movie. no way i would watch this and wolfula just comfirmed it.
This movie delivered everything I was hoping for and more! The action was tons of fun and lots of it, and Kong actually had character and a pretty good storyline. The humans, eh take them or leave them, but I was overall beyond satisfied with what this movie delivered.
I feel like we didn't even see the same movie. I thought the human plot in this movie was fine and pretty well balanced with the monster plot. I thought the story with Jia, her people, and her adoptive mother was engaging enough. Definitely not something I would watch a movie _for,_ but enough to give the human story some weight and underscore the overall movie. There were only a couple scenes that I thought dragged, and my only real complaint was when they would spoon-feed exposition. I actually really love how this movie tried to tell a story with the monsters, with entire scenes of the monsters communicating through their actions and body language. I love pure visual storytelling. It wasn't The Red Turtle or Lon Chaney, but more than I expected from a monster movie. Max Borenstein has said in interviews that he's interested in doing a film with little or no human characters at all, and I think that would be a really good decision. That's clearly what the movies want to do anyway. Tell a story about the monsters _with_ the monsters, rather than just having the humans there as spectators and narrators. But it should only be 90 minutes tops. Give me my arthouse fully animated monster drama epic without dialogue. That's what I'm here for.
I have to HEAVILY disagree with you on the scenes with Kong and the apes in saying “it feels like a shitty version of planet of the apes” because these scenes are some of the best parts of the movie. There’s tons of visual storytelling and you can easily pick up what’s going on without any dialogue. Kong’s portions in this movie are some of the best parts and show that a movie that mostly focus on the monsters CAN work. This visual storytelling is especially effective on Scar King, you understand his personality from his expressions and mannerisms. In the scene where he kicks one of the apes into the lava there’s so much to gain with no dialogue. We see Suko, the little ape, cowering from Scar King, to this elder ape, presumably Suko’s parent or relative, tell Scar King no to hurt him along with Kong ghosting his hand to his axe in case something happens, to Scar King looking at Kong knowing full well the kind of reaction Kong will get and then kicks the elder ape into the lava which pisses off Kong. It shows how effective Scar King is as a villain, and shows just how much of a cruel monster he is.
You also notice Suko trying to warn Kong to get out of there before scar king notice his presence. Not to mention the bond Kong and Suko started when Kong tried to share food with him but then later toss the food as if eat it if you want but you old enough to feed yourself im not gonna feed it too you almost like a father figure.
Godzilla x Kong was exactly what I expected it to be: Loud, silly and dumb but still a fun time overall! As long as you don't go into this movie expecting Godzilla Minus One then you should have a good time with it. Besides, call me a simpleton but Godzilla napping in the Colosseum and Godzilla suplexing Kong was worth the price of admission alone for me! 😂 Although this video reminds me, I need to watch the original King Kong. I quite liked the Peter Jackson remake but I gotta see Kong in his original form!
doc is just miffed off cause he never got to see oscar winning minus one. so, he has to take his anger out on this movie. LOL. go home, doc. you aren't drunk enough. lol.
The humans mean nothing to Godzilla, and the human's story line means nothing to me in a Godzilla movie (yes Kong too). You are right Dr Wolfula the humans are not interesting in this movie.
Minus one was better but I'll probably end of watching this one more in the long run. Its more fun snd less of a chore. Citizen Kane is a better film than Kung Pow enter the fist....but guess which one I've watched 1000 times more?
Rebecca Hall is a known actress. So is BTH for hipsters who watch Atlanta. Dan Stevens is in downtown abbey. what are you talking about they can’t get real people in this?
5:45 - 5:53 I can legit say that this is pretty Accurate to some extent. But Yeah, I liked this movie, as Impersonally Feel this Should’ve been a “Kong” centered Film with Godzilla showing up in it. Kinda like how Captain America: Civil War had the Avengers show up near close to the end of the film.
I enjoyed the movie. Ultimately it’s what I wanted from this kind of thing. It’s fun, it’s got lots of monster action, it hasn’t got too much plot and it comes in at under 2 hours. What’s wrong with that? Everything that comes out doesn’t have to try to be some earth shattering event movie.
It was a love letter to the Showa era of Godzilla movies 🍿 wish Godzilla was in the movie 🍿 more that would be the only negative thing I have to say about this movie 🍿 this Monsterverse movie 🍿 was the least expensive movie to make out of all the Monsterverse movies 🍿 I would love more solo movies for Godzilla and Kong
I always hated that every single King Kong movie always ended the same with him getting shot and killed I enjoyed the fact that Godzilla was basically in vulnerable to human weapons So I consider a nice change of pace that Kong is big and strong enough to not get killed by people
I got mad at you anyway because of course I did. King Kong 1933 is a kaiju movie, Jurassic Park is just dinosaurs. Peter Jackson's Kong is just dinosaurs. What did Jackson miss... did you ever hear of 'Kong', the native superstition and island God? The Lovecraftian element that weaves in and out of the Godzilla series only shows up in King Kong 1933, the rest are just a giant gorilla fighting dinosaurs, giant beasts or the urge not to strip Jessica Lange in order to maintain a PG rating. There's some Lovecraft in King Kong vs Godzilla but I think that Kong caught it off Godzilla like it was radiation sickness because like hell it's there in King Kong Escapes. "King Kong needs prayer badly." Ah, the Worshipers. Nothing says "we have an actual God here" like an actual cult making sacrifices to it. But what makes it true Lovecraftian is the Gate; It has to an absolute demarcation between civilization and "here there be monsters" and it has to be inexplicable. If it looks like a pile of twigs, JACKSON, because it's more "logical" then there's no reason for it to keep Kong back.
I think personally this could've just been called king kong the new empire not because i don't like godzilla because i like both kijus but because godzilla is barely in the movie
I got to say doc this was a rare misfire for you. You get so many things wrong about this movie, from talking about the budget, from talking about how the humans don't matter only to then flip around and claimed that the humans do matter, to not understanding the very series of films that this movie is homing and demanding it not be an homage to them. Honestly I have no idea why you bother to review something that you know is not something you like. It would be like someone who is turned off by Gore reviewing a slasher film
Ive always said this for every "Kaiju" type movie...The humans are sometimes 90% inconsequential and we dont need them, its not like there is a Ishirō Serizawa to every monster movie!
