Godzilla vs. Kong

Directed by Adam Wingard, Godzilla vs. Kong follows a series of human characters, including Alexander Skarsgård’s Nathan, Rebecca Hall’s Ilene, and Millie Bobby Brown’s Madison, as they prepare for the title monsters to brutally duke it out. Filmmaker Wingard, working from Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein’s screenplay, delivers an overlong and excessively slick blockbuster that contains few, if any, elements worth embracing or getting excited about, and it’s clear, certainly, that the movie’s arms-length atmosphere is compounded by its assortment of wooden, one-dimensional protagonists – with Kong ultimately possessing more personality and charisma than any of his human counterparts. There’s consequently little doubt that one’s ongoing efforts at working up any interest in or enthusiasm for the frenetic narrative fall completely (and hopelessly) flat, while the picture’s larger-than-life action sequences, of which there are many, suffer from a heavy use of computer-generated effects that ensure they possess all the weight and reality of a video-game cutscene – with the climactic brawl faring especially poorly and lending the proceedings a palpably endless feel. The final result is a predictably ineffective and interminable endeavor that wears out its welcome almost immediately, which is a shame, really, given the potential afforded by the over-the-top premise and assortment of talented performers within the stacked cast.

* out of ****

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