I love the kaiju genre. I've been enjoying these new incarnations of Godzilla and King Kong. And I also like the idea of there existing a modern shared universe of giant monster characters. So then, why didn't I like this movie? By all rights, this should've felt like a major event, in the same vein as something like Marvel's Avengers or DC's Justice League. To me, I believe GvK's failure comes down to one simple matter - the music (but not just any music). Most crucially of all, it's the orchestral score that's faintly heard playing in the background. Don't say "it's just a petty complaint which isn't that important", because it's the pivotal key ingredient that makes the whole thing work.
Contrary to popular belief, a musical score is a very powerful element that's basically the crux of an entire production's effectiveness in the "feels" department (expertly manipulating one's emotional state). With that said, these monster flicks are more often than not among the films that feature some of the greatest music ever heard in any motion-picture (period!). And for high-end action involving a lot of creatively over-the-top destructive fighting with an absurdly fun tone set in place, there desperately needs to be an awesome soundtrack accompanying these scenes to get the blood-pumping and your heart racing (alas, there isn't any to be found herein). Sad to say, but my heighten mood was diminishing at a breakneck speed while watching GvK. The grandiose instrumentals I was expecting to hear were practically nonexistent, instead being exchanged for lacklustre techno tracks that don't fit at all.
I guess you could say Junkie XL flat-out ruined my viewing experience of this movie, thanks to his truly horrible score (seriously, how does this guy keep getting work?). Every movie I've seen where he's the composer for it has been nothing but an audible snooze fest, no doubt about it in my mind (yeah, his dull style is just that catastrophically bad to my ears). And to think, I was patiently expecting to hear new cool renditions of the classical King Kong (1933) music and Mechagodzilla (1993) theme. I frequently contemplate the notion that if I were to ever hear another generic and forgettable movie soundtrack again, I'm just going to go out on a limb and automatically assume he's the one who probably conducted it (how unfair, I know).
As much as it's already been overused in so many other movies of its ilk, I still kind of liked the typical thematic side of things as it once again presented the whole "natural world versus technological advancements" agenda. When executed from a different angle, sometimes a decades old trope can actually enhance the narrative a little and maybe elevate it to something a bit higher along the way. It's not the most heavy-handed environmental commentary, by any stretch of the imagination. I enjoyed seeing the two titular Titans teaming up at the end to take on Mecha-G as it showed that even though it's hardwired in their very nature to be bitter rivals, they're still willing to put aside their differences to a certain degree and lend each other a helping hand against a common foe; with that newfound enemy being in the form of a comical dinosaur robot brought upon our fragile ecosystem by mankind's own greed for dominance over the world in an unbalanced power struggle. No matter what artificial creations man throws out there, it's a guarantee that good old Mother Nature will somehow always find a way to fight back and prevail. Might seem like a pretty dumb metaphor with a preachy message to some but I personally didn't really care too much because at its core basics, that's essentially what this genre's all about fundamentally - man versus nature.
One last noteworthy thing that I literally haven't seen anyone else bring up is the somewhat unique choices for its standout cinematography style, with the filmmakers opting to capture more dynamic scenes which require sweeping shots to be arranged and done all in one long take; such examples being the very first scene of Godzilla swimming up out the water when he reaches a Pensacola shoreline as the camera follows closely along the tidal waves and pans all the way around his semi-submerged body, or just after the climactic showdown near Victoria Peak when an exhausted Kong finally drops down his battle-axe as the camera follows its journey as it falls to the ground only to then pan back upwards again in Godzilla's direction where there's well-lit scenery. This is something you don't tend to see in any kaiju films, so I've got to give them kudos for that (suppose you could make out that it's an "artsy" monster movie).
But other than that, there's really not a whole lot more to say about this mediocre monster mash. The destructive fighting, while sometimes nice to look at as a purely visual spectacle, often lacks the momentous awe felt in prior CGI-filled action sequences that also utilised a heavy amount of photorealistic digital graphics in extensive visual-effects shots. It just didn't seem to sit right with me somehow, and I found myself feeling overwhelmingly bored by many of the so-called "epic" battle scenes (severely numbs the mind). And I hate to sound like one of those snobby armchair critics here, but it wasn't particularly fun to sit through when I look back on how much more enjoyment I got out of something like Pacific Rim (2013) and Kong: Skull Island (2017).
For this type of genre movie, the acting wasn't anything too special. The lady from Iron Man 3 (2013) was OK, as was the fella from The Legend of Tarzan (2016). Same with the guy from the Child's Play (2019) remake, who was a rather adequate addition. And that lad from Deadpool 2 (2018) was kind of unnecessary, with his only purpose being to fill-out the role of "tubby, scaredy-cat sidekick to some other more vital character" (a tired cliche that's starting to wear very thin). I'd talk about how the motion-captured performers (Terry Notary & T. J. Storm) were in their creature portrayals but sadly, to my knowledge, I don't think they were actually used this time around (except for a few moments of facial-capture done on the great ape himself).
So for me personally, I'm just very torn on my opinions of this movie. But by all means, if this sounds like the right sort of creature feature for you, then go ahead and give it a watch (hopefully, you might be more satisfied with this product than I was). For a awesome-sounding music that's actually appropriate for the action scenes, I think I'll firmly stick with the Heisei era of all thinks kaiju-related.
Contrary to popular belief, a musical score is a very powerful element that's basically the crux of an entire production's effectiveness in the "feels" department (expertly manipulating one's emotional state). With that said, these monster flicks are more often than not among the films that feature some of the greatest music ever heard in any motion-picture (period!). And for high-end action involving a lot of creatively over-the-top destructive fighting with an absurdly fun tone set in place, there desperately needs to be an awesome soundtrack accompanying these scenes to get the blood-pumping and your heart racing (alas, there isn't any to be found herein). Sad to say, but my heighten mood was diminishing at a breakneck speed while watching GvK. The grandiose instrumentals I was expecting to hear were practically nonexistent, instead being exchanged for lacklustre techno tracks that don't fit at all.
I guess you could say Junkie XL flat-out ruined my viewing experience of this movie, thanks to his truly horrible score (seriously, how does this guy keep getting work?). Every movie I've seen where he's the composer for it has been nothing but an audible snooze fest, no doubt about it in my mind (yeah, his dull style is just that catastrophically bad to my ears). And to think, I was patiently expecting to hear new cool renditions of the classical King Kong (1933) music and Mechagodzilla (1993) theme. I frequently contemplate the notion that if I were to ever hear another generic and forgettable movie soundtrack again, I'm just going to go out on a limb and automatically assume he's the one who probably conducted it (how unfair, I know).
As much as it's already been overused in so many other movies of its ilk, I still kind of liked the typical thematic side of things as it once again presented the whole "natural world versus technological advancements" agenda. When executed from a different angle, sometimes a decades old trope can actually enhance the narrative a little and maybe elevate it to something a bit higher along the way. It's not the most heavy-handed environmental commentary, by any stretch of the imagination. I enjoyed seeing the two titular Titans teaming up at the end to take on Mecha-G as it showed that even though it's hardwired in their very nature to be bitter rivals, they're still willing to put aside their differences to a certain degree and lend each other a helping hand against a common foe; with that newfound enemy being in the form of a comical dinosaur robot brought upon our fragile ecosystem by mankind's own greed for dominance over the world in an unbalanced power struggle. No matter what artificial creations man throws out there, it's a guarantee that good old Mother Nature will somehow always find a way to fight back and prevail. Might seem like a pretty dumb metaphor with a preachy message to some but I personally didn't really care too much because at its core basics, that's essentially what this genre's all about fundamentally - man versus nature.
One last noteworthy thing that I literally haven't seen anyone else bring up is the somewhat unique choices for its standout cinematography style, with the filmmakers opting to capture more dynamic scenes which require sweeping shots to be arranged and done all in one long take; such examples being the very first scene of Godzilla swimming up out the water when he reaches a Pensacola shoreline as the camera follows closely along the tidal waves and pans all the way around his semi-submerged body, or just after the climactic showdown near Victoria Peak when an exhausted Kong finally drops down his battle-axe as the camera follows its journey as it falls to the ground only to then pan back upwards again in Godzilla's direction where there's well-lit scenery. This is something you don't tend to see in any kaiju films, so I've got to give them kudos for that (suppose you could make out that it's an "artsy" monster movie).
But other than that, there's really not a whole lot more to say about this mediocre monster mash. The destructive fighting, while sometimes nice to look at as a purely visual spectacle, often lacks the momentous awe felt in prior CGI-filled action sequences that also utilised a heavy amount of photorealistic digital graphics in extensive visual-effects shots. It just didn't seem to sit right with me somehow, and I found myself feeling overwhelmingly bored by many of the so-called "epic" battle scenes (severely numbs the mind). And I hate to sound like one of those snobby armchair critics here, but it wasn't particularly fun to sit through when I look back on how much more enjoyment I got out of something like Pacific Rim (2013) and Kong: Skull Island (2017).
For this type of genre movie, the acting wasn't anything too special. The lady from Iron Man 3 (2013) was OK, as was the fella from The Legend of Tarzan (2016). Same with the guy from the Child's Play (2019) remake, who was a rather adequate addition. And that lad from Deadpool 2 (2018) was kind of unnecessary, with his only purpose being to fill-out the role of "tubby, scaredy-cat sidekick to some other more vital character" (a tired cliche that's starting to wear very thin). I'd talk about how the motion-captured performers (Terry Notary & T. J. Storm) were in their creature portrayals but sadly, to my knowledge, I don't think they were actually used this time around (except for a few moments of facial-capture done on the great ape himself).
So for me personally, I'm just very torn on my opinions of this movie. But by all means, if this sounds like the right sort of creature feature for you, then go ahead and give it a watch (hopefully, you might be more satisfied with this product than I was). For a awesome-sounding music that's actually appropriate for the action scenes, I think I'll firmly stick with the Heisei era of all thinks kaiju-related.