Clash of the Franchises

Godzilla and Kong face off at sea

Your humble blogger was a paying customer for monster movies back when the giant city-destroyers were played by actors in rubber suits. So when Godzilla and King Kong were rebooted in a MonsterVerse series of movies, I was all in.

Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) are escapist fare that balanced personalities--and the vast majority of women--might find alarming.

I only watch these movies over and over because I marvel at the advances in special-effects technology, not because I have an unhealthy fascination with skyscraper-sized creatures.

Film critics who like scripts to have some intellectual depth

(WSJ: ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Review: A Mental Mush of a Monster Mash,

Chronicle: ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ is a disappointment. It’s even a little depressing)

don't like Godzilla vs. Kong much, so I did anticipate disappointment about seeing the fourth movie, now streaming on HBOMAX for the month of April in what could be the final chapter of the MonsterVerse series.

No worries, I liked Godzilla vs. Kong. It had continuity with the previous movies and impressive special effects. Also (spoiler alert), the scriptwriters resolved the conflict between the two "apex" predators Kong and Godzilla without killing either of them.

Both had been shown as entities who could have empathy with human beings and were certainly morally superior to the evil monsters they had fought in earlier films. Each had their own fan bases, and, most importantly, the franchises could continue.

I think I'll watch it again...for the special effects, of course.