Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) review

 

GODZILLA VS. KONG 2021 

 

Alexander Skarsgard (Dr. Nathan Lind), Millie Bobbie Brown (Madison Russell), Rebecca Hall (Dr. Ilene Andrews), Brian Tyree Henry (Bernie Hayes), Shun Oguri (Ren Serizawa), Eiza Gonzalez (Maia Simmons), Julian Dennison (Josh Valentine), Lance Reddick (Guillermin), Kyle Chandler (Dr. Mark Russell), Demian Bichir (Walter Simmons), Kaylee Hottle (Jia)

Directed by Adam Wingard

 

The Short Version: The last time these two Titans clashed was in 1962; and in that time both combatants have been destined for a rematch. Over 50 years later, Godzilla and Kong step back into the global ring for a Falls-Count-Anywhere, Last Monster Standing Death Match. It's a hard-fought battle that finds Mechagodzilla interfering to snatch the title of World Heavyweight Titan; but he gets sidelined by one of the dumbest scripting ideas ever conceived. Plus, there's a weak storyline populated by even weaker characters; and the promise of an adventure but never feeling a sense that one is actually taking place. When the smoke finally clears, GVK gives its audience two satisfying confrontations; but delivers less 'Zilla and more Gorilla.

 

Godzilla hasn't been seen in the five years since he killed King Ghidorah. Meanwhile, King Kong has been encased inside a dome on Skull Island for study by Monarch. Godzilla is drawn to, and curiously attacks a corporate industrial complex and its founder seeks a mysterious power from the center of the Earth that only King Kong can locate. Eventually, the two monsters will clash; and find themselves the target of a potentially even more powerful enemy.

It's a Clash of the Titans as Godzilla and King Kong get ready to rumble in this eagerly awaited monster mash-up; the fourth in the MonsterVerse series co-produced between Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures. The movie delivers what it advertises but, unfortunately, not much else. GODZILLA VS. KONG showcases two epic battles but ends up ranking slightly below the 2014 GODZILLA and curiously maligned GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019), but surpasses the average KONG: SKULL ISLAND (2017).

 

Adam Wingard, late of horror flicks like the home invasion item YOU'RE NEXT (2011) and the needlessly boisterous remake, THE BLAIR WITCH (2014), enters the arena of giant rampaging monsters with GVK. Like him, Michael Dougherty, the previous movie's writer and director, made horror pictures prior to helming the unjustly dissed GKOTM. Dougherty also contributed to the story of GODZILLA VS. KONG. In interviews, Wingard stated there was a lot more footage shot that was cut (reportedly none of it was monster action), going on to say that what's on the screen is his director's cut. Knowing this helps in understanding the choppy nature of the narrative and the lifeless influx of exposition was intentional.

 

GVK's increase in character development many complained was missing from the previous movie does nothing in making viewers care about them here; much less remember who they are when the monsters aren't on the screen. GKOTM gave you a multitude of characters with just enough periphery information to know who was who. In GVK, you have a handful of new faces that add nothing and makes one wonder why they're even there in the first place. The only new character that stands out is Bernie Hayes (played by Brian Tyree Henry), a colorfully off-kilter conspiracy theorist, podcaster, and former tech for the Apex Corporation. Kinda crazy, he's the only person with his finger on the pulse of everything that's going on. 

 

The inclusion of a deaf child named Jia who has taught Kong sign language gives the impression she'll be Kong's human companion throughout the movie; but it's another waste of screen time as she's essentially abandoned after a few scenes. The angle of teaching a giant ape to do sign language was explored to far greater effect in the surprisingly terrific RAMPAGE (2016); a giant monster movie that better blends its elements than this one does. The rest of the GVK cast leave no lasting impression; and those returning from the previous movie are basically cameos. Monarch's presence is barely felt as well. Thankfully, the monster scenes support the weight of the movie where everything else threatens to sink it.

 

One character that could've impacted the picture in a big way is another missed opportunity; that being Shun Oguri's Ren Serizawa, the son of Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (played by Ken Watanabe in the previous two Godzilla movies). He's obviously on the opposite end of the integrity spectrum of his father, but the film spends so little time on him that if you're not paying attention you'll not know who he is. That's the result of most of the characters in the picture. To compare, Watanabe's character got less screen time in the previous movie, yet he resonated presence; and ran away with that film's most poignant sequence.

 

To further contrast, in GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019), you felt a quest was unfolding before your eyes. The fate of the world was hanging in the balance. For GODZILLA VS. KONG, the filmmakers visualize an adventure, but we feel no sense of one taking place. Much is made of the journey to the Hollow Earth, but the way it unfolds, it's as interesting as walking down the street for a candy bar and a Coke.

 

The plot is nothing more than finding ways to bring a giant lizard and monkey together who haven't seen one another in over 50 years. Wedged between all that is Kong going to the Earth's Core to find his Axcalibur while encountering flying snakes and bat-chickens; and intermittent shots or mentions of Godzilla to remind you that he is in fact a part of the movie. 

 

Director Adam Wingard's film is episodic and full of plot holes bigger than the one Godzilla burns to the center of the Earth--allowing a shortcut for Kong and his party to emerge from. Not only does little of it make any sense, but it doesn't even follow the trajectory of the previous film's post-credits sequence. 

 

 

Previously, Godzilla had defeated King Ghidorah. But all wasn't as it seemed. In the post-credits scene, Alan Jonah, former military colonel turned eco-terrorist leader, has plans for the remains of the now dead King Ghidorah. Curiously, Jonah and his group of cold-blooded mercenaries are dropped from GODZILLA VS. KONG altogether. This is the first movie in the MonsterVerse line to not carry on from an end-credits cliffhanger.  

 

 

King Ghidorah's remaining head does appear (the skull, anyway); utilized in another of the film's fleetingly explored subplots; this one involving a new villain named Walter Simmons. Essentially the same character with the same motivation as Jonah (played by Charles Dance in the previous movie), Demian Bichir's Simmons is a corporate CEO (the Apex Corporation) instead of a globe-trotting environmental terrorist. We don't see much of him; and when his true intentions are revealed moments before his comeuppance, we don't even care. 

 

The section of the movie taking place in the Hollow Earth setting visualizes, but doesn't really explore, the historical mythology that has provided years of pulp adventure novels and stirred the imaginations of its readers for decades. Astronomer and academic Edmond Halley proposed the idea of a potentially inhabited inner Earth in the late 1600s. Fiction writers such as Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs were inspired by the concept and popularized tales of subterranean worlds filled with various prehistoric life and monsters. Unfortunately, none of that literary wonder seen in various prior film adaptations is captured here.

 

In GVK, once Kong and Kompany arrive at the Hollow Earth, it's essentially a straight shot to a mountain where Kong finds his Axcalibur. There are no minor side adventures, an exploration in this lost world setting, or anything resembling the harrowing middle portion of Peter Jackson's KING KONG from 2005. Wingard's movie just fast-forwards Kong and Monarch to the location of the power source they're after. 

 

 

Then there's a shockingly sloppy moment seen in the final battle that will baffle some viewers as to why something more befitting could've been written considering $200 million was spent on this thing. In it, Mechagodzilla (whose intro is one of the movie's best scenes) is throttling Godzilla and a near-dead King Kong while Bernie and this kid named Josh frantically try to shut down MechaG's programming. The Josh character's one moment to shine is striking upon the brilliant idea of taking Bernie's alcohol flask and simply pouring the liquid all over the control panel that operates MechaG. If that's all it took, had MechaG or one of the other monsters simply stepped on the building you'd of reached the same outcome.

In the Japanese movies they always wrote creative methods in dealing with the monsters. In 1974s GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA, the Big G uses a new super power involving turning his body into an electromagnetic force, bringing a retreating Mechagodzilla back to him. This results in Godzilla tearing his head off, and the subsequent smithereens being blown from here to Mt. Fuji. 

 

In the direct sequel, TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (1975), version 2 of the space robot has his controls surgically implanted in the stomach of a woman, the daughter of a scientist. She controls Mechagodzilla (something GVK attempts to convey before King Ghidorah's skull somehow comes to life and pilots MechaG), and only after her suicide to save humanity is Mechagodzilla weakened to the point Godzilla can destroy him. This plot point is similar to the outright sloppiness in GVK, but has greater resonance in that it is emotionally powerful on multiple levels.

 

Still, where GVK excels is in outrageously over the top shenanigans like a monster fight atop a battleship and the ridiculous highlight of Godzilla blowing a hole clean to the Earth's core. It's both enjoyable and indicative of what's wrong with Hollywood tentpole movies that are all flash and no substance. 

 

With something like this, it largely succeeds where it matters most. In the end (and as frustrating as it is at times), GVK remains an entertainingly trim 113 minutes. It gives you what you're paying to see even if it's more Gorilla than 'Zilla. A more accurate title would be KONG'S JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (Featuring A Special Appearance By Godzilla).

 

Grizzly 2: Revenge (1983/2021) review

 

GRIZZLY 2: REVENGE 1983/2021 aka GRIZZLY 2: THE PREDATOR aka GRIZZLY 2: THE CONCERT

 

Steve Inwood (Nick Hollister), Deborah Raffin (Samantha Owens), John Rhys Davies (Bouchard), Louise Fletcher (Eileene Draygon), Deborah Foreman (Chrissy Hollister), Dick Anthony Williams (Charlie), Jack Starrett (Papas), Charles Cyphers (Steve), Marc Alaimo (Luke), Laura Dern (Tina), George Clooney (Ron), Charlie Sheen (Lance)

 

Directed by Andre Szots

 

The Short Version: Remaining largely unfinished and now advertised as "37 years in the making", original producer Suzanne Csikos Nagy has decided to unleash what remains of GRIZZLY 2 on DVD/blu-ray to satiate horror fans curiosity for it. Even with some additionally shot footage, the world's only killer bear/new wave rock band movie is hardly feature-length at 69 minutes (74 including credits). Lacking suspense of any kind in what footage exists, the film, as it is, wastes too much time on a real concert that, in a stunningly genius bit of free production value, attracted some 50,000 patrons. Having to contend with criminal money-men and communists in Soviet-controlled Hungary, the constant sabotage and snafus behind the scenes would've made a more harrowing movie than what the makers of GRIZZLY 2 ended up with. As is, this ill-fated sequel, with its monster of a cast and bear-ly any killer ursine action, should've remained in hibernation.

 

A giant, rampaging grizzly bear terrorizes campers, poachers, and anyone it can get its claws on at Yellowstone National Park. A park ranger, a bear expert, and a big game hunter track the human-hungry grizzly as it makes its way to an enormous rock concert being held inside the park, where thousands are unwittingly on the menu.

 

It needs to be said it's not possible to review GRIZZLY 2 fairly since it's an unfinished movie. It also needs to be said it's questionable to release an unfinished movie onto unsuspecting buyers since the entire picture isn't there; same goes for some high-profile news sites to refer to it as "recently completed". A newly shot opening sequence showing a hunter shooting a bear cub and its mother (accompanied by atrocious CGI) and an additional rock group number (as if the movie didn't already have enough bands playing) doesn't prevent GRIZZLY 2 from being an unbearable viewing experience. 

 

Since none of the mechanical bear sequences to have been shot by special effects director Nick Maley (STAR WARS; THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK; KRULL) were ever filmed, there's gaping holes where action is supposed to take place. All you get are brief shots of the bear puppet, one scene of a gory aftermath, and off-screen kills that have no build-up or tension. A large bear arm lazily swatting an actor; a wall of fur knocking over a forklift; and Davies ascending the raging grizzly like it's an indoor climbing gym are the only times you see the monster and the actors share screen time together.

 

Then there are incomprehensible character exchanges that are choppily re-edited from a 100 minute workprint that once floated around on the internet. Reportedly, principal photography was indeed completed. But viewing this compilation of scenes, it's clear by that alone, director Andre Szots (who later went on to a successful career as a producer) was out of his element.

 

It's unfortunate because the director initially assigned to GRIZZLY 2, David Sheldon, who worked on the original GRIZZLY (1976) with its director William Girdler (as well as some of his other movies), would have been a better choice for the material. Sadly, Sheldon had the job taken away from him like a thief in the night; being surreptitiously replaced with Szots by producer Joseph Ford Proctor without any notification whatsoever. A shady individual, Proctor nearly derailed the movie on its first day of shooting in Soviet-controlled Hungary after he ran off with the financing. Hungarian producer Suzanne Nagy was now in the difficult position of keeping the picture going although problems too numerous to mention here ensured the movie would remain in hibernation for decades.

 

In what could be described as 'The GRIZZLY Curse', the producer of the 1976 original, Edward L. Montoro, covertly made off with the profits of his company and was never heard from again. That film's director, William Girdler, was killed in a helicopter crash while scouting locations in the Philippines for what would've been his next movie, 'Opium', on January 21st, 1978. For GRIZZLY 2, everything imaginable that could go wrong did go wrong. As mentioned above, the initial producer, Joseph Proctor, did a Montoro on the production. He also attempted to steal the movie back several years later. In 2012, the 66 year old Proctor was arrested for tax fraud and sentenced to five years in prison.

 

Basically a do-over of the first movie, there's brief instances of quality in G2, but these moments are fleeting. The photography is really good in places, even surreal with the Hungarian landscapes subbing for Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park. These moments show promise for what could've been a decent horror picture; in a visual sense, anyway. The editing is erratic and some scenes have dialog playing but the actor saying it isn't moving his mouth. Elsewhere, dialog doesn't even sync up at all.

 

 

The film's most intriguing aspect from a production POV is the concert they put on that attracted some 50,000 people. Sadly, Nazareth, the act that played an integral part in bringing in all those people, didn't make it into the pseudo-final cut.

 

Also unfortunate, the crew expended more time and money in putting on the musical acts than they did focusing on the main attraction, the grizzly. Roughly half the movie is footage of this concert. The aerial and wide shots of the event do give the picture some grand production value; only nobody's watching a movie called GRIZZLY 2 for 80s synth-rock song and dance numbers. If the already plentiful stage performances weren't enough, scenes of a new act were added to the existing footage!

 

The plot point of the mega-bear attacking the concert backstage while the audience thinks it's part of the show is a unique twist but the lack of footage to make this more apparent is jarring in the extreme. At one point, camera zooms are supposed to give the impression the bear is running up a ramp where it's electrocuted in a scene we never even see. There's a couple closeups of the bear's mouth on fire; then a shot of what looks like a stuffed animal wrapped up in tin foil and wires.

 

The cast, though, is amazing, and the acting mostly good in spite of the fractured narrative. Granted, it was brief, early roles for George Clooney, Laura Dern, and Charlie Sheen. The future big names are killed off at the beginning but many would be scratching their heads at the participation of Oscar-winning actress Louise Fletcher and John Rhys Davies; the former being well known for playing Nurse Ratched in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1962), a film she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. The latter was fresh off RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), and the one major bright spot in this movie.

 

 

Fletcher doesn't have much to do in what footage of her is here, and she leaves no mark on the picture and probably wasn't trying to; mechanically delivering her lines. She plays the park superintendent who refuses to shut down the music festival despite some deaths by the big bear. She's in the last shot of the film and it's one of the cool moments the movie had to offer, but is crippled by all of it not having been filmed.

 

 

Meanwhile, John Rhys Davies is having a heckuva time playing the big game hunter Bouchard. He's such a colorful character he makes goofy lines like, "You got the Devil Bear!" sound believable. A shame the movie wasn't properly completed. It doesn't appear it would've made GRIZZLY 2 a match for its predecessor, but it would've been a more enjoyable experience with all its FX sequences lending weight to the human cast.

 

The list gets more interesting with Steve Inwood (STAYING ALIVE), Deborah Foreman (VALLEY GIRL), Deborah Raffin (DEATH WISH 3), Charles Cyphers (HALLOWEEN), and actor/director Jack Starrett (BLAZING SADDLES). As the protagonists, Inwood is basically playing the Christopher George role from the first movie. Despite having the silliest dialog, Raffin is good as the feisty bear expert; a similar role to the one Richard Jaeckel played in GRIZZLY. 

 

Apparently, the scant seconds of the giant grizzly puppet (sources say it was anywhere between 14-18 feet tall) were all filmed, leaving the mechanical bear footage unaccounted for. Nick Maley's bear head does look good, what's seen of it. Intended to have been shot by Maley back in the US once more money was available, the more articulate bear creations were reportedly seized by the communist government because the production left bills unpaid. Unlike the movie they were to feature in, the beasts were never seen again.

 

In addition to releasing the movie after its near 4 decades slumber, Ms. Nagy also wrote a book about the disastrous production called 'Swimming Among Sharks: the Story Behind the Making of Grizzly 2: Revenge'. It's her first-hand account of what went wrong in attempting to make the movie back in Hungary in 1983 (you can also read a detailed account of the films frenzied production HERE). On the film's official website, you can purchase these items as well as GRIZZLY 2 attire like T-shirts and hoodies HERE. However, it would have been more sensible to have made a DVD/blu-ray + book package instead of selling the fragmented movie on its own.

As is, GRIZZLY 2 is borderline unwatchable. It's akin to the early days of cable, when you tried to watch a channel you weren't paying for. You couldn't see what was going on but you could hear what was transpiring. Occasionally, the scrambled picture would stabilize and you'd enjoy about five seconds before the image distorted again; that's GRIZZLY 2. 

 

It took 37 years for GRIZZLY 2 to be legitimately seen. If nothing else, it's worth seeing at least once for the astonishingly good cast. Otherwise, this is recommended only for those who have held years long curiosity about the film's existence. Actually, a movie within a movie about the making of the sequel would make for a far, far more satisfying, and harrowing, horror movie experience. At just 69 minutes (74 including credits), and way more band play than grisly animal attack scenes, GRIZZLY 2 bear-ly passes muster.

This review is representative of the Gravitas Ventures Blu-ray. Specs and extras: 1.78:1 16x9 widescreen; English subtitles; running time 01:14:18.