The apex installment of the Monsterverse, Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) answers the question of who would win in a fight between the king of the monsters and the lord of Skull Island. For a film that’s just shy of two hours, it packs a giant amount of action from the titans. It also has a resounding ending that’s satisfying for fans of both monsters.

Basically, this movie is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) but done better. A rich head of a tech company causes Godzilla to fight Kong. The gigantic gorilla finds a weapon that can defeat the king of the monsters. All the while, the tech guy is meddling with things he ought not be which. There’s even a team of plucky humans that attempt to figure out what the rich guy is doing. While I won’t go into spoilers, if you’ve ever seen Batman taking on Superman, you’ll know how things turn out.

Luckily, no one in the film is named Martha.

While the film has learned from its predecessors, it does still have human characters that take up some screen time. There are two sets of human characters that are followed throughout the film. One group is led by Madison Russell, portrayed by Millie Bobby Brown. Russell was in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019). She and two new characters team up to try to figure out what the rich guy is trying to do. The second set of humans is led by Nathan Lind, portrayed by Alexander Skarsgard, and Ilene Andrews, portrayed by Rebecca Hall. Out of the two, it’s my opinion that the group led by Brown could have removed entirely. Their storyline wasn’t essential to the plot and it only served to take screen time away from the two monsters.

As stated previously, the film is just under two hours. And, despite the unnecessary humans, the plot doesn’t’ drag.

The fight scenes were epic and fantastically choreographed. Both title monsters held their own and there were moments when you hold your breath wondering if Kong was going to die or if Godzilla was finally going to be defeated. Having said that, there is an actual winner by the end of the film. Stakes were raised with each new battle and it was fun to watch cities topple as the two beasts wrestled.

After last year, it’s nice to actually be back in the theatres watching a mind numbing, action packed, popcorn movie about two giant beasts wrecking Hong Kong.

As far as parental guidance, there is plenty of scenes of violence. I mean, it’s a film about Godzilla and King Kong. Of course, there’s going to be violence. Most scenes showing human death aren’t bloody, but there is a scene where a man gets electrocuted. There is some gore when Kong tears a monster’s head off and eats some of it (not Godzilla). There is also some mild profanity. For all these reasons, the movie is rated PG-13.