Just saw Godzilla x Kong, and it was a ton of fun! I think, coming off of Godzilla -1, it would probably feel pretty dumb. But honestly, I think it's really cool that Godzilla is dynamic enough of a character that he can headline an introspective, emotional story full of allegory, but also lead up a dumb-as-hell action romp.

Well, "lead up" might be the wrong phrase, since this is very much a Kong story with Godzilla as more of a special guest role. Fortunately for me, I actually like that dynamic... Kong works as a more relatable Kaiju with human-like traits that can actively communicate with the human characters, while Godzilla feels almost like a force of nature that everyone else needs to desperately try to point in the right direction. Kong actually gets a lot of really good moments in this... he gets a lot of screen time, and you learn a lot about his character through his interactions with the other characters, despite him being a giant ape who can't talk. I think his relationship with Diddy Kong (or whatever his name is... it's not said out loud in the movie) is one of the highlights. I honestly thought the character would be annoying, since the little kid sidekick in these kind of things tends to be, but honestly I was excited any time I saw the little guy on screen.

It's definitely one of those movies that falls apart if you think about any aspect of it too deeply. I think a major part of this is the collateral damage these monsters create. It's honestly true to the classic depiction of Kaiju, where they'll stomp through buildings or throw vehicles as weapons... but in classic suitmation, it's often pretty obvious that the characters are just stomping through largely empty cities full of miniatures, but with modern technology we get a lot more street-level shots full of human beings fleeing for their lives, and even the "Good Guy" kaiju will still just stomp through. There's one scene where Godzilla is leaving a location, and in the process he swims under multiple bridges that are destroyed by his back spines, and those bridges are very clearly heavily laden with cars that explode dramatically, and it would be a hell of a stretch to pretend those cars are all empty and abandoned. The movie doesn't dwell on any of that, and it's clearly meant to be a more light-hearted story which never dwells on such things, but especially after seeing minus one so recently, it can feel a bit jarring to have such wanton destruction on display with barely any repercussions.

This definitely fits in perfectly with the Monster-Verse movies that have come out so far. If you liked King of the Monsters or Godzilla vs Kong, you'll like this movie just fine. But if you like your spectacle media to be more elevated or feel like it's happening in the real world, you'll be left wanting by this movie. But for me, as a life-long Godzilla fan who is just happy to see the Big G on screen kicking ass, I was giddy in my seat whenever he was on screen. In some ways his reduced screen time (compared to Kong) actually made it more exciting whenever he did get in on the action. But make no mistake... Kong is the star of this story, and I think he proves he's got the chops to take the lead.