Review of Godzilla vs Kong
midlandsmovies • April 6, 2021

Godzilla vs Kong (2021) Dir. Adam Wingard
The fourth film in Legendary's “MonsterVerse”, Godzilla vs Kong is the long-awaited (for some) match-up between two monstrous icons of the big screen
The plot (as bare as it is), sees Kong trapped on Skull Island in a “virtual pen” (think The Truman Show’s massive self-contained dome) before the previously human-friendly Godzilla attacks a facility and they need Kong to protect themselves from the lizard’s provocations. Transporting Kong via sea, a large battle breaks out on a set of warships setting the scene for more explosive confrontations along the way.
Alongside this is the most perfunctory of people-plots where an evil scientist searches for a mysterious power source, a young deaf girl befriends Kong and a conspiracy theorist is proven right about hidden tech. And then this minimal character development is punctuated by city-wide punch-ups all orchestrated in glorious CGI.
But here’s my problem. I hate hate HATE the film’s aesthetic. Plastered in teal and orange (that was old hat a decade ago) the film’s human characters don’t occupy the same plane of existence as the CGI creatures and environments. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but my theory is that younger viewers accept these visuals as they’re akin to video game cut scenes.
Yeah, yeah, this is a pure 21st century “boomer” problem, but to me they’re not even close to standard depictions of reality. Of course, it’s a monster movie but rather than go for a full filmmaker’s vision (think of the neon-lit surrealism of Del Toro’s Pacific Rim) this movie has no craft or personality and seemed as bland as they come.
For fans, these concerns won’t matter one jot but for me, despite the visuals being a technical marvel, they look like utter barf so why should I care? And with my tired and jaded set of peepers, it looks worse than both Peter Jackson’s King Kong and Gareth Edwards Godzilla from years ago.
The film continues with one semi-interesting segment as it goes off the rails into full sci-fi territory as Kong enters the “Hollow Earth”, a kind of grimy Pandora from Avatar looking land where these Titans came from. With spaceships (wtf), we’re miles from Godzilla (2014) and it probably nods to the lore but I was too braindead to find out.
Kong floats in the sky owing to some gravity shenanigans (yes, he does) and then we get more Pacific Rim rip-offs with a mecha controlled by “drifting” with the neurons of a recovered monster skull.
The sets are cheap looking and the humans are kept conveniently behind glass or in rooms so they effects artists don’t have to comp them together in the same shot as the computer animation it seems. There are about half a dozen shots in 2 hours where both a human and titan are in shot together.
I can acknowledge that audiences are not going to see this for the drama but the lack of any connection (visually, technically or narratively) meant most of this movie simply wasn’t engaging enough.
At best, it’s a gamers-heaven with slightly-better-than-PS5-graphics and smack-downs galore, at worst it’s simply hot garbage. Ending with Man of Steel-levels of city destruction (and about as much concern for its population as that film too) Godzilla vs Kong was so not my cup of tea and another entry in this universe I couldn’t get involved in.
Less cinematic than a video game animatic, the film left me completely numb by the end. And despite some great actors (Rebecca Hall, Millie Bobby Brown, Alexander Skarsgård and talented newcomer Kaylee Hottle) the film filled me with sadness that this is the level of blockbuster we’re currently offered. A Legendary let-down.
★½
Michael Sales

With a number of acclaimed films under his belt including Cosmo, Gone Fishing and The Morgue Party, Jonathan Hawes launches a new short, once again in his favourite genre of comedy. Midlands Movies Mike Sales speaks to the writer/director about his latest project, his influences and his plans for the film.

Up! (1976) Dir. Russ Meyer Well, bi-Adolf Hitler BDSM is not something (a) I thought I’d ever see 5 minutes into a movie and (b) ever expected to write in my lifetime to be fair but this spicy start is pretty standard for the work of exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer. Up! is a kind of r*pe-revenge softcore p*rn film (there’s gonna be a fair bit of self-censorship in this review so apologies in advance), the type Meyer is known for. I’d describe the plot in more detail but it’s mostly a convoluted and incoherent mess of double-crossing, murder, violence and lots and lots of humping. In short, a man called Adolph gets murdered and a woman investigates (kinda) the circumstances but as she does so, a group of locals blackmail, attack and screw each other with the murder mystery barely mentioned throughout. With so little narrative, it could be argued if it’s essentially p*rn? To be fair, not far off. It’s about extreme as you can go without simply making a s*x film. Is that a…no, it’s a belly button hole. Bookending the film (and also seen at various points throughout) is a Greek Chorus - simply a busty fully nude woman of course - who delivers dialogue like “Pummelling the scrotum with joyous supplication” and other such poeticisms. This artistic flourish is mostly pointless - the actress herself saying the words were tough to learn because it was utter nonsense. On a technical level, the editing is surprisingly well done and the 4k image is frankly fantastic. Someone somewhere must be putting together a post-modern take about the beautiful landscapes and cinematography of Meyer’s * ahem * output. But it definitely does have a kitsch artistry. It has certainly provided plenty of cinematic influence though. Elements of Tarantino grindhouse sensibilities are on show - Meyers likes bosoms as much as Quents likes feet - and there’s even a leather gimp early on. I can also see how its had an impact on Ti West X’s with a focus on sexuality and the body as well, more obviously, Anna Biller’s feminist-twist The Love Witch (2016). Suffice to say it’s not for the weak of heart. I think in this day and age you can’t go into this completely blind to its style, period and context though. It's an X-rated Carry On style that was bad taste then and it’s bad taste now. It revels in its sleaziness without a single hint of shame or apology. Simply saying 'deal with it'. The main negative though is the absence of plot - if the film can even be looked at like that - which is barely present. This is a shame as the whole thing could do with a bit more coherence rather than endless shagging. But it’s far from titillation, it’s mostly clowning - albeit a very adult version of it. More saucy than sexy. Trying to review this through modern sensibilities is almost impossible. It’s as offensive can be from the first scene through to the final credits - heck even this 4k menu is simply one of the film's many s*x scenes. But there are some progressive themes as it doesn’t shy from confronting sexual freedom, bisexuality, gay sex, BDSM and consensual exploration. There's moments of comedy thrown in and I enjoyed a frankly hilarious 5-minute monologue explaining the culprit’s intentions, which was a ludicrous way to deliver a slasher-style ending. I suppose the main thing about Up! (and Meyers’ work overall) is there’s a sort of love it or loathe it quality about the whole shebang. But it’s so unlike anything being made today - for good or bad - that it’s never anything other than unpredictably fascinating. More explicit than most Meyers films - in fact more than any film - it’s a lewd, rude and crude (s)exploration with a satirical edge and campy enjoyment bouncing from every frame. ★★★ 3 / 5 Michael Sales Severin Films releases Russ Meyers' UP! (1976) and MOTORPSYCHO (1965) on 28 April 2025 in newly restored and scanned 4k with hours of new and archival Special Features https://severinfilms.co.uk/

Ti West’s The House of the Devil makes a wonderful companion piece to his film The Innkeepers. Both maintain the director’s referential approach to horror, incapsulating it in a slow burning 90 minutes that manages to build and maintain tension while cheekily winking to the audience and showing the mechanisms behind the scares.