Review: 'Godzilla vs. Kong' delivers the monster battle audiences want, but takes a while to get there

The big ape from Skull Island takes on the terror of Tokyo in “Godzilla vs. Kong,” an energetic super-monster mashup that’s four years in the making — or 57 years, depending on how you’re counting.

In the current franchise, it’s been four years since “Kong: Skull Island” reintroduced audiences to the giant ape who made his screen debut back in 1933. Two years ago, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” reacquainted fans with the nuclear-powered lizard creature that first thrilled Japanese audiences in 1954. (Fans of super-cheesy films will remember the 1964 “King Kong vs. Godzilla,” co-directed by Ishirô Honda, director of the original “Godzilla.”)

If you missed either of the recent installments, don’t worry. Nobody from “Kong: Skull Island” returns for this sequel, and the only characters back from the last “Godzilla” are the teen heroine, Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown), and her scientist father, Mark (Kyle Chandler) — and he barely makes a cameo appearance this time.

When we see Madison here, she’s teamed with Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), a conspiracy-minded podcaster who works inside at Apex Cybernetics, a conglomerate run by billionaire Walter Simmons (played by Mexican star Demián Bichir). Madison and Bernie are trying to figure out why Godzilla, who has been dormant for awhile, is suddenly attacking Apex’s factory in Pensacola, Florida.

Meanwhile, Kong remains on Skull Island — though within a “Truman Show”-style dome projecting an artificial sky, though Kong is too smart to be fooled. Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) is studying Kong, using the resources of another conglomerate, Monarch, to keep Kong safe from Godzilla. If the lizard were to sense Kong’s presence on the planet, Kong wouldn’t be safe.

Simmons enlists another scientist, Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård), who has hypothesized something called the “hollow earth” theory — which suggests that the titans come from an undetected and energy-rich habitat in the center of the earth. (Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs, call your lawyers.) Simmons bankrolls an expedition to take Kong to the earth’s core for the big primate’s protection. Linn and Andrews lead this trip, along with Simmons’ daughter Maya (Eiza González), who’s keeping an eye on her daddy’s investment, and Jia (Kaylee Hottle), a deaf 9-year-old native of Skull Island and Andrews’ adopted daughter, who has a bond with Kong.

The script — Eric Pearson (“Black Widow”) and Max Borenstein (co-writer of “Kong: Skull Island”) get the writing credit, with three others receiving story credit — runs on parallel tracks, toggling between the expedition to save Kong and Madison’s infiltrating of Apex’s network all the way to Hong Kong. The actors must plow through large blocks of expository dialogue to make the outlandish premise sound scientific, and to set up the movie’s other main confrontation, between the rival corporations Apex and Monarch. But the underlying mood is that nobody onscreen really cares, as long as we get to see CGI monsters beat each other up from time to time.

Director Adam Wingard, who helmed the 2016 “Blair Witch” reboot, saves his cinematic flexing for the title match-up. Wingard knows there’s a visceral thrill seeing Kong throw a punch across Godzilla’s face, or having Kong jump out of the way of an explosion (a shot cribbed directly from Bruce Willis in “Die Hard”), and he delivers. The final fight, which has Godzilla and Kong tossing each other around a rapidly crumbling Hong Kong skyline, is ferociously entertaining. (If you’re comfortable going to a movie theater, and won’t be contributing to a fourth wave of COVID-19, see this on as big a screen as possible.)

“Godzilla vs. Kong” doesn’t fully satisfy — no big-budget blockbuster can any more, not when studios are more interested in setting up the next movie than allowing the audience to enjoy the one in front of them. But as a popcorn movie, with nothing more on its mind than providing the battle royale audiences want, it’s good enough.

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‘Godzilla vs. Kong’

★★★

Opens Wednesday, March 31, in theaters where open, and streaming on HBO Max. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of creature violence/destruction and brief language. Running time: 113 minutes.