Godzilla Vs Kong Repeats Batman V Superman's Third Act Blunder
This article contains spoilers for Godzilla vs Kong.
A lot of people are talking about the success of Godzilla vs Kong and what it means for the movie-going business. Aside from the financial success, the movie is also getting praise from critics and audiences, not so much for its storytelling, but for delivering on the promise of the title. When it comes to watching these two monsters battle each other, the movie is a lot of fun. The fight sequences are appropriately big and spectacular, and it is thrilling to see these two iconic characters face off. The movie has drawn a lot of comparisons to Batman v Superman which was another movie in which two hugely popular characters duke it out. However, when it comes to the third-act reveal, Godzilla vs Kong feels particularly familiar to Batman v Superman, and not in a good way.
While the plot in a movie like this is not really important, the first act of the movie spends a considerable amount of time setting up the reason these two monsters will eventually fight. It seems that these two titans shared an ancient rivalry with each of them looking to establish dominance. When Kong is moved from Skull Island, Godzilla takes this as a challenge to his title of King of the Monsters. Meanwhile, the humans of the story have a more practical use for Kong as a weapon against Godzilla who has grown more aggressive. The once protective monster is now attacking cities for apparently no reason. As the movie goes on, it is revealed that Godzilla is not randomly attacking cities, but rather attacking the secret sites of the evil Apex corporation who have been building their own monster that will help make humans the dominant species on the planet once again. And this is where Mechagodzilla enters the story, a robotic recreation of Godzilla that can stand up to the real thing.
This reveal was meant to be an exciting turning point in the movie, but instead, it weakens the final act severely as well as negates the promise of the movie. Leading up to the release of the movie, Godzilla vs Kong was billed as a high-stakes battle between these characters that would have a definitive winner and loser. In fact, the tagline for the movie was "One will fall" which hinted the movie might be bold enough to kill off one of these monsters. Not only did Mechagodzilla's role in the movie feel like a cop-out, but it also robbed the third act of any of its tension.
The movie manages to deliver a few great fights between Godzilla and Kong leading up to the finale and the monsters seem pretty evenly matched. But any predictions of who might win in the end immediately become pointless when Mechagodzilla is introduced as every audience member immediately knows how the rest of the movie will play out. Godzilla and Kong will fight some more and then realize that they have a common enemy, leading to them teaming up to take him down. It all feels very predictable and Batman v Superman is likely the reason for that.
Much like Godzilla vs Kong, fans were eagerly anticipating Batman v Superman because they wanted to see the fight between these two heroes. After a lot of messy build-up, the movie finally delivers a fight that is pretty entertaining. However, the brawl is cut short, partially because of the infamous Martha moment, and partially because the movie was cramming in a last-minute villain. Just as the heroes decide to be friends, Doomsday is introduced and the movie becomes a set-up for Justice League rather than a tense showdown between Batman v Superman.
While the team-up against a real villain could have been fun, both movies just drop the ball on the idea. Doomsday and Mechagodzilla might have their own place in the mythologies of these franchises, but in these movies, they are simply introduced as plot points rather than characters. The audience has no attachment to them and they don't even have any agency of their own besides wanting to kill the heroes. The fact that both of these villains are also shoddy CGI creations doesn't help the audience connect with that any better.
It is really a shame about Godzilla vs Kong followed Batman v Superman down this same path with its third act, particularly because they had the chance to do something different. They must have known fans would be expecting the inevitable team-up moment from the two monsters and potentially even suspecting a secret third villain. But that could have given them the opportunity to subvert expectations. Alas, with such a big franchise, it is clear the studio was too afraid to make one of these monsters less marketable so they needed to both be heroes and both be winners. As with Batman v Superman, the decision leaves the movie as something of wasted potential.
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