Godzilla vs. Kong is bringing back the MonsterVerse in full force, as the two juggernauts will literally be HBO Max’s biggest headliners so far. Although the movie’s trailer was a resounding success, the full-length Godzilla vs. Kong is proving to be a harder pill to swallow, according to critics.

Out of the previous iterations in the kaiju MonsterVerse, 2014’s Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island certainly fared much better in both financial and critical performance, with Godzilla: King of the Monsters falling off and potentially costing Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures a fair amount. Running on a budget nearing $200 million, Godzilla vs. Kong already opened internationally as the biggest release since the pandemic, with China contributing handsomely in its $121.8 million haul worldwide.

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However, all that doesn’t mean Godzilla vs. Kong is any good, especially according to the first wave of American reviews, with Collider’s Matt Goldberg calling the film an “empty spectacle and mindless destruction” because of how it fails to integrate the human stories going on in between massive CGI monster fights. Meanwhile, ScreenCrush’s MattSinger calls the film “Monster vs. Script” on account of Godzilla vs. Kong dedicating too much time to its bland human characters, rather than just go all out on the absolute monster bash that’s happening.

The Wrap’s Alonso Duralde notes that the movie focuses a lot more on Kong rather than his giant lizard opponent, warning Godzilla fans that there’s no hint of the latter’s theme song or legendary roars. On a more positive note, all critics pretty much praise the Godzilla vs. Kong action and epic clashes between the two titans, for the most part considering them an improvement when compared to the past three movies, as it appears to be easier to keep track of everything that’s going on.

Overall, it seems that Godzilla vs. Kong delivers and exceeds expectations for the battles between the two protagonists, as the grand spectacle of watching monsters beat each other up is backed by Tom Holkenborg’s fantastic score, just like in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Despite it being clear that nobody is going to see Godzilla vs. Kong under the assumption that the human plot that ties the film together is anything to write home about, this one might drag down the overall enjoyment of the kaiju deathmatch just a tad more than usual.

With the hype of many Godzilla vs. Kong meme trailers and the promise of seeing Mechagodzilla in the film, no one who planned to see the movie should shy away from doing so. As Roger Ebert’s Matt Zoller put it, if it's not the best, it’s surely one of the most fun films of this year.

Godzilla vs. Kong will be available in theaters and on HBO Max starting March 31.

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Source: Collider, Screen Crush, The Wrap, Roger Ebert