Movie Review
Godzilla vs Kong is a movie I would have loved to have seen on the big screen. Unfortunately, the pandemic has had our theatres closed since Christmas 2020. Needless to say, even though it was a blast to watch at home this movie is as big as the titans it’s about.
It took three movies to get to this battle between the god and the king of titans and neither is going to bow to the other. In prepping for this review, I rewatched Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, and Godzilla: King of Monsters and I must say… this is a fun universe to live in.
How do you root for one over the other? I do not know if you easily can. Godzilla does not put up with much and whooped multiple monsters over two movies with Kong only facing the skull crushers. Kong connects better with humanity while Godzilla tends to avoid it. The duo faces off more than once and each time they meet it is an incredible battle. Big, violent, and over-the-top action.
The human element of the film just helps fill the gap between the battles, and while they have a great cast, you never really connect with them in this movie. They are just present.
When the credits rolled my 13-year-old, who joined me on this journey, said this might be her new favourite movie. She said it is a tossup between Batman v Superman and Godzilla vs. Kong. She might have a thing for the versus movies too.
Video
Godzilla vs Kong was shot in 6.5K so this is a downgraded copy on 4K UHD Blu-ray. Being shot in such high resolution pays off with this movie looking fabulous.
The 2.39:1 presentation is nothing shy of stunning. The colour palette was absolutely astonishing, especially during the final battle between Godzilla and Kong which is littered with rich colours from the neon surroundings.
The finer details, such as Kong’s hair and Godzilla’s leathery texture detail, are pretty much perfect. The blacks are just that.
If you are trying to convince a friend to switch to 4K physical media this is the disc you should reach for.
Audio
Turn this epic monster movie way up and let the smashing and crashing take full advance of the Dolby Atmos track. My subwoofers took a beating from the assault it caused by the low frequency effects. I was worried that the pictures hanging over one of them were going to come crashing down as they bounced off the wall.
The sounds come from everywhere and fill the entire sound stage. The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track also delivers.
This is another demo worthy track from Warner Bros.
Special Features
Most of the extra features live on the Blu-ray that is included in the 4K UHD Blu-ray package.
The only extra on the 4K disc (it is also on the Blu-ray) is an engaging audio commentary from director Adam Wingard.
The rest live on the Blu-ray, such as:
- The God
- Godzilla Attacks
- The Phenomenon of GŌJIRA, King of the Monsters
- The King
- Kong Leaves Home
- Kong Discovers Hollow Earth
- Behold Kong’s Temple
- The Evolution of Kong, Eighth Wonder of the World
- The Rise of Mecha-Godzilla
- The Battles
- Round One: The Battle at Sea
- Round Two: One Will Fall
- Titan Tag Team: The God and the King
With nearly 78-minutes of extras, not including the commentary, you can get your fill of behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and featurettes. There is some great information in here with interviews from previous directors, writers and cast from this monster series.
Conclusions and Final Thoughts
The focus of this movie is the battle between titans, and, thankfully, the 4K UHD Blu-ray not only enhances your movie watching experience, it is also demo worthy and a disc worth owning. It is an amazing video transfer and fully uses all your speakers perfectly. You may or may not care about the lack of extras on the 4K disc itself, but the star of this disc is its audio video.
Godzilla vs Kong is a pound-the-chest quality disc and a roaring good time of a movie.
