Well, I finally watched it. I really wanted to see it on the big screen, but by the time I was fully vaccinated and past the two-week window, the film was mostly gone. And
then AMC revoked its mask requirement.
But now I finally buckled down and watched it at home. And wow, this was a weird film. Certainly not quite what I expected.
Obviously, this is foremost a monster film so science goes right out the window anyways and I was fine with that in the previous films. But I hadn't expect it to go full Jules Verne on us. I know the whole idea of Hollow Earth was introduced in the last film, but I preferred it as an unseen mechanism for Godzilla's fast traveling around the world. Not that what we got was bad or anything and I actually enjoyed the weirdness of the gravity (even if it made no scientific sense). It just felt like such a weird detour from the main action. I get why happened in relation to Kong's story, but those sequences felt like they were part of entirely different film.
As much fun as the fights between Godzilla and Kong were, and later with Mechagodzilla thrown in, the highlight of the film for me was everything with Jia. I particularly loved how the scenes that opened from her perspective were muted in order to replicate her deafness. Those moments with her communication Kong were the only parts with any kind of heart or nuance. Yeah, I know, it's a monster movie and I shouldn't be expecting more of that, but after awhile, the fights got a bit boring and repetitive. Especially since I couldn't watch it on the big screen.
In fact, the only thing I really got out of the fights were my commiserations for the Navy fleet and the Hong Kong buildings. Having visited Hong Kong four times during my time in the Navy, I have my favorite buildings, so it was hard to watch them get destroyed during all of the fighting. Almost as bad as watching the aircraft carrier and cruisers getting torn apart like they were nothing.
Even though I adore Millie Bobby Brown and I really enjoyed her side adventure antics with Brian Tyree Henry, her whole plotline seemed pretty superfluous, as oppose to her role in the previous film. I was happy that she returned but it's a shame that she didn't really get much to do this time around. Likewise, it's a shame Zhang Ziyi also didn't return as well as Joe Morton's Houston Brooks, whose casting in that role seemed like an obvious set-up for this film and then...nothing.
Overall, an enjoyable film that I might have had a more visceral attachment to if I had gotten to see it on the big screen. I liked it about as much as the 2014 film but not nearly as much as I loved
Skull Island and
King of the Monsters.