Godzilla vs. Kong brings the smackdown, but sidesteps some of the smaller details on the
road to two giant monsters duking it out. From missing Titans to character deaths, here
are our top questions.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters concluded with a provocative image: all of Earth's Titans,
bowing before Godzilla, officially crowning him monster royalty. The movie's end credit
sequence pushed things even further. As Godzilla kept them all in line, the Titans became forces
for good, creating new rainforests in desolate lands, healing decimated animal populations,
even stopping the effects of global warming.
This sequence seems like it's setting the stage for Godzilla vs. Kong's big showdown,
too. As news reports reveal, seismic disturbances on Skull Island are attracting the Titans'
attention. But then, nothing. Not only do we never learn what happened when the Titans
reached Skull Island, but those characters are missing from Godzilla vs. Kong entirely.
A throwaway line explains that the Titans haven't been seen for three years, but that
doesn't explain why they disappeared. Godzilla vs. Kong's opening credits lists a number
of Titans that have been defeated by Godzilla but that doesn't mean they're dead.
We already know that Godzilla needs to keep the other Titans in line every now and then.
Narratively, it's probably best that Godzilla vs. Kong focuses on the two biggest draws,
but it's still odd that the rest of the Titans are completely missing during the kaiju grudge
match of the century.
At the end of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, eco-terrorist Alan Jonah was down but not
out. Sure, his attempts to save the Earth by unleashing the Titans and causing an extinction-level
event to wipe out all humans failed, but he seemed to have other tricks up his sleeve.
As King of the Monsters' post-credits sequence revealed, Jonah bought one of Monster Zero's
severed heads. By all indications, he planned to use it for nefarious purposes.
What those purposes are remains to be seen. While Ghidorah's corpse is a key plot point
in Godzilla vs. Kong, it's not clear if this is the same body part that Jonah secured in
the previous movie. Even if it is, that raises more questions than answers. Mechagodzilla
actually relies on two Monster Zero skeletons — one skull is used in the pilot's interface,
while another is in the robotic kaiju itself — so even if this skull was originally Jonah's,
Apex still had to find another one.
And, if that is the case, how did Apex get the skull from Jonah? If it's not, then where
is Jonah and his rogue kaiju head? Either way, what was he originally planning?
"Yes. And I might've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for these blasted kids and their
dog."
So it’s that. Just replace “dog” with Godzilla. See how it all leads back to Scooby-Doo?
Everything does...
Tragic pasts and dead families drive a lot of the action in Godzilla vs. Kong. Madison
lost both her brother and her mother in Titan attacks. Nathan Lind is haunted by the death
of his brother, who perished trying to enter Hollow Earth. Little Jia's entire family died
when storms ravaged Skull Island, wiping out the Iwi . Even Kong himself is an orphan:
Kong: Skull Island revealed that the Skullcrawlers killed his parents, which is one big reason
why he relates so much to Jia.
Conspiracy theorist and undercover Apex employee Bernie Hayes has some tragedy in his past,
too. As he explains to Madison and her friend Josh, he wasn't always alone. At one point,
he had a loving wife, who gave him a flask of whiskey that he keeps in a gun holster.
When Josh needs to disrupt the satellite signal that gives Mechagodzilla its power, that flask
comes in handy, but without more information it feels a little bit like a deus ex machina.
Not only do we never learn why Bernie's wife gave him such an odd gift, but we never know
exactly what happened to her. Presumably, her death has something to do with Bernie's
transformation from family man to conspiracy-loving nutcase, but in the absence of any real information,
we'll just have to use our imaginations.
The Iwi, Skull Island's indigenous people, play a big role in Kong: Skull Island, the
movie that introduced Kong to the MonsterVerse. The movie shows how the Iwi rescued and befriended
Hank Marlow, as well as the members of the Monarch expedition. They worshipped Kong like
a god and relied on him to protect them from the giant monsters that plague the island.
"The Iwis won't speak their name, but I call them Skullcrawlers. Why? Cause it sounds neat."
However, by the time that Godzilla vs. Kong rolls around, they're gone. As the movie explains,
a storm ravaged Skull Island and wiped out all of the Iwi, save for a little girl named
Jia. Unfortunately, that's all we get.
It's an explanation that's strikingly odd in its brevity. After all, storms have hit
Skull Island plenty of times before. The entire island is perpetually surrounded by one, which
is why it remained secluded for so long.
Given Godzilla vs. Kong's fascination with weird pseudo-science, there's clearly more
going on here. Maybe the storm has something to do with the mysterious "seismic activity"
and increasing geological instability on the island, hinted at in Godzilla: King of the
Monsters' credit sequence. Maybe it's a side-effect of Hollow Earth, or the big increase in Titan
activity. Maybe the storms created by Ghidorah in King of the Monsters did the job. We'll
probably never know for sure, though, and that's a shame.
Mothra met her tragic end in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, when King Ghidorah vaporized
her with one of his gravity beams. Mothra's ashes seemed to give Godzilla the power-up
he needed to take Ghidorah down, but the end credits hinted that she may not be gone for
good: "Monarch finds massive egg: Could giant insect egg be a second Mothra...or something
else?" a headline on the United World News website proclaimed.
According to the news story, the egg was discovered inside "Mothra's territory," and was taken
to a Monarch research lab for further study. By the time that Godzilla vs. Kong rolls around,
it hasn't been forgotten, either. One episode of Bernie's podcast, Titan Truth, carries
the title "Mothra Pregnancy Theory," and has the following subhead: "So who's the baby
daddy?"
These are all good questions, but Godzilla vs. Kong doesn't provide the answers. In the
original Japanese Godzilla films, Mothra is a mystical being who often goes through a
cycle of death and rebirth. Similarly, King of the Monsters implied that there have been
other Mothras before. If the MonsterVerse continues, Mothra's return seems almost inevitable
— we just don't know how, quite yet.
Apex Cybernetics doesn't send Kong, Nathan, Dr. Ilene Andrews, and Jia to Hollow Earth
out of the goodness of its corporate heart. It wants something. Specifically, Apex CEO
Walter Simmons is after Hollow Earth's ultra-powerful energy source, which he hopes to use to make
Mechagodzilla the ultimate anti-Titan weapon.
He succeeds, too. Once the Hollow Earth expedition identifies the energy source, Simmons' daughter
Maya takes a sample, analyzes it, and sends her findings to dear old dad. She tries to
escape through the new, Godzilla-made tunnel to the surface with the sample, too, but Kong's
too quick for her. The giant ape grabs the HEAV that Maya is fleeing in and, with one
flex of his hand, crushes it into bits.
It doesn't matter. Apex receives Maya's transmission and, within minutes, super-charges Mechagodzilla.
But, hold on: That's not really how power typically works. Usually, you need an actual
substance in-hand to extract energy, or to create a chemical reaction, or something.
Power isn't really something that can be delivered via email.
"Not scientifically possible"
It's possible that Apex was able to quickly replicate the Hollow Earth energy source using
Maya's data and pump it into Mechagodzilla immediately, but the whole thing happens so
fast that it's extremely unclear.
As a sequel, Godzilla vs. Kong pulls double-duty. It's a follow-up to both Godzilla: King of
the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island. A few King of the Monsters characters resurface
in Godzilla vs. Kong and the film references a few more. Ren Serizawa , Apex's chief technical
officer and Mechagodzilla's pilot, is the son of Ishiro Serizawa , who was introduced
in Godzilla and heroically sacrificed himself to save Godzilla in King of the Monsters.
Unfortunately, Kong: Skull Island's main characters don't get the same treatment. While WWII vet
Hank Marlow has likely passed on, James Conrad would be in his late 80s, while war photographer
Mason Weaver should only be in her 70s.
Conrad actually appeared briefly in the King of Monsters prequel comic Godzilla: Aftershock,
which is set just a few months after the 2014 Godzilla movie, as an elder Monarch agent.
Weaver, however, hasn't been seen since the end of Skull Island. Given that Godzilla vs.
Kong is the first movie to continue Skull Island's storyline, you'd expect Kong's closest
human allies to at least cameo, if they're still alive and kicking.
Godzilla vs. Kong offers viewers a few reasons why the two monsters don't like each other.
First, they're both alpha Titans, meaning the Earth quite literally isn't big enough
for the both of them. Then there's the fact that Godzilla constantly endangers people
Kong cares about. The biggest and most compelling explanation, however, is that there's bad
blood between their two families. As documented in legends and ancient art, Godzilla and Kong's
ancestors were the Hatfields and McCoys of monsters, spending generations caught up in
a long and brutal war.
That sounds awesome, but Godzilla vs. Kong only offers hints as to how this conflict
unfolded. A stray line of dialogue here, a mysterious cave drawing there. Finally, when
Kong returns to his ancestral home in Hollow Earth, it seems like the movie is going to
deliver the goods, but what we do get, that awesome Godzilla-spike axe, is just another
tease.
It sure looks like the Kong family emerged triumphant in this epic struggle. After all,
you don't sit on a throne unless you've earned the title of king, but there's a good chance
we won't ever know exactly what happened.
For the most part, the human characters in Godzilla vs. Kong aren't nearly as interesting
as the monsters, but villain Walter Simmons does get one standout moment. Near the movie's
climax, when Simmons has Maddie, Josh, and Bernie dead to rights, he launches into a
good, old-fashioned supervillain monologue where he recounts a dream he had after Godzilla
first appeared.
Unfortunately, he never gets to finish, as he's killed by Mechagodzilla mid-monologue.
Bichir oozes slimy charisma, but Simmons' motivation in Godzilla vs. Kong feels just
a wee bit undercooked. Knowing what motivated Simmons would've made him a lot more interesting,
and it's too bad he didn't get another minute or so to fully explain what he had up his
soon-to-be-devoured sleeve.
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