Ranking the Monsterverse movies

[sonotadream]

I decided to watch a bunch of big monsters movies, so here they are ranked from worst to best:

5. Godzilla (2014) dir. by Gareth Edwards

Not enough Godzilla and none of the human actors were that compelling.

4. Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) dir. by Adam Wingard

Starts by making Godzilla look like the bad guy, which is unfair. On the other hand, it makes the big private corporation the bad guys.

The theme of child endangerment continues and it’s made worse; the Skull Island natives are killed off-screen; and Alexander Skarsgard is also there.

 

3. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) dir. by Adam Wingward

Godzilla and Kong spend most of the movie apart, but Mothra is back, as are the Island natives, and Kong finds his family, so that’s neat. Skarsgard got replaced by Dan Stevens, who seems to be having a lot of fun.

2. Kong: Skull Island (2017) dir. by Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Nice MCU reunion happening. Samuel L Jackson has a full Captain Ahab arc going on. Lots of full shots of Kong. The island natives being pacifists that worship Kong because he’s their protector it’s not the worst choice. Giving them zero lines of dialogue is.

John C Reilly has an entire enemies-to-best-friends arc entirely off-screen.

Overall, it was fine.

  

1. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) dir. by Michael Dougherty

The best one. Lots of monsters being awesome. It firmly establishes the secretive organization managing the Titans as the good guys, which is interesting. World building happens mostly in the credits sequence.