Godzilla vs Kong 2021

This time, we’re taking a bite sized look at the Monster Verse’s latest offering in Godzilla vs Kong and along the way we ask what was the point of Mecha Godzilla, why is Hollow Earth now so important to the plot and where does the Monster Verse go from here? Let’s dive in….

Cast & Crew

• Directed by Adam Wingard: He had previously horror films such as You’re Next, Blair Witch and the Netflix adaptation of Death Note. He was announced as the director of this film in 2017 prior to the release of Godzila: King of the Monsters. While the director of that film, Michael Dougherty, did not direct this film, he did help to develop the story and even receives a credit for his work.

• Starring Alexander Skarsgard as Dr. Nathan Lind: The eldest son of legendary actor Stellan Skarsgard, Alexander has managed to find himself in compelling yet entertaining films for the past decade beginning with Battleship and The Legend of Tarzan as well as shows like True Blood and The Stand

o Rebecca Hall as Dr. Ilene Andrews: She rose to prominence following appearances in films like The Prestige, The Town and Iron Man 3 and really helps to round out the cast

o Brian Tyree Henry as Bernie Hayes: Henry is approaching superstar status as he has appeared in films like Child’s Play, Widows, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Joker. He is set to star in the MCU’s latest ensemble film The Eternals as he’s slated to portray the first gay superhero in that film series

• Also Starring:

o Shun Oguri as Ren Serizawa

o Eiza Gonzalez as Maia Simmons

o Julian Dennison as Josh Valentine

o Lance Reddick as Guillerman (Most of his scenes ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor)

o Demian Bichir as Walter Simmons

• Reprising their roles from King of the Monsters

o Kyle Chandler as Dr. Mark Russell

o Millie Bobby Brown as Madison Russell

o Zhang Ziyi was also set to reprise her role but her role was cut out of the film during editing

The Creation of the Monster Verse

It seems that creating film universes is the newest trend and while it’s not advised to come at the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Monster Verse has done a good job of holding their own in terms of the critical reception and box office returns. The Monster Verse wasn’t originally envisioned to become the franchise it eventually became, the reboot of Godzilla directed by Gareth Edwards in 2014 was released to major box office numbers as well as some of the most positive reception for a film that year.

During that same year, Legendary Pictures had announced they had acquired the rights to the Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah characters as well as the film rights to King Kong. Following the success of Godzilla and the acquisitions of its adversaries, it seemed inevitable that we would eventually see the two Titans clash on screen. Kong did receive a sort of reboot for that franchise in 2017 as Kong: Skull Island was released to similar fanfare that accompanied Godzilla.

Godzilla vs Kong was originally announced in October 2015 for a 2020 release which gave Legendary Pictures plenty of time to build their universe with the only other release being Godzilla: King of the Monsters during that time. Legendary also released Pacific Rim: Uprising but this film is not considered to be part of the Monster Vers...