Are you Team Godzilla or Team Kong? Either way you roll, the Kaiju adversaries’ new movie is a winner for kaiju fans.

Godzilla vs Kong is the fourth film in Legendary’s Monsterverse that began with Godzilla (2014). It is directed by Adam Wingard (You’re Next) and follows the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), with the movie joining in the story of Kong’s from Kong: Skull Island (2017). The film follows both Kaijus in parallel stories, with them occasionally converging to clash with each other.      

Kong is first seen living in a Monarch research facility on Skull Island. It is being operated by Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), a scientist who has been studying Kong for decades. Kong has formed a bond with a young girl named Jia, (Kaylee Hottle) a native to Skull Island. The facility is visited by a scientist named Nathan Kind (Alexander Skarsgård), who was sent by Apex Cybernetics company. Their goal is to discover an energy source buried inside of the Hollow Earth where they believe Titans like Kong were born from, and they plan to use Kong’s natural instinct to find the location of it.      

Godzilla first appears attacking an Apex Cybernetics facility in Florida for an apparently unknown reason. Conspiracy theorist Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry) and Madison Russell (Millie Bobbie Brown) are who the audience are to get invested with in this side of the story, with Brown reprising her role from the previous film. Madison believes there is something causing Godzilla to act this way and Bernie is an employee at Apex who uncovered something suspicious going on within the company.      

The Kaiju vs Kaiju action is well-choreographed and animated, with the weight of each punch, bite, kick and tail slap visceral enough to be felt by the audience. There are plenty of visually interesting shots and scenes showcasing the new environments the beasts lay waste to, and the animators demonstrate the monsters’ scale exceptionally. The visual effects show the personalities of both Kaiju through the facial expressions, showcasing the great CGI animation of the film.  

Unfortunately, this film does have the same human problem as the previous two Godzilla films, with the characters not getting to have emotional moments or attempts at depth or development. Both Kaiju have their own team of humans surrounding them, which greatly inflates the cast size and reduces everyone’s screen time.

The villain of the film, Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir) faces a similar issue, as his role doesn’t get much screen time allowing the director to flesh him out as much as a villain should be. However, this time around the human aspect feels much less annoying or wasted than in previous installments. There are a few entertaining and interesting moments here and there for the human characters.      

But at heart, this is a Kaiju film, and that aspect is pulled off very well. Entertaining and well-made action paired with impressive visuals make for an enjoyable Kaiju vs Kaiju romp. There’s also a good surprise appearance for classic and new Godzilla fans alike.

Godzilla vs Kong is in theaters and on HBO Max now.