Favorite Monsterverse Film

[shadowgigan]

Went with KOTM. The reason is simple: the first proper GvKG fight since 2001. I don't really care about anything else. That pretty much delivered what I want out of the MV.

[Voyager]

G14, but that’s mostly because of my opinions of the other films. KOTM is a mess, GvK has awesome action, but nothing else, and K:SI is a just okay movie.

[king_ghidorah]

Honestly, it's a real tossup between Godzilla (2014), Kong Skull Island, and Godzilla vs. Kong. I like all three for different reasons.

Godzilla (2014) has a very distinct style that sets it apart from most entries in the genre, both American and Japanese. I appreciate it's source of scale and tone, and I absolutely love the MUTOs. It has it's faults, but it works excellently as a disaster film. Unlike it's sequels (and many other modern films) I appreciate how it feels like a very modern big-budget film that isn't so reliant on CGI/fake sets. You can tell a lot of effort went into pretty much all aspects of it.

Kong Skull Island is another fantastic film. I love the adventure vibe, and I think the Kong vs. The Helicopters is another highlight of the genre. So much great imagery. Likewise, some of the characters like Sam Jacksons's and John C Reily' s characters are fun as well. It's simple and straight forward, and has some good monsters and sequences. Like the Muto's, the Skull Crawlers were excellent designs.

Godzilla vs. Kong was just fun. I thought all the monster action was some of the best we've seen in years. The only thing that comes close to it, is Shin Ultraman, but I think the film set massive expectations on what we should see in subsequent films. I liked the core of the film with Kong and Jia. I liked that Godzilla got to be scary again. I think the spectacle of Godzilla, Kong, and Mechagodzilla, appearing in the same frame and fighting against each other is an accomplishment within itself. I think that, out of all the MV films, it's the closest that emulates the Showa Era of the Godzilla films, and is the most "accurate" to the capturing some of the franchise's feelings. Mind you, it still has a ton of issues, but I love it.

At this point, I don't hate KOTM, but I take the most issues with it, and when compared to other Kaiju movies it ranks pretty lowly for me. If we ignore political messages/phislophy, I was just never blown away by its monster action or depictions of classic creatures. Godzilla vs. Kong rectified a lot of those issues. Still, I can sort of appreciate it, for once again being visually distinct from the other films surrounding it.

In conclusion I think all three of these films are worthy entries in the genre. I think both Godzilla (2014) and Kong Skull Island, are very distinctly American films. I respect both of them a lot for that. KOTM and Godzilla vs. Kong are trying to emulate a lot of the Japanese films, and do so on varying levels. It's impossible for me to think one better than the other.

I more or less agree with all of this except I really don’t have an issue with GKOTM’s nuke themes. But the film doesn’t deliver on the monster stuff well.

G 2014 and GvK are top tier. They’re both in my top five G films of all time