Who Reigns Supreme? Ranking the Godzilla and Kong Monsterverse Films

Last weekend, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire was released in theaters. I thought it would be fun to share my ranking of the five Godzilla/Kong Monsterverse films. I know that there are a lot more Godzilla and King Kong films than the five on this list but I am just talking about the modern-day universe that started with Godzilla in 2014. These are all very much junk food movies. The plot and characters are not great but in the end, I'm there to see Godzilla and Kong destroy cities and beat up other monsters. These movies are widely entertaining and are just good turn-off your brain type of movies. This list was also a bit difficult to make as all of these movies are pretty close together. With that being said, here are my thoughts and ranking of the five Monsterverse films.

5. Godzilla

While it is still entertaining, Godzilla is probably the weakest of the 5 films. The main issue keeping the film down is the lack of monster action. There is some monster action. We get to see Mothra and Godzilla duke it out a couple of times and there are some fun sequences with the human characters as things are being destroyed by Godzilla. However, the movie makes the odd choice of hiding the Godzilla action until the very end of the movie. Every time Godzilla gets ready to fight, the movie will either cut away and just show the aftermath of the destruction, close a door right before Godzilla begins to fight, or just show a portion of the fight on a TV. Doing this completely misses the point of a Godzilla as people are watching the movie to see Godzilla destroy stuff. Thankfully, we do finally get to see a big fight at the end of the movie which is the reason why this movie gets to 6/10. Overall, while the movie has some fun moments, it just doesn't have enough Godzilla action to be as fun as the rest of the movies on this list.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

4. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Godzilla: King of the Monsters was a sequel that surprisingly learned some of the lessons of the previous film. This film absolutely delivers on the monster action that the first film was lacking. The movie gives us Godzilla fighting multiple monsters throughout the film instead of just hiding them until the end of the film. The movie is also a lot of fun as we get to see more giant monsters than just Godzilla. We get 3-headed dragons, a giant bird monster and so many others. This movie also dives a bit more into the background of Godzilla and shows his role in the world as compared to the other monsters. The thing that keeps this film down for me is that it gets way too bogged down by the human family melodrama. The human story is just so ridiculous and plays like a soap opera. The movie puts way too much screen time and half-hearted emotional moments into characters that nobody cares about. In the end, while the gets a bit bogged down by the human storyline, it succeeds for the reason that I watch it which is to see Godzilla beat up a bunch of monsters while destroying so many cities.

Score: 6.5/10 Grade: B-

3. Godzilla Vs. Kong

Godzilla Vs. Kong is probably one of the biggest films in the franchise. This movie finally gives us not one but 3 great fights between Kong and Godzilla that these movies have been teasing for multiple years. I like that this movie gives Kong a bit of an arch as he becomes more of the hero in the story. There is also a pretty sweet bond between Kong and the little girl. The human characters are also not as horrible as in previous films nor do they take up as much of the story. The movie did a better job of knowing to use the human characters as POV characters instead of actually focusing a story on them that nobody would care about. The prime example of this is with the characters that are with Kong. The movie absolutely delivers on the massive fights between Godzilla and Kong. They are all huge and scale, take up a good amount of time, and include plenty of destruction. The movie knows that the audience is there to watch the giant monkey fight the super lizard and that is what it delivers. The only issue I had was that while the characters with Kong were fine, the whole subplot with the Millie Bobby Brown character did not need to be there. It was just full of nonsense about a podcast and conspiracy theories and should have just been eliminated from the movie. Overall, this movie is a lot of fun and almost cracks the code of knowing what people are coming to see.

Score: 6.8/10 Grade: B-

2. Kong: Skull Island

Kong: Skull Island is probably the most well-rounded of the Monsterverse films. It has just as much nonsense and action as the other films but I find the story and characters in this one to be a bit more coherent. I find this movie to be a little more self-aware and in tune with its ridiculousness than the others on the list. One thing that gives this movie a slight edge is that the characters are a lot more likable. The cast is pretty stacked with John Goodman, Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L Jackson, and John C Reilly. Sure there are a few too many characters and plot lines but it is just a lot of fun to see these actors on screen together. This movie also has some of the best monster action. We get to see Kong take down hundreds of helicopters, fight dinosaurs with a boat propeller, and see Tom Hiddleston chop flying monsters in half with a sword. I also found the movie to have a more tonally consistent plot. It doesn't shift from super ridiculous to super serious like in the other films. This movie is just always ridiculous. In the end, I find this movie to be one of the better films in the franchise. Not because of the quality of the film but because I get to see the giant monkey hit the dinosaur with the boat propeller.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B

1. Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

Godzilla X Kong finally cracked the on how to make the monsterverse work. It delivers on the monster fights audiences want while not taking itself too seriously. This movie gives so many awesome monster fights with the last 30 minutes being pure awesomeness with a Godzilla and Kong tag team fight. The human characters are a bit more bearable with a single streamlined plot about exploring hollow earth. There is a bit of an arc there but it doesn't bog down the movie or feel as unnecessary as the human plots of the previous films. This movie also finally figures out the tone of the franchise by giving the movie a more goofy, over-the-top fun tone while also being self-aware of how stupid it is. I also liked how this movie gives Kong his own plot line and essentially makes him the main character of the film. Of course, this movie is not great on a plot or character level and is incredibly stupid if you think too hard about it but the point of this movie is to turn off your brain and have fun and that is what it does. In the end, while this is an incredibly dumb movie, it delivers on all the monster fights I wanted and found the perfect tone for the franchise.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B