In this MonsterVerse Movies Ranked list, we take a look at all WB and Legendary’s Kaiju films. Which one holds up the best?
This weekend sees the release of the fifth film in WB/Legendary’s MonsterVerse saga, Godzilla x Kong: The New Era. These films have attempted to somewhat reinvent the traditional Kaiju film for Western audiences, with our mighty monster heroes being called Titans. While the franchise arguably stumbled out of the gate with Gareth Edwards’ coolly received Godzilla, the saga has steadily grown in popularity, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is looking like a big hit. But how do the films stack up against each other? Let’s take a look with our MonsterVerse Movies Ranked List!
Godzilla:
Audiences were pretty hyped for Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla reboot, with awesome early trailers that used Ligeti’s Requiem II from 2001: A Space Odyssey, promising the most intense Kaiju movie to date. It didn’t really work out that way, with many complaining about how dull the film was, with Godzilla himself off-screen for endless patches of time. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who’s since proved himself a solid leading man, made for a bland hero, and the fact that two of the best actors in the film, Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche, were killed off early on, didn’t endear it to anyone.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters:
Luckily, the sequel (which was actually the third film in the franchise), which replaced Edwards with director Michael Dougherty (Trick or Treat), was more entertaining, with it packed with more monster action. However, it proved to be a costly box office disappointment, earning initially poor reviews because Legendary was trying to set up a complicated shared universe no one seemed all that interested in – yet. The box office results were disasterous, and had they not already started shooting the next film in the franchise, the MonsterVerse might have ended right here. Still, the movie is a bit underrated, with Kyle Chandler cast against type as our family man hero.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire:
The newest addition to the MonsterVerse saga is stripped down as far as its human characters go. Millie Bobby Brown’s Madison Russell was initially supposed to be the franchise’s anchor, but she sits out this entry. Instead, Rebecca Hall’s Dr. Ilene Andrews and her adopted daughter, Kaylee Hottle Jia, seem to be the new anchors, with Brian Tyree Henry also carrying over from the last film for comic relief. One thing this movie does is double down on the monsters, especially Kong, with many extended sequences focusing only on the Titans themselves rather than the humans. Meanwhile, Dan Stevens brings some welcome energy to the film as a cool new character named Trapper, who’s basically a veterinarian for Kaiju.
Godzilla vs Kong:
One of the smartest things Legendary and WB did for this instalment was bring in genre director Adam Wingard to take over the franchise. Reinventing the saga from the perspective of an action director, he made Kong our underdog hero protagonist and doubled down on the carnage. Audiences loved it, and this fun flick was a bright spot for all during the early dark days of the pandemic.
Kong: Skull Island:
As good as Adam Wingard’s additions to the franchise are, I have a soft spot for the Vietnam War-set prequel, Kong: Skull Island. For one thing, it has the best cast, even if the two heroes, played by Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston, are dull. There’s Samuel L. Jackson, Shea Wigham, John Goodman, and best of all, John C. Reilly, who delivers an acclaimed performance as a long-lost soldier from WW2 still fighting the war twenty-nine years later. Of all the movies in the franchise, this is the one with the most heart and style (from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts) and the one I judge all MonsterVerse movies against.
Do you agree with my rankings? Let us know how your list of MonsterVerse movies ranked would look in the comments!