I might have done a little foreshadowing last week about this coming. Nonetheless, here it is. To honor the release of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, I present to you, my rankings of the five MonsterVerse movies that have been released so far. There may be more of these that come out in the future, but we have just these for now to enjoy and pick apart. Before I begin, most of these movies have been out for a while, but there are still a few spoilers spread throughout the list, so if that scares you away, then I would go here and check out some other lists and come back here later. Ok, no need to be scared, let’s move forward with my rankings and find out who takes the top spot.
5. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) – Up first (or last in this case) is 2019’s King of the Monsters. As a direct sequel to 2014’s Godzilla origin story, this had the makings of being huge (pun intended). Since Godzilla’s backstory had already been told, we could jump right into the action. However, somehow the story was all over the place and messy in some areas. Visually it looked stunning and the cast was amazing. Vera Farmiga, Bradley Whitford, Charles Dance, and Thomas Middleditch all make a one-time appearance in the franchise as well as Ken Watanabe, David Strathairn, and Sally Hawkins reprising their roles from the 2014 film. Kyle Chandler and Millie Bobby Brown also star in both this one and the next installment (Godzilla Vs. Kong). You would think with all that star power and the fact that we get to see King Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan, and many other titans on the big screen that this would be a success, but it wasn’t… at least not to me. Maybe it was them trying to squeeze too much in, or not enough character development, or a combination of both. But all of this along with the messy script puts this in last for me.
4. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) – I struggle to put this so low and that may be based on I just watched it (and reviewed it here) so it’s fresh in my mind. However, if I go back and look at the other films, I think this is a good spot for it. I liked how Rebecca Hall, Kaylee Hottle, and Brian Tyree Henry were able to reprise their roles from the previous film, but this franchise has a bad habit of not bringing back main characters for some reason. No one has starred in more than two films so far, maybe they will change that if Adam Wingard comes back to direct a third film. Again, this was visually stunning to watch on the big screen and I was entertained for two hours, but I just felt like the story lacked somewhere. It also bothered me how too many things just happened to fall right in line like Jia making the journey to Hollow Earth and it just so happens that she is the chosen one. Plus, they had a giant metal glove thing made for Kong and it just happened to be 100% ready to use and easy to get to. But I digress… This wasn’t terrible and is about on par with Vs., but the standalone “origin” stories are much better.
3. Godzilla Vs. Kong (2021) – OK, next on this list is the first movie where the two giants meet. Honestly, these two could almost be flip-flopped depending on my mood. I will start with the cast. This is a mix of the main stars from the first two movies on my list (Brown, Hall, Henry, Chandler, and Hottle) along with one-time appearances from Alexander Skarsgård, Lance Reddick, Julian Dennison, and a few others. Again, I feel like this could have been a bigger story, but they got lost in some of the backstory (which we should have already had). I will say now that “New Empire” is out, the Hollow Earth storyline is a lot better now. I felt like they didn’t get too deep into it this time around. Overall, it is fun and exciting to see them both on the screen at the same time, but honestly, the three big fights they had just wasn’t enough.
2. Kong: Skull Island (2017) – I went back and forth on which movie to put in the number two spot. Both of the “origin” stories are the best of the bunch in my opinion, but I will explain why I went the way I did. So, Skull Island takes place first chronologically, sometime after the Vietnam War., but second release date-wise. This one has arguably, the best cast, just take a look at this list of heavy hitters: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly (who steals the film by the way), and John Goodman. Along with a whole host of other greats, they are the ones that really make this movie great. It’s a fun story with a group of scientists and soldiers both flying to Skull Island to try and figure out what is there. As they start to die off one by one from both Kong and the other creatures out there, we learn that Kong isn’t really bad, he’s just defending his territory. Lots of action, CGI, and a few heart-warming scenes sprinkled in for good measure makes this a solid number two in my list.
1. Godzilla (2014) – Well, you obviously know what my number one is at this point. Gareth Edwards brings the Titan back to the big screen in a big way. Better graphics, a better story, and a great way to kick off the MonsterVerse film franchise. This one also had a great cast (setting the bar high I guess) led by Bryan Cranston who did an absolutely amazing job with this character. Joining him were Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen who also got to share the screen as Scalet Witch and Quicksilver in the MCU. They were joined by Strathairn, Watanabe, and Hawkins in their first roles here (as I mentioned above). I’m not sure I can pinpoint the exact reason I put this at number one, but I still remember getting chills the first time I watched this in theaters. It was a great experience, and the story is so well told and it builds up the anticipation in a really good way that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I loved how “Skull Island” had quite a bit of humor in it (really most of these movies do), but this one went the darker route, and it works so well. So, thanks to Cranston’s amazing job and the beautiful way this film was made, it landed the top spot in my rankings.
So, there you have it for my rankings for the MonsterVerse movies. Have you seen them all yet? If so, how would you rank them? What do you think of my rankings? I will see you back here next week for another review, now go out and enjoy some nice weather.
Also, if you haven’t done so, check out my review of The New Empire here or some of my other lists here.
