Monsterverse Movies Ranked
5. Godzilla vs Kong (2021)
Five and a Half years. That's the time between the announcement and the release of this disasterpiece. The definition of a film that didn't live up to the hype. With 3 films worth of build-up, audiences would have expected a decent story at least. What should have been an epic battle between two cinematic icons instead fell flat on its face, being bogged down by subplots like the ridiculous hollow earth story. The big climax to this first part of the Monsterverse was instead the shortest of them all, with a runtime that clearly does not reflect an epic conclusion to a popular series. While the fight scenes are well executed, they are few and far between and the ending made me really sour on this film as a whole.
4. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
It still doesn't sit quite right with me that these two are teaming up. To an extent, I can understand it in terms of keeping both fanbases happy but this still feels wrong. Godzilla x Kong is a massive step up from its predecessor, with a greater focus on world-building and less focus on the annoying human characters that no one wants to see (even though they're still there and still annoying). There is plenty of Kaiju on Kaiju action, however, the film still feels incredibly cheesy and generic at points, with the small Kong and the reintroduction of Mothra being two very unnecessary additions that really took me away from the viewing experience. The CGI is questionable in some parts, which feels wrong with a nearly $150 million budget still looking amateurish in comparison to the Last Godzilla film that was released, Godzilla: Minus One, which operated on a budget of around $10 million and won an Oscar for its visual effects. Godzilla x Kong just feels mediocre, with not enough satisfying payoff to the fairly interesting universe that is being built.
3. Godzilla (2014)
Ok, I know this is controversial. Most would have put the first installment in the monsterverse at number 1 or 2. However, I simply cannot look past the fact that there are only 11 minutes of Godzilla in a 2-hour film CALLED GODZILLA. Like, make it make sense, please. The story is fairly well constructed, however, the fact that the movie focused mainly on two completely unknown monsters rather than the titular character was a major criticism of this film that was taken into account for future installments. There are some very redeeming scenes at the climax of the film, but like many other action films this century, the focus seems to be more on the human characters, which no one really asked for.
2. Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019)
Well, let's get the bad out of the way. The human characters are so incredibly dull it's actually painful to watch at points. Apart from that, this film is great. It's a true heisei-style kaiju film in the modern era, and I'm all for it. Bringing back the monster cast of "Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster" was one way to get fans invested, but the battles between these four classic monsters are really what makes this film a proper throwback. The execution was great when there was very little involvement from the human characters, but at times it worked, such as in Rodan's introduction scene.
1. Kong Skull Island (2017)
Well if I had made this a few months ago, this definitely would not have been number 1. However, my opinions have changed and I realise that Skull Island is actually just a fantastic movie, let alone the best monsterverse film. Not only are the human characters actually enjoyable to watch, but the film's 1970s setting also gives us a new militaristic perspective on the island, in contrast to the more romance-driven narrative that installments such as Peter Jackson in 2005 achieved. It's action-packed and has a level of social commentary that's a surprise for a monsterverse film, but it works as it drives the narrative forward.