Following several delays, no thanks to the pandemic, Godzilla vs Kong has finally hit cinemas hard, with the movie raking in lots of moolah at the local box office.

The latest instalment in Legendary’s MonsterVerse has the two titular monsters of its previous films finally come head-to-head with one another.

This is not the first time the pair have fought, with Toho’s King Kong vs Godzilla being released all the way back in 1962.

Thankfully, this movie has a lack of men in animal costumes smacking each other around, and features gorgeous CGI for the city-destroying battles.

So, how did these two titans come to blows? The film is set not long after the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

After being heralded as humanity’s saviour, Godzilla appears to go rogue when he destroys human facilities seemingly unprovoked.

With few options, humanity turns to Kong, the giant ape who has grown to an even greater size since his last movie, to fight Godzilla.

As previously mentioned, the CGI for this movie is nothing short of fantastic, with the character models for both Godzilla and Kong being as close to realistic as possible.

From the individual strands of fur on Kong’s body to the sharp jagged edges of Godzilla’s scales, one can tell that the animators of the movie put in substantial effort.

Even though neither Godzilla nor Kong have a word to say, their mere facial expressions and wordless mannerisms surprisingly tell the audience all that they need to know.

And that’s not even mentioning the gorgeous and creative landscapes of places visited in the film, with lush green forests in a subterranean world being akin to the real thing.

Given that it’s a film about two big monsters fighting, one can also expect a city or two getting smashed to smithereens, and indeed, it’s quite the sight to see it all happen.

But while the audience looks forward to every moment either one of the two titular characters is on-screen, part of the plot follows around human characters.

In all honesty, these human characters are also often the less interesting parts of these monster films, with plots that generally don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

The first Godzilla film was the biggest offender in this regard, with the titanic lizard barely having any screentime when compared to the pesky humans.

Thankfully, Godzilla vs Kong cuts down the human nonsense by quite a bit, and the film does not cut away too often from the gargantuan beasts.

Really, with these types of films, the only thing that you need to keep the audience happy is, “Monster go bang boom smash” rather than some moustache-twirling villain delivering exposition.

Godzilla vs Kong has two subplots revolving around human characters, one following Madison Russell, played by Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown, who was the little girl in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Now a teenager, she ends up following a conspiracy theorist who figures that Godzilla has turned hostile towards humanity for a reason.

The subplot is not particularly interesting and only serves to explain some events in the film rather than advance it along.

It also begs the question about how a top-secret facility would have such terrible security systems that lunatics and teenagers are able to infiltrate it so easily.

The other subplot is a little more fascinating, thanks to the fact that the dynamic between a little girl named Jia and Kong is a rather sweet one.

Who knew that the giant ape had a soft spot for children? Really, Kong seems to be more content relaxing in the jungle than engaging in a life-or-death struggle with a nuclear reptile.

In any case, the film thankfully does not linger around the humans for too long and whenever Kong and Godzilla meet, it’s a scene to behold.

Unlike the previous Godzilla films, the fights in this film are set in daylight, with the audience being able to see the nitty-gritty of the brawl.

Every blow that Kong lands on Godzilla feels heavy and impactful, and the audience holds their breath every time Godzilla starts glowing blue.

While keeping the spoilers to a minimum, it should also be mentioned there’s more than just Godzilla and Kong in the realm of monsters.

And needless to say, the monster fights in this film in particular are exciting, perfectly shot and are just what the audience has been looking for in a MonsterVerse movie.

These action-packed scenes are the meat compared to the dry bone of human-related scenes.

And as such, it’s great news that this film is a very meaty one indeed.