Action scenes in Godzilla vs. Kong come as big and as bold as the two title characters and are certainly the movie's main selling point. Though they'd fought on the big screen before, the two iconic monsters going head to head was a hype-able moment in pop culture that the overall experience does its darndest to live up to.
Some of the action scenes in Godzilla vs. Kong, however, shine a little brighter than others. So, for those looking to skip past the plot and just think about the explosive stuff, we've ranked the 10 best action scenes from the movie. From wanton destruction to a tag team beatdown against one of Godzilla's greatest foes, these scenes are all but guaranteed to entertain.
Godzilla attacks the Apex facility
The movie's first real action scene starts the story off with a bang, showing Godzilla destroying a facility owned by the shadowy Apex Cybernetics in Pensacola, Florida. It's not much of a fight between the King of the Monsters and whatever resistance that humanity can muster on such short notice, Godzilla's appearance is a total surprise and seemingly unprovoked at that point. Nevertheless, the destruction that the Titan rains down on the industrial complex is entertainingly explosive and reminiscent of the earliest Godzilla movies.
Mechagodzilla Awakens
As some of the main characters investigate another Apex facility in Hong Kong, they stumble into a testing area with some ominous signs of carnage lying around. The mystery is solved moments later as Mechagodzilla emerges from the floor, unfurls itself, powers up, and demonstrates its strength against a Skullcrawler that's released to test it. It's a short fight, with Mechagodzilla quickly overpowering the Skullcrawler, holding its arms out and cutting it clean in half lengthways with its devastatingly powerful energy beam.
Entering the Hollow Earth
When the main team of characters with Kong enters the Hollow Earth, it's at an opening made in Antarctica. The entrance to the hidden world is impressive enough in terms of scale but the fall down into it amps up the visual wow factor again with a 2001-inspired light show trip when the gravity reverses.
Once inside the Hollow Earth, the ships that the team are in need to power up again to avoid crashing into the ground and Kong needs to try to grab onto the side of a mountain as they all fall through the sky of a totally new world.
The Warbats Attack
Once inside the Hollow Earth, the human team gets very little time to marvel at its beauty before one of the ships is destroyed by an attacking Warbat, a flying, snake-like, monster. Before the heroes are killed too, Kong catches one of the Warbats and bashes its head into a rock. He then swings its corpse as a weapon, knocking another Warbat out midair in one of the franchise's coolest takedowns. The remaining HEAV ship then assists Kong with some missiles as he takes on the final Warbat hand-to-hand, beating it down and drinking its brains from its severed head in one of the MonsterVerse's more gruesome kills.
Escaping Hollow Earth
After a lot of deaths already, the human team inside the Hollow Earth has to make a daring escape after Godzilla drills straight down into an ancient throne room seemingly crafted by Kong's ancestors. Villain Maia Simmons foolishly orders her HEAV to shoot at Kong to get him to move out of the way, causing the Titan to just pick up the ship and crush it. The heroes make it past some Hellhawk monsters to reach their HEAV and take their chances flying down the newly-made entrance, following Kong as he heads to fight Godzilla in Hong Kong.
Godzilla Vs Kong: Round 3
Godzilla and Kong fight several times throughout the movie and their final bout is hugely entertaining but definitely the least interesting. Whilst each gets some good licks in during their other fights, this time sees Godzilla dominating Kong on land after effectively winning beforehand when they fought in the ocean. Despite Kong getting the drop on Godzilla, it's a vicious fight that doesn't last very long, with Godzilla giving up on his atomic breath to use their claws to get primal and claw at Kong's chest as they're on the ground. With a seemingly dislocated shoulder, Kong is almost entirely on the back foot, trying to crawl to safety but finding none. After clearly winning, Godzilla stands on Kong's chest with a triumphant roar. But Kong, admirably, refuses to back down and roars right back in defiance. Godzilla ultimately walks away, leaving Kong unable to get up, clearly showing that Godzilla is still the King of the Monsters.
Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla
Though victorious against Kong, Godzilla soon finds themselves challenged again and, this time, the fight is much more difficult. In fact, Mechagodzilla quickly shows itself to be a superior power.
Unleashing a barrage of rockets and smashing Godzilla through every skyscraper it can, Mechagodzilla is unstoppable during the fight and prompts the heroes to hatch a plan to reanimate Kong to help take it down.
Godzilla Vs. Kong: Round 1
Godzilla and Kong's first fight happens in the middle of the ocean after the King of the Monsters tracks down Kong while they're being transported from Skull Island to Antarctica. With Kong chained to the boat that's carrying him, it's a tense fight at the beginning, with Godzilla simply capsizing the boat with the heroes inside too. After being freed, Kong leaps across the ships, using one as a stepping stone, to reach an aircraft carrier that creates a stage for the Titans' first real bout. Kong knocks Godzilla off the aircraft carrier quite quickly but this makes Godzilla destroy the carrier with their atomic breath, prompting Kong to make a Die Hard-inspired leap into the water. There, Kong is quickly wrapped up by Godzilla and dragged to the depths to try and drown him. If it weren't for the help of some depth charges from the humans up top, this would have been it for Kong.
Godzilla & Kong Vs. Mechagodzilla
When it looks as if Mechagodzilla is going take Godzilla out for good by using his signature move in the MonsterVerse against him, A newly revived Kong jumps in to save the day. It's a hard fight, which results in Godzilla charging up the axe that Kong brought back from the Hollow Earth in order to beat Mechagodzilla. After knocking it to the ground and making a cut in its armor, Kong is able to rip Mechagodzilla's head off and hold it aloft as his trophy like a Yautja hunter from the Predator franchise.
Godzilla Vs. Kong: Round 2
Round 2 between Godzilla and Kong takes the top spot on this list for variety and the abundance of awesome moments. It takes place in Hong Kong, as does the whole finale of the movie, but the relatively intact state of the cityscape at this point shows off the neon color scheme at the heart of the movie and shows both Titans at their fighting best. With Kong being mindful of Godzilla's atomic breath, the underdog ape finishes the fight with a daring run to grab his axe, using a piece of a tower to deflect Godzilla's breath. After Kong gets a hold of the axe, Godzilla's breath can only charge it up to be more powerful and Kong brings it down with full force, knocking down the king and claiming victory in the second round for Kong.