With so many questions surrounding Godzilla vs. Kong, such as whether or not Mecha-Godzilla will appear, which of the two beasts will ultimately win, and how aliens are involved (they were spotted in the trailer,) the fourth movie in Legendary’s MonsterVerse has become one of the most anticipated movies of 2021.
The unwavering anticipation for the movie is literally unlike any other hype that came with the previous movies in the series. But for fans who are struggling to stay sane while they patiently await the release on March 31, there are other movies to watch to tide people over, or to get them even more excited.
King Kong (2005)
Though it shouldn’t be confused with the most recent Kong: Skull Island or the MonsterVerse at all, as it completely stands apart, the 2005 movie directed by Peter Jackson is a totally different kind of beast.
King Kong is a proper remake of the very original 1933 movie, but it’s so much more too. The movie is a 3.5-hour epic, and though it sometimes comes off as a little self-indulgent, it feels like something of a Shakespearean tragedy, and it actually has an incredible dramatic performance from Jack Black too.
Cloverfield (2008)
Cloverfield is possibly the most modern original monster movie, but it was clearly influenced, almost exclusively, by Godzilla, which makes it ironic that the Cloverfield monster looks like the MUTOs from 2014’s Godzilla.
The influences came full circle when 2014’s Godzilla, and the other movies in the MonsterVerse, were clearly influenced by Cloverfield, as the film’s biggest trick was hiding the monster for long stretches of time, and it makes the big reveal at the end so satisfying.
Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (2019)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters isn’t exactly the best monster movie, and compared to its predecessor and Kong: Skull Island, critics thought it was massively inferior.
However, critics and general audiences don’t always agree, and audiences loved the film, as it pits Godzilla against a whole array of monsters, and the human characters were actually much more engaging than any of the other films in the MonsterVerse that came before. Plus, it’s important to see where Godzilla currently stands before watching the main event.
Enola Holmes (2020)
As the upcoming monster movie stars Millie Bobby Brown, just as she starred in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, it’s worth visiting something that shows off what a great actress she really is. As pretty much everyone in the world has seen Stranger Things, few have watched Enola Holmes, a movie about the little sister of Sherlock Holmes.
Brown is firing on all cylinders, and it has an all-star supporting cast too. And even though everyone’s crossing their fingers that she doesn’t have much screen time in the upcoming movie, as less time spent with humans means more time spent with Zilla and Kong, Enola Holmes shows how electric she can be on-screen if given the time.
Shin Godzilla (2016)
With the Godzilla movies in Legendary’s MonsterVerse being so focused on the action and pitting different monsters against each other, the films have admittedly lost some of what made the monsters so interesting in the first place. Godzilla was first created as an allegory for Hiroshima, which has been long forgotten by now.
But with Godzilla back in the hands of Toho Pictures, Shin Godzilla became one of the most tasteful depictions of the monster ever, and it’s the highest-grossing Japanese Godzilla movie ever made
The Wolf Of Wall Street (2015)
On the face of it, The Wolf of Wall Street might seem like a strange movie to watch in preparation for Godzilla vs. Kong, as two monsters fighting each other doesn’t have much to do with criminal stock traders.
But being another actor returning from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, as Kyle Chandler reprises his role as Dr. Mark Russell in Godzilla vs. Kong, the movie that really showcases his prowess is in the foul-mouthed Martin Scorsese epic. In the movie, Chandler plays the FBI agent who takes down Jordan Belfort, and it’s the actor’s very best role.
Godzilla (2014)
It only makes sense to watch the movie that started the whole universe. Going back to where it all began, Godzilla was a huge relief to audiences who were looking forward to it. After 1998’s Godzilla’s laughable attempt to make a Hollywood blockbuster out of the monster, the faithfulness to the source material, the hellish HALO jump, and the other visual effects made the movie a spectacle.
The movie isn’t completely perfect, and though nobody pays to see Godzilla for the human characters, Ford and Elle Brody were complete wet blankets. Joe Brody was a fascinating character and played brilliantly by Cranston, but he is completely sidelined in the movie. However, overall, it was a great start to the universe and is possibly still looked at as the best, until the release of Godzilla vs. Kong, that is.
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
After learning that the gorilla is going to be much bigger in Godzilla vs. Kong, the monster might look a little smaller in Kong: Skull Island, but he’s still big enough to be reaching for helicopters.
The movie feels different from the Godzilla movies in the MonsterVerse because the whole movie is paying homage to Apocalypse Now, both in its narrative beats and aesthetic. Whether it’s the kooky Hank Marlow resembling photojournalist or the sun-bleached jungle, it’s all one big ode to the war movie.
Deadpool 2 (2018)
Julian Dennison has been cast in a main role in Godzilla vs. Kong as Josh Valentine, Madison’s friend, and he reportedly has scenes in which he investigates Godzilla’s strange behavior.
As Valentine is classed as a nerd and only has one friend, his loner character sounds suspiciously similar to his break-out role, Firefist in Deadpool 2. He’s a troubled delinquent who somehow becomes best friends with Deadpool. Dennison is hilarious in the movie and he’s one of the reasons Deadpool 2 is better than the first movie.
Godzilla (1998)
Godzilla has to be one of the most unintentionally funny movies ever made, and ironically, most of the intentional jokes aren’t remotely funny, but in a so-bad-its-good way, watching Godzilla 23 years later isn’t half as torturous as it was back then.
Even though the movie completely butchered the source material and has shocking visual effects even for the time of its release, it’s worth throwing on the Roland Emmerich directed “classic” just to see how far the iconic Japanese monster has come in Hollywood since then.