Total Film's On-Set Coverage Of Godzilla vs Kong
Scans of Total Film's coverage of Godzilla vs Kong has been released. After reading the article most of what was read does not really cover a whole lot of new information about the film. If you have read the articles from Collider then you basically know most of the details. However, there are a few bits of new information that Collider didn't cover.
In the beginning of TF's article, Adam Wingard talks about how COVID-19 didn't hinder the post production of Godzilla vs Kong so much and he was very lucky to have done a test screening at the end of February 2020 before the pandemic hit. From what I could recall, I think around that time there were plot leaks coming out around that same time. I'm not gonna go into detail about them, but according to people that claimed they went to see the test screening they sounded positive with the film.
From Wingard's perspective, he believes the movie had struck a subconscious chord with people. There's a catharsis to watching heroes fight each other and we get to watch it all from the sidelines. Any and all politics are thrown out the door in Godzilla vs Kong.
The first time we see Godzilla and Kong clash is when Kong is en route to his new home. Total Film explains, "This crossover clash begins with Kong en route to a new home, when Godzilla unexpectedly turns aggressor and goes on the attack. Quite what’s behind his change in personality remains to be seen, though Madison (Millie Bobby Brown), is on a mission to find out what’s up with Big G."
If you have been watching all of the trailers and TV spots up to now, then you are already aware of this info. If you have only seen one and been avoiding all of the others then this is where you will learn about why we saw Kong chained up and transported by boat in the trailers. You now understand that something happened to Kong's home. Something happened to Skull Island during the five years prior to King of the Monsters. My guess on this may have something to do with a certain bat that Kong will be fighting in the upcoming graphic novel, GVK: Kingdom Kong. I could be wrong, as well. Maybe the graphic novel won't show what happened to Skull Island, but that is my hunch.
We learn more about the remains of Ghidorah's head that we've seen in the post credits scene of King of the Monsters. We learn that it is being used for some nefarious reason as the skull is hooked up to tubes, wires, screens, and monitors.
The article talks about Demián Birchir's character, Walter Simmons, the head of Monarch's rival company, Apex. Apex is a tech giant that has been invested in solving Earth's titan problem and Monarch and Apex seem to clash on the ideals of what is best for humanity. Bichir descibes his character as a visionary. He is an entrepreneur and a billionaire that aims to help humanity become better and to make the world a safer place. Sometimes, however, things do not always goes his way.
Total Film does not go deep into Shun Oguri's character, Ren Serizawa. Same info as we learned before, he is the son of Ken Watanabe's character, Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, and Ren is a tech engineer/scientist for Apex.
Millie Bobby Brown and Jullian Dennison describe their relationship as a platonic friendship. Brown's character, Madison Russell, describes that her character has become more independent since the last time we saw her in King of the Monsters and she is trying to investigate why Godzilla is throwing this temper tantrum while Dennison's character, Josh, is just along for the ride. Then, they meet up with Brian Tyree Henry's character, Bernie, which he believes Apex is hiding something secret. He is a truth seeker that will put himself in danger just so his theories are justified. So he teams up with Madison and Josh to dig deeper into Apex and unravel their secret.
When it was Rebecca Hall's turn, she begins talking about her character, Dr. Ilene Andrews. She describes her character as an "anthropological linguist" or "the Jane Goodall of Kong". She has been studying and taking care of Kong to look for a way to communicate with Kong. Andrews adopts Jia, the orphaned native girl from Skull Island, who has a close bond with Kong. Hall goes on to explain that she and Alexander Skarsgård's character, Nathan Lind, have a combative relationship. Nathan is a geologist that works for Monarch and someone that Andrews works with, but the reason why they have a conflicting relationship is because Andrews is trying to take care of the little girl she adopted as well as her interest in Kong.
Eiza Gonzalez plays Maya Simmons, most likely daughter of Walter Simmons. She is the top executive for Apex and is described to have quite an authority. She is added to be more dynamic for Skarsgård's and Hall's characters. I don't know what that means, but it might sound like Maya may try to sabotage them or could be trying to smooth out relations between Monarch and Apex. Since she is in this movie with Skargård and Hall for most of the movie my guess is that she wants relations between the two organizations smoothed out and her father could have other plans for Monarch instead.
And that is all in terms of plot details of the movie. For the rest of article, it talks about Wingard's vision of the movie and how it helped tap into his younger self. He talked about how he didn't expect the kind of reaction that the first trailer received and he was overjoyed that many people want to watch this movie.
Overall, Total Film's article was not a bad article at all. It didn't give too much away in terms of spoilers. I think the little we know about the movie, the better the experience when we finally get to watch it.
What are your thoughts on Total Film's on set coverage of Godzilla vs Kong? Do you think it gave too little, too much, or just about the right amount of info? Leave a comment in the comments section of your thoughts on the article. Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Minds, MeWe, Gab, and Parler to stay up to date for more news, reviews, and discussions.