It goes without saying that nobody watches the MonsterVerse to see in-depth character studies and meaningful subtext that’s packed to the brim with metaphors for the world we live in, but some well-rounded humans would definitely help. The spectacle takes care of itself when the entire franchise is predicated on CGI beasts kicking the sh*t out of each other, but it’s a lot harder to invest in seeing pixels fighting other pixels if there’s no meaningful story or relatable figures to invest in.
Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard disagrees, though, after admitting in a recent interview that he thinks the MonsterVerse should focus less on humans than ever before whenever the next chapter in Warner Bros. and Legendary’s shared mythology ends up happening. While the filmmaker is in a better position than most to understand what makes the franchise tick, it’s no coincidence that the weakest aspect of his clash of the Titans by a huge distance is the flesh and blood people that aimlessly wander around in the shadow of the title heroes.
“I think Godzilla vs. Kong is the first time that we’ve really truly been able to have full sequences where the film leaves the humans and stays with the monsters, just like any other character. That’s a big breakthrough VFX-wise and even story-wise. If there’s another MonsterVerse movie, in my opinion, it should be the first full-on monster film. I would say, 30% humans, the rest monsters, basically flipping the formula of what a lot of these movies generally are. I think people are ready for it.”
It’s incredible to think that the MonsterVerse hasn’t given us a single memorable human when the list of names to have played a part in the four installments to date is positively stacked and includes, but is no way limited to, Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly, Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler, Millie Bobby Brown and many many more.
Fans are happy to watch the monster-on-monster action, and it’s undoubtedly the only reason to see Godzilla vs. Kong, but maybe one day the MonsterVerse will give us a human protagonist that we can actually root for.
