Posted in: Godzilla, Legendary, Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: godzilla, godzilla vs. kong, king kong, Super Sentai, Warner Bros

Godzilla vs. Kong – Missing Practical FX Days vs CG Cash Grabs

Seeing two of cinemas larger than life figures in Godzilla and King Kong do battle in Warner Bros' latest Monsterverse is a wonderful throwback to the days when men in suits duked it out on constructed scaled-down miniatures set. There's something to be said about titans knocking each other against buildings and letting your imagination run wild. Call me biased, but I miss the days when practical effects were king. While I'm excited for the new Godzilla vs. Kong, part of me misses the potential it could have become if it didn't go the full CG route.

How Godzilla vs. Kong Is Another Byproduct of the Times

There's no denying how much easier CG makes films these days. It's in everything we see from indie films and mostly in tentpole blockbusters. Given the time and effort it takes practical effects, most studios really don't have the patience unless the director is guaranteed to make bank on their investment. I understand the hesitation and the rush to churn quality products. In this day and age, those types of monster sentai films will never be practical again given the technology's advances. That being said, I would like to see human ingenuity at work to see if practical can ever match up. I'd even accept minimal CG to enhance the existing practical FX. The Transformers franchise is reason enough why Godzilla and Kong won't fail.

It's not just the over-the-top visuals that film and television rely on these days. Most blood effects don't even use fake blood anymore, and we get CG blood splatter. When it comes to humanoid transformations to monsters, we're very much removed from the John Landis days of American Werewolf in London (1981). Now it's almost instant like coffee. I know things won't ever change, but I fight it better when the two subjects alone can tell their own story within a fight similar to a pro-wrestling match. The added destruction is nice, but it should never take away from the subjects at hand. Much like the bulk of pro-wrestling today is, these CG fights are overproduced spectacles where the subjects and souls within the match are buried within the glitz and glamour. The style much overshadowed the substance. Even when you look at the marketing of said films, it has to be the "humans" that sell the monster fight. The fight itself is nowhere near enough. Don't get me wrong, WB and HBO Max will continue to push the franchise regardless of results because of the IPs' name recognition.

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