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Ranking the MonsterVerse Films

The MonsterVerse movies are a mixed bag so far, but they fared better than expected for the most part. While not all of these movies worked for me, most did. This is my ranking of all five MonsterVerse movies released so far in terms of quality, memorability and the fun factor in particular.

5. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

By far the worst of these movies so far is this Godzilla sequel that ruined all of the goodwill that the first movie garnered with critics and audiences. The human characters were disposable and quite bad while the overall plot was ludicrous and needlessly complicated. Even the monster fights weren’t as fun here as they suffered from terrible, overly dark lighting. It’s such a mediocre movie and the deserved last place on this list.

4. Godzilla vs. Kong

We were always going to see these two eventually unite, but when Godzilla and Kong first fought together, it was a lot of fun to witness. Godzilla vs. Kong has a pretty bad script and terrible human characters as always, but the special effects were strong and some of the battle scenes were so entertaining that the flick ended up being disposable fun in the end.

3. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

The silliest of these movies is also one of the most entertaining. Godzilla x Kong improved upon its predecessor in numerous ways. Yes, we still have those pesky humans to contend with. Their storyline was highly ridiculous and pointless. Godzilla was also forgettable himself. But Kong got a solid arc, impressive action set pieces and memorable mythology. The colorful visuals and memorable battles made this movie so much fun to watch. It’s a guilty pleasure for me.

2. Godzilla

With this 2014 take on the Godzilla story, Gareth Edwards tried to make a more grounded, less bombastic Godzilla film, and he mostly succeeded at that. The first scene is incredible, some of the monster fights are very cool, and they appeared just enough in the movie, thus never overstaying their welcome. It’s not a seamless mix of a modern blockbuster and an old-fashioned one, but at least the director tried something different, which is to be respected. It’s a very underrated movie that is among the best Godzilla films ever made.

1. Kong: Skull Island

Both the standalone Godzilla and the standalone Kong movie were always going to contend for the top spot on this list, but as a bigger fan of Kong, I have to put Kong: Skull Island on my number one spot. Its adventurous tone, strong action and fascinating creatures were the highlights along with impressive special effects and a terrific utilization of its setting. This movie was a great mix of old-fashioned and modern, delivering in spectacle and atmosphere. Though the humans were inferior once again, Kong was fantastic himself and this is one of the better King Kong movies that we’ve gotten so far for sure.