Monsterverse Reviews: Our Verdict on Every Film

The Monsterverse is good creature cinema with uneven human stories, and in my opinion the five films rank Kong: Skull Island first and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire last. The full ranking runs Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Each film below links to its film page, and the ranking table gives the year and director beside each placing. The reasoning behind each verdict follows.

We judge each Monsterverse film on its monster first: scale, rules, design and whether the scares land. Human characters matter, but a franchise built on giant creatures lives or dies on whether the creatures feel like a real threat. That is my slant, and every verdict below is opinion, labeled as such. The facts around each film (years, directors, runtimes) are stated plainly, and if you want the sequence first, our Monsterverse movies in order page sets it out.

Kong: Skull Island (2017), directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, is our first ranked Monsterverse film and my favorite of the five. It runs 118 minutes, and the setup is simple and pays off: in 1973, Bill Randa (John Goodman) of Monarch talks the government into funding a survey, and the team drops seismic charges to map the island. Kong answers that by scattering the helicopter group. In my opinion that is the cleanest cause and effect in the series, and the best creature introduction of the five. Read more on the Kong: Skull Island (2017) page.

Godzilla (2014) is our second ranked Monsterverse film, directed by Gareth Edwards, because it frames scale better than any other entry. It runs 123 minutes and opens with the 1999 disaster at the Janjira nuclear plant. Fifteen years later, Joe and Ford Brody find a huge chrysalis feeding on the plant's reactors, which tells you how big the threat is before the film shows its hand. According to the American Society of Cinematographers (theasc.com), the creature was not built physically. The same source says the film used HALO jump photography. The human side is thinner than the monster side. See Godzilla (2014).

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) is our third ranked Monsterverse film, directed by Adam Wingard, because it gives Kong the clearest reason to fight. It runs 114 minutes, with Kong living inside a Monarch dome on Skull Island. Jia (played by Kaylee Hottle), a young deaf orphan who uses sign language, has a close bond with him. That bond gives the fights a reason the series otherwise struggles to supply. It could be argued that the Apex Cybernetics plot is busy, but the Hollow Earth trip keeps the creature work front and center. Details sit on the Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) page.

Yes, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) is a good movie if you come for the monsters, and it is fourth on my list. It was directed by Michael Dougherty and runs 132 minutes. It opens with a new Mothra hatching at a remote Monarch base, where Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) uses a sound device called the Orca to calm the creature. The creature roster is the deepest in the series, and Bear McCreary scored it. The weaker part, in my opinion, is the Russell family story, which has to carry more than it can. Our Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) page has the full details.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) is fifth of five on my list, a placing in a strong field rather than a dismissal. It was directed by Adam Wingard and runs 115 minutes. The film sends Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), Jia, Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry) and Trapper (Dan Stevens) into Hollow Earth to trace a signal, while Godzilla deals with Titans that threaten cities, including one that attacks Rome. Tom Holkenborg returned as composer. I rate it lower because the stakes feel more like spectacle than a rule I can follow. Visit Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) for the facts.

No Godzilla or Monsterverse film is rated R, because all five carry a PG-13 certification in the US. In the UK, four are rated 12A and Godzilla vs. Kong is rated 12. In Australia, all five are rated M. If you are choosing for younger viewers, those ratings are the starting point, and the monster violence is the thing to weigh.

Warner Bros. distributes Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, and Toho distributes it in Japan, according to the film's page on Legendary's own site. Which company produces the series is not stated in the sources for these films, so none is named here. For the wider cast, see Monsterverse cast and crew, and for the series on television, the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters page covers the show, which is not reviewed here.

No reason has been given for Millie Bobby Brown not returning in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and guessing would be unfair. She played Madison Russell in Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong, and she is not among the top 15 billed cast of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Madison has her own page at Madison Russell in the Monsterverse.

Cinvibe does not review Blu-ray collections; the reviews cover the films only. That means no editions are rated and no sellers are linked. If you want to watch rather than buy, where to watch Monsterverse lists the streaming options for the US, UK and Australia.

Godzilla x Kong: Supernova is reviewed next, after its US release on March 26, 2027. It is directed by Grant Sputore. Films are reviewed after release, and the film's current status is on the Godzilla x Kong: Supernova page. For the full ranking with reasons, head to Monsterverse movies ranked.