I love novelizations, and this one is great
I haven't yet seen the movie - but I hope to. This book is great.
I highly recommend it ! Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization Why haven’t I read these novelizations before?!
EXCELLENT!
Better than the movie & of course I enjoyed the movie, DUH. LOL
If MonsterVerse is your jam, here ya go!
There’s even an added Godzilla tangent where he saves a Titan that’s from a prequel graphic novel to G VS K!
It fills in the gaps the movie left! The book expands on the characters & their back stories like, Dr. Nathan Lind, Bernie Hayes, Mark Russell, Maia Simmons etc. Hollow Earth!! So much added goodness.
MechaGodzilla! Bring on my love for technothrillers! I loved this movie novelization & need to go back and read more of these! Already have Godzilla: King of the Monsters on my TBR thanks to the Audible+ catalog!
For what it is: 5+ stars! Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization One of the best things about movie novelisations is being able to expand upon big screen stories in ways that the filmmakers weren't able to, often including concepts from earlier stages in production, or scenes that end up on the cutting room floor. Whilst Godzilla Vs. Kong doesn't have a huge amount of removed scenes in the book, it does add a lot of background information that explains a lot of the inner workings of the film; and answers some of the questions I've seen people asking online.
The plot is largely the same as the movie. When Godzilla reappears after a three year absence and attacks a tech facility in Florida the world fears that their giant protector may have finally turned against humanity. As such, the tech company in question, Apex, joins forces with the Titan research and containment group Monarch to find a way of combating Godzilla.
Picking up on research and theories that were hinted at in Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla: King of the Monsters Apex finds a way to map out the Hollow Earth, the vast caverns and tunnels that exist below the surface of the planet that may have been the origin point for all of the Titans. They discover that there's an energy source deep inside the Earth that matches the radiation that Godzilla puts out, and they set out to get hold of it. To this end they recruit scientist Nathan Lind, who previously tried to enter the Hollow Earth in an expedition that cost the life of his brother.
Nathan believes that Kong may possess the genetic memory of how to get to Hollow Earth safely, and the location of this power source, so recruits Ilene Andrews, the woman looking after Kong, to join him. Together with Jia, the last surviving member of the Iwi people, they set out to take Kong deep into the Hollow Earth; a mission that puts Kong on Godzilla's radar, and brings the two alpha Titans into conflict.
The biggest differences between the book and the film that eagle eyed fans will notice is that we get a lot more about Lind and the Hollow Earth than the film provided, and we actually get to see the failed expedition that cost the life of his brother. Whilst the film did talk about this event we actually get to see it here, and it definitely makes the entire expedition feel more dangerous than the film did, and it lets readers get into Lind's head and see why his failure haunts him so much.
We also get to learn more about Skull Island, and how it went from the lush paradise we saw in Kong's film to the storm wracked place it becomes in Godzilla Vs. Kong. We get none of these answers in the film, but Greg Keyes makes a point of explaining it here, and we actually discover that the island's entire ecosystem has been destroyed following the appearance of the giant bat Titan Camazotz. Camazotz, and his battle with Kong, was the main plot of the comic series Kingdom Kong, which also featured the first appearance of Jia, so it's good to see that whilst the films may not be acknowledging everything the books are trying to bring all the parts of the Monsterverse together into one coheive whole.
This is something we see a few times across the book as Keyes will also make mention of Godzilla fighting other creatures such a Scylla, an event that happened in the comic Godzilla Dominion. It not only makes everything feel bigger, and widens the universe, but adds a cohesion that sometimes feels lacking in the movies. We have mentions of human characters that don't appear in every film, learn what they're up to, and get to know what's been going on between the films.
It's not just background information that Keyes expands upon, however, as he goes into more detail in key moments in the film, offering insight that is never clearly stated in the film and are things that viewers are left to try and figure out on their own. Things such as the huge temple Kong finding in the Hollow Earth having been built by his ancestors rather than humans, or that Apex has not just one but two of the Ghidora skulls, and that one is inside Mechagodzilla itself. It's hinted at in the film that Mechagodzilla goes out of control because of the latent personality of King Ghidora, but the book explicitly confirms it. It also makes the story feel somewhat closer to Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla from 2002, in which Mechagodzilla was also built using organic components from defeated monsters.
The expansions the book makes really make it a good read, and it's stuff that I wished was in the film. Tell me more about the inner workings of Mechagodzilla, explain why Ren Serizawa wants to kill Godzilla, tell me why Skull Island is wrecked. Greg Keyes gave me all the action of the film but also all of the background info I wanted to, making it more than just a film adaptation, but an expansion that made it just as entertaining.
Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization I only read novelizations if its a movie I havent seen and I plan on seeing it. I love novels that inspired movies because when the movie is good you know the novel is even better. pretty much any novel ( Jurassic Park, Psycho, Exorcist, Congo, Sphere, godfather etc) are superior to the movie offspring.
I think the same goes for movie novelizations. the novels are based off of the screenplay so alot of times you get scenes that were deleted from the movie and you get background on characters or plot that were maybe touched upon in the movie but never really deeply explored. I saw 2014 Godzilla and 2017 Kong Skull Island but I havent seen 2019 Godzilla KOTM. but the author did a good job of keeping you up to date throughout the plot of this book so I never felt like i didnt know what was going on. I thought there were some interesting things in this book. I liked the hollow earth thery and scenes. I liked how they made and explained mechagodzilla. I never saw the old TOHO godzilla movies from 50s-80s but from what i have seen in pieces the original mechagodzilla was more comedy than anything else. Not in this book/movie. the movie/book did a decent job of giving a reason why these two titans ( 3 if you count Mecha) end of squaring off in Hong Kong ( Hong King Kong??) it was very enjoyable so I am sure the movie ( even if its weak in script or whatever) is going to be a fun ride. Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization Maybe three and a half stars.
I will try to write out my thoughts with more detail later for a Toho Kingdom review, but the short version is--I haven't seen the movie yet. In the book, in general, I liked the human cast, and I liked how Keyes worked in back story material which I am sure will make them much more interesting in the movie as well. The book references the recent comics as well. Not as much extra monster action as was in Godzilla King of the Monsters novel, I am guessing.
My biggest disappointment was that I felt his handling of the monster fight sequences--especially in the climactic battle--were really uninspiring, borderline weak. This is a big problem for a Godzilla novel. Mark Cerasini does monster battles MUCH better.
Still, I enjoyed it. Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization
** Edited as review is now live on Kendall Reviews! **
I can’t rightly think if I’ve ever read an ‘Official Novelization’ before?
Maybe many years ago? But it’s something over the past decade I can assure myself I’ve not, which made reading this an interesting experience.
On the one hand, I have a four-year-old at home who is a Godzilla/Monsterverse fanatic. One who’s made me love these creatures as well, learn their names, backstories and get excited for what’s to come.
At three years old, he randomly came across Godzilla on Youtube and has been hooked ever since. We’ve watched all of the US releases as well as a number of the TOHO releases.
This all led to us having a movie night to celebrate Godzilla vs Kong being released and renting it on Amazon Prime to enjoy.
But throughout all of this, never once did I consider reading the ‘Official Novelizations.’ That is until I was chatting with Tim Lebbon. Tim wrote the Official Novelization of Kong: Skull Island and he kindly sent me a signed bookplate for my son which will be put into the book once it arrives. Shortly after receiving Tim’s kind gesture, this book was offered up for review with Kendall Reviews and the group joked that this had my name all over it. And you know what? They were right.
What I liked: This is an odd one to review because I’ve already watched Godzilla vs Kong five times since it was released. So, for the most part, I knew exactly what was going to happen.
A brief synopsis/reminder – the book follows Monarch as they discover Godzilla is on the move again. Since the events in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla has remained fairly dormant. But now, our atomic breath blowing Titan is moving through the ocean. Meanwhile, Kong has grown angry at his imprisonment in the Monarch Base on Skull Island. And lastly, a billionaire is secretly creating his own ‘Titan’ to show just how strong mankind really is.
If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know what happens and how we eventually get a massive battle between our beloved creatures in Hong Kong. But even if you have seen the movie, or haven’t, the book does a great job of adding to the story, creating great depth in the characters that were sorely missing in the onscreen version and filling in the details both from the last movie to this one, but also through some of the scenes that felt a bit rushed and didn’t have the impact I was hoping for when I watched it (I’m looking at you Warbat).
Keyes does a great job of giving the human characters the right amount of personality that feels less “pomp” over what the big screen versions had, which was great for me, as a number of the actors I’ve never been fans of.
Lastly, Dr. Nathan Hind, portrayed by Alexander Skarsgard in the film, really comes to life in this novel. His Hollow Earth theory and explanations are significantly better here than shown in the movie.
What I didn’t like: It truly doesn’t matter how talented of a writer you are or what your resume shows, for me at least, justice just can’t be done for the sheer scope of the battle at the climax of the movie. Keyes does a really great job of describing it and jumping back and forth between the key places and scenes occurring, but ultimately, it didn’t have the same impact as seeing the Titan’s come to blows visually.
Why you should buy this: Well, completists in the Godzilla world will buy this either way, and they’ll enjoy it. If you’re not a massive fan of the scaly one and prefer to experience your entertainment through books versus film, this one has emotional depth, fantastically described creatures and was a really well done action-adventure story. It just happens to feature 300-foot beasts. Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization I read this book on a whim. I have not seen the movie, or any of the recent Godzilla and Kong movies except for Skull Island which I enjoyed very much. Frankly, I was not expecting very much from this novelization, but I am happy to say, that there is an awful lot here. This is a very well thought out book with a great premise and incredible fight scenes. It also offers the nostalgic joy of showing off not only Godzilla and King Kong but also Mechagodzilla. As if that isn’t awesome enough, the Hollow Earth theory is introduced and actualized. If you love monster movies or the old adventure classics, this book is just packed with material you will enjoy.
The basic plot is that Godzilla has successfully trounced the three headed Ghidorah and exerted his supremacy over the other titans and then disappeared for several years. He has become popularly viewed as a defender of humanity and scientists have noticed that since the titans arose ecological disasters like global warming and climate change have begun to reverse. But while most of the planet is sighing with relief, certain mega corporations continue to secretly (and some not so secretly) study the titans in an effort to make profitable scientific advancements. When Godzilla suddenly reappears and attacks a Florida city for no discernable reason, public opinion turns on him and supports a corporate madman who has publicly sworn he will destroy Godzilla. (That this madman also happens to own the corporate buildings Godzilla smashed doesn’t seem to raise the skepticism of almost anyone.)
The rest of the novel is an attempt to figure out how to destroy Godzilla while three people try and figure out why Godzilla attacked Florida in the first place. The “destroy Godzilla” plan involves King Kong whose island’s ecology has been destroyed by humans. It also involves the Hollow Earth theory and a search for the origins of the titans and possibly all life on earth. The “find out why Godzilla attacked” group involves a lot of unrealistic cloak and dagger spying by two kids and a crazed podcaster—but this is a monster movie. It seems like fifteen-year-olds running around to save the day requires a much smaller suspension of disbelief than the monsters themselves do.
And what amazing monsters they are. King Kong and Godzilla are awesome. And they get two very big battles against each other, the best of which involves Kong leaping from battleship to aircraft carrier trying to get at Godzilla without drowning in the ocean. And the final battle—totally predictable by anyone who gives the matter five seconds of thought, was also outstanding.
This book was so much fun that I have to go read the first novel in the series and hope that the producers will be making others.
Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization i preferred the lizard before, now i like the monkey more due to lovely jia
ummmm, kevin manipulating mechagodzilla is the coolest Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization To say I rarely read movie novelizations is a pretty big understatement. I've only read one other movie novelization in my entire life, Batman Begins, and that was about fifteen years ago. I decided to read the novelization of the newest MonsterVerse film, Godzilla vs Kong, because of the combination of these three factors:
1. I really wanted to see the movie (it got surprisingly good reviews from critics, and I've seen all other MonsterVerse movies)
2. Movie theatres are currently closed in my area because of COVID-19 lockdowns
3. Streaming platforms in my area currently want an outrageous amount of money to rent this movie, as it's brand new
So I said hey, my library has the movie novelization, and it's free to rent from the library, and this book has really great reviews so far, so why not? But then yesterday, when I was on page 280 out of 311, almost done the book, we said hey, it's Friday. Let's do pizza and a movie. What movie? Well I don't know. What about the smash hit Godzilla vs Kong?
So I guess it was a bit moot for me to read the book, because now I've seen the movie. But this leaves me in a position to compare the two, and I'm sad to say that this is the rare case where the movie is far better than the book. But let's start out with some of the things I really liked about the book. The author clearly did a decent amount of scientific research to write this book. There are parts that contain interesting detail on some of the flora and fauna of Skull Island, as well as on magnetic levitation (maglev) technology in trains and on some other things.
I also liked the general story, though it's the same in both formats. Any time you base a large part of a story on a scientific theory that is considered ridiculous in modern times, and that has been disproved since the 1700s (Hollow Earth), you had better do it right and do your best to make it believable, and I think both the author and the film did an admirable job of that.
Ok, now let's get to the things I didn't like. The editing. Oh. My. God. The. Editing. Was. Terrible. T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. I have been reading books since I was very young, decades now, and have read many hundreds of books, and I can safely say this book takes the cake: this is the worst-edited book I have ever read in my entire life. This book is absolutely plagued with misspelled words, missing words, correctly-spelled-but-not-the-right words, missing commas, commas placed in nonsensical locations, and more.
There was such a mistake, I would say, at least every three pages, with some pages having numerous errors. The state this book was published in is simply embarrassing. The editing was so bad it actually affected my enjoyment of the story, which is a shame. But the editing wasn't the only problem.
I also really hated the backstory this book did on Ishirō Serizawa, who is arguably the greatest character in the entire MonsterVerse, and who died saving Godzilla in the last movie, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The book basically paints him as a terrible father who was never around for his son, who is a character in Godzilla vs Kong, and as someone who neglected everyone in his life in favour of his scientific pursuits, etc. This backstory was not in the movie, which preserved his character's integrity and, in my opinion, is one of the things that made the movie superior to this book.
I also didn't like Madison being in the story, in either the movie or the book, but how out of place she is was more obvious in the book, because it contained more detail about her. Godzilla vs Kong is fundamentally a story where grown-up things are happening. Big cities like Hong Kong are being evacuated. Fleets of aircraft carriers and destroyers are being assembled to traverse oceans. Jet fighters are being scrambled. Large corporations are trying to spin the various crises to their advantage. All of these things are designed, orchestrated, and carried out entirely by adults. Members of the military. Defense contractors. Scientists.
So why the hell is an 18-year-old high school kid basically thrown into the role of an action hero in this story?
She has a command center at her house, with multiple computer monitors.
Umm. She's a kid?
She commandeers vehicles to go on what she calls missions.
Uhh. She's a kid?
She travels across the world to take on global mega-corporations and to save the world.
She's a kid!!! For God's sake, it makes no sense! And it makes the entire story less believable. Her and her young high school friend, with the exception of Jia (who doesn't count; she is a lot younger and has a role in the story that actually fits well and makes sense), are noticeably the only kids in this entire movie. They don't belong in the story, and the movie and book are worse for them being there. I think if Madison had stayed behind, possibly having more of a background role, helping her father at the Monarch command center or something, and Bernie took on Apex himself, the movie and book would have been a lot better, and far more realistic.
In the end, the film Godzilla vs Kong doesn't have hundreds of grammatical errors. It preserves the integrity of Ishirō Serizawa's great MonsterVerse character. And it ignores the ridiculous fact that Madison is just a high school kid, assuming a role she doesn't belong in, instead of drawing attention to it. For these reasons, and more, the film version of Godzilla vs Kong is a far more enjoyable experience, and leaves behind a better legacy for both its two Titans and its human characters than this book does.
Godzilla vs Kong film: 4/5 stars
Godzilla vs Kong movie novelization: 2.5/5 stars Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization The novelization of Godzilla vs. Kong, was written by Greg Keyes, and published by Titan Books. It's based on the screenplay by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein. The story was by Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty, and Zach Shields.
SUMMARY: A few years have passed since the events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, when the Titans battled over the earth for dominance. For three years, the Titans have gone silent once again. That is until something lures Godzilla up from the depths of the sea to storm the beaches of Pensacola Florida. Something has awakened the Titan and causes him to feel threatened! Godzilla attacks an area of the city, which happens to have an Apex Cybernetics facility. This sudden attack on the city causes people to panic and believe that Godzilla is no longer a friend of man.
This Apex Cybernetics, aims to complete two tasks; retrieve a power source from the hollow earth, and create a titan of their own (for safety and security but really... a weapon to get whatever they want). Apex funds Monarch to transport Kong from the destroyed Skull Island to Antarctica, where there is a gateway to hollow earth. They put their faith in Kong to guide them to the center of the earth, where Apex will then attempt to extract the power source they seek.
A few individuals, don't buy into the idea/reports that Godzilla has become an enemy of mankind. They believe Apex is up to no good and will do anything and everything they can, to pull the curtain back on Apex Cybernetics to reveal the sinister truth behind the company walls.
Monarch attempts to keep Kong and Godzilla from meeting, but the beasts sense each other... and the fight for dominance begins.
CHARACTERS: There are many characters in this story, so much more time was spent with characters that were hardly seen in the film, which is awesome. I'm going to mention my two favorites.
Bernie: He's host of the the Titan Truth (conspiracy) podcast. He also works for Apex, which he believes holds dark secrets that tie them into weapons manufacturing that could potentially kill or control the massive Titans, especially Godzilla. His goal is to discover the truth about the company he works for and expose Apex Cybernetics of corporate conspiracy. His initial discovery of the darker side of Apex came about after the death of his wife. The relationship built up between Bernie and another main character, Madison, is both comical and trusting. They have an unspoken understanding of what drives the Titans and fully believe that there is an organization(s) out there, willing to cause chaos by destroying, or controlling the Titans. Bernie and Madison's journey together was fun to follow, and their curiosity puts them in great risk.
Ren: He's an engineer/tech genius that works for Apex. His father was mostly absent from his life while he was growing up. Ren's father was obsessed with Godzilla, which caused Ren to despise the Titan greatly. Ren knew that his father favored the beast over his own family. Because of this, Ren vowed that he would destroy Godzilla, the beast that robbed him of a father and happy childhood.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: I really, really enjoyed this book. Of course, with a novelization for a film like Godzilla vs. Kong, you're not going to get all the cool special effects, vibrant visuals and intense audio. However, the story was more emotional with the addition of character histories and inner thoughts, making this form of media far superior to the film.
What I loved most about this novelization, is the amount of backstory added to the characters. I was surprised just how well Keyes managed to balance out all the characters while adding so much more to them. Such great additions pushed the plot forward in a way that made way more since than how the film progressed. The leading characters were great, but the secondary characters are expanded upon in such wonderful detail that it adds so much more emotion to the overall story.
The novelization added quite a bit of new material beyond that of just characters. There are plenty of new action scenes with Titans that weren't even mentioned or seen in the movie. These additions were unexpected, but welcome! They explained a lot of little missing details that the film left out. A lot of the science fiction elements in the story didn't make much since in the film. The book elaborates a bit more on the technology, making the HEAVs and other forms of tech more believable and less silly.
Greg Keyes does a wonderful job with descriptions and gives even gives us a point of view by the Titans. The action was written out very well, making it easy to visualize the intense Titan fights. The book is a lot of fun and has me craving more Titan action with Kong and Godzilla.
Do I recommend Godzilla vs. Kong? Yes! I believe reading the book before watching the film is ideal.
Rating: I will give this novelization an A Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization
The official novelisation of the biggest battle in movie history: Godzilla vs Kong, the latest film in the Monsterverse franchise, starring Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Kyle Chandler and Zhang Ziyi.
Humanity fights for its future as Godzilla and Kong embark on a path of destruction that will see the two most powerful forces of nature on the planet collide in an all-out war!
Writer Greg Keyes returns once again to the Monsterverse and takes readers deeper into the worlds of Monarch, the Titans, and so much more. Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization