Click here for our spoiler free review of Godzilla vs Kong. Read on only if you’ve already seen the movie or are comfortable with spoilers.
Godzilla vs Kong, the last of four planned movies in the Legendary Pictures Monsterverse, finally pits the two pop-culture titans in an epic fight to the death. The movie is directed by Adam Wingard and stars Godzilla and King Kong. (Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, and Demián Bichir also star as some humans who happen to be in their way.)
In the movie, Kong and his human caretakers set out on a journey to find his true home. Along the way, they encounter an enraged Godzilla who wants to settle the question of who the true king is once and for all. Meanwhile, there is a new evil corporation in town, Apex Cybernetics, who are hatching a cunning plan to wipe out both creatures and retake the planet for us humans.
To help you understand all of the unnecessary exposition in this movie, we’ve put together the definitive ending explained guide. We answer all of your questions,
Let’s get started.
What is the Hollow Earth Theory?
So, the Hollow Earth is an actual thing. The 17th century theory was originally put forward by the English astronomer Edmond Halley (of comet fame), who posited that the Earth possessed a hollow centre. Halley conjectured that the Earth might consist of a hollow shell about 800 km thick, with two inner concentric shells, and an innermost core. While his hypothesis was eventually disproved, it nevertheless captured the imaginations of writers, storytellers, and filmmakers, becoming a popular trope in adventure fiction.
In the Legendary Pictures Monsterverse, the Hollow Earth idea was first introduced to us by Monarch’s William Randa (John Goodman) in Kong: Skull Island.
In these movies, the Hollow Earth theory was postulated by Dr. Houston Brooks (as played by Corey Hawkins in Kong: Skull Island and again by Joe Morton in Godzilla: King of the Monsters), who believed that throughout our planet, hollow conduits exist that provide easy access from one end of the world to another. These are shortcuts that run through the Earth itself, and within them are pockets where civilizations and creatures can exist undetected.
Two movies ago, Randa explained that Skull Island was one of the places on the planet where these pathways exit above ground, thus explaining the island’s very strange wildlife.
In Godzilla vs Kong, we meet Dr. Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård) a Hollow Earth expert who assists Elon Musk Walter Simmons and Apex Cybernetics on their quest into the planet’s core. They seem to have done away with the “pockets of civilizations” theory in this movie and settled on the idea of there being another self contained Earth at the center of this one. In Godzilla vs Kong, the Hollow Earth seems to be a place.
What Does Genetic Memory Have to Do with Any of This?
Don’t worry if you’re feeling a little lost. God knows there’s a lot of scientific gobbledegook in this movie and almost none of it is followed up on or developed in any way.
Early in the movie, Dr. Lind makes a throwaway comment about genetic memory and how it may be the key for them to be able to travel into the Hollow Earth. Genetic memory is based on the idea that the common experiences of a species have become incorporated into their genetic code. In this case, it is that Kong’s idea of “home” is somehow hardwired into his DNA.
Dr. Lind proposes that they use Kong as a sort of genetic anchor/compass/combination of the two (it isn’t really clear) in order to follow him back to his home in the Hollow Earth.
Why Do They Want to Journey to the Center of the (Hollow) Earth?
There is apparently a source of great power there which Walter Simmons and Apex Cybernetics want to harvest and harness. We find out later that it’s because he’s building his own Apex Titan.
What Does Walter Simmons Want?
This is incredibly unclear. Walter Simmons seems to be motivated purely by the need to build his own Apex Titan so that humans would once again be at the top of the food chain. Which sounds noble enough. He isn’t a mustache twirling villain looking to conquer the world. He just seems to have it in for Godzilla.
Why? We don’t really know. It’s not like his wife and family were killed by the Titan. It’s not really a personal vendetta of any kind. Maybe his alpha personality just couldn’t deal with Godzilla being crowned the King of the Monsters.
That said, it is his efforts towards building his own Mechagodzilla that triggers Godzilla into attacking the mainland for the first time in three years. Why Godzilla doesn’t want us to have our own WMD is left up for us to speculate.
Who or What Is Mechagodzilla?
There’s not much to it really. Mechagodzilla is a giant, robot Godzilla.
In the original Toho movie from 1974, Mechagodzilla was an alien super weapon. In Godzilla vs Kong, it is a robot built by Apex Cybernetics in order to take down Godzilla and reclaim the title of the King of Monsters. Here, Mechagodzilla is presented as a piece of organic tech. It’s body is artificial, but its mind seems to be connected to one of the three Ghidorah skulls that Simmons seems to have salvaged from the end of the last movie.
Insert a lot of gibberish about psionics and brainwaves and neurolinks and you would have something of an explanation on how everything works.
Originally, it appeared as if the Mechagodzilla required a pilot (Shun Oguri’s Ren Serizawa, who is the son of Ken Watanabe’s Ishirō Serizawa from 2014’s Godzilla and 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters), but once they infuse it with the special sauce that they retrieved from the Hollow Earth, it develops a mind of its own, kills Walter Simmons, and goes on a rampage through Hong Kong. (Ren, who is connected to the robot at the time, also dies.)
What happens is that the special energy from the Hollow Earth causes the dormant Ghidorah skull to come alive and infuse itself into Mechagodzilla. So Mechagodzilla is actually Ghidorah. Kinda. Sorta. Think Cain in the movie Robocop 2, when his brain got inserted into the cyborg.
Godzilla vs Kong, Who Wins?
Godzilla takes round one. Kong takes round two. But Godzilla comes back for a finishing blow in round three.
Kong is down for the count and on the verge of death until Nathan Lind rewires one of the HEAVs and explodes it on his chest in order to kickstart his heart.
So What Actually Happens at the End of Godzilla vs Kong?
Well, Mechagodzilla (who is now actually Ghidorah reborn) sets out to get revenge on Godzilla, and the both of them really fuck up Hong Kong. Godzilla, weakened by his fight with Kong, is no match for Mechagodzilla, who relentlessly beats him into submission. Just when things look bleakest for the big guy, Kong shows up and both monsters team up to take down the evil robot dinosaur.
Oh yeah, Kong also has a magic axe, the blade of which seems to be from one of Godzilla’s relatives’ scales. In the ultimate showdown, Godzilla charges up the axe with his bad breath before Kong uses it to cleave into Mechagodzilla.
Wait Just a Minute! Before His Final Fight Agains Mechagodzilla, Does Kong Fix His Dislocated Shoulder à la Riggs in Lethal Weapon 2?
Yes. Yes he does. We’re not sure how he learns this particular move, but there is a reference/special thanks in the credits to Lethal Weapon 2. Did Warner Bros. trademark Riggs’ method of reattaching his shoulder? Do I have to pay them royalties if I ever need to use this technique to fix my shoulder?
Isn’t Millie Bobby Brown in Godzilla vs Kong? What Does She Do in This Movie?
Nothing. She does absolutely nothing. In fact, that entire arc, in which she runs around with Brian Tyree Henry and Julian Denison could be excised from the movie and you wouldn’t even notice.
Why Did They Pay Lance Reddick to Be in This Movie and Just Say One Line?
Who knows? Maybe there was a lot more with Monarch that was left on the cutting room floor. Maybe Lance Reddick’s character got promoted from his previously uncredited role in Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla where he played “Soldier on Manhattan Bridge.”
Why Is Dr. Nathan Lind Dressed like Marty Mcfly at the End of This Movie?
In a 2014 interview with Vice, Adam Wingard lists Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II among his favourite movies of all time. We figure that Lind’s Marty McFly outfit was nothing more than a cute homage to those movies.
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