The review embargo for Godzilla vs. Kong lifts on Monday, but only for those who recently attended that IMAX screening and have since raved about the movie on social media. It's unclear when screeners will be sent out to other critics (we've heard that Monday night is a possibility), but in the UK and Ireland - where the movie hits Digital platforms on April 1st - there will be no screeners until extremely late in the day.
Needless to say, none of this points to reviews for the crossover being overly positive.
Godzilla vs. Kong is already playing on the big screen in some countries, though, and that means we have some early verdicts. The first comes from Empire Online; their 2* verdict concludes by saying, "Godzilla Vs. Kong mostly delivers on its promise of a big monster fighting another big monster. It just depends whether you’re willing to sit through the toe-curlingly bad set-up that surrounds it." Earlier in the same review, it's described as "a crushingly mediocre, cliché-bloated sci-fi [movie]."
Total Film is a little more positive with 3*, and despite criticising the human characters and "predictable" story, their review is full of catchy, quote-worthy descriptions of Godzilla vs. Kong, including the fact that it "brings two titans of cinema together for a colossal punchup that you'll be desperate to see on the big screen."
CNET is also complimentary of the action, but hint that the crossover features few surprises (and is more Kong's movie than Godzilla's). On the plus side, they point out that, "While the action here is occasionally disjointed and hard to follow, particularly in scenes involving water, it's mostly comprehensible, and especially spectacular in the yellow, green and purple lights of a vibrant Hong Kong." Finally, The AU Review also go with 2*, wrapping up with a rather damning, "If King of the Monsters tickled you then this monstrous battle should suffice. If not, and you want your mindless action to have a little more ironic intelligence, this is one fight not worth the spectator fee."
That's it for now, but it sounds like Godzilla vs. Kong's characters and story are terrible, while the action scenes are exciting and epic in scale (which they should be with Godzilla and Kong squaring off on screen). The movie does currently have 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, but almost all of those verdicts come from smaller, lesser-known outlets rather than the big entertainment sites/respected critics.
Expect more reviews to follow, but let us know your thoughts on these in the usual place.