IMDb Removes Negative Reviews For Godzilla vs. King Kong From Snyder Fans

IMDb has removed a handful of negative reviews for Godzilla vs. Kong after it was review bombed by dismayed Snyderverse fans. Godzilla vs. Kong is the fourth film in Legendary Pictures’ “MonsterVerse,” a cinematic universe that aims to crossover iconic movie monsters like Godzilla, King Kong, and Mothra. Directed by Adam Wingard with a script penned by Eric Pearson and Max Borenstein, Godzilla vs. Kong will be the first feature film in which the two titular monsters share the screen since the original King Kong vs. Godzilla came out in 1962. Warner Bros. is handling the worldwide distribution of the film.

After the announcement that there are no further plans to continue Snyder’s DC cinematic universe after the release of his cut of Justice League, a handful of upset fans flocked to IMDb to review bomb Godzilla vs. Kong. The move was done in retaliation against Warner Bros., which oversees the DCEU and would be the ultimate decision maker when it comes to moving forward with Snyder’s version of the cinematic universe. The process of review bombing involves multiple people giving a project the lowest possible score in order to bring its overall rating significantly down. Presumably, the goal would be to dissuade potential movie-goers from seeing Godzilla vs. Kong due to the low rating and hurt Warner Bros.’ bottom line.

However, Snyderverse fans’ plans seem to have failed, as IMDb removed all the review-bombed scores of Godzilla vs. Kong. Before the purge, there were 44 1-star reviews of the film – with thirty-three of the reviews citing Warner Bros.’ refusal to continue Snyder’s version of the DCEU as the reason for the negative reviews. As of the writing of this article, there are only nine 1-star reviews, with each directly referencing some aspect of Godzilla vs. Kong as the reason for the score.

Interestingly, Godzilla vs. Kong’s early reactions seem to be a bit more favorable than Legendary’s previous outings with the iconic monster. Both Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) received mixed reviews from both fans and critics – with many citing both film’s focus on the weaker human storylines over action with Godzilla as one of the chief criticisms. Based on the current reviews, Godzilla vs. Kong seems to have addressed these criticisms and improved on its predecessors.

While the action of review-bombing is unwarranted, it was done in an effort to attempt to right a perceived injustice done to Snyder and his vision. Snyder’s version of Justice League has been nearly unanimously appraised as being better than the Joss Whedon-helmed theatrical cut. The new version of the film does set up many storylines that, in all likelihood, will never receive any payoff. That is, understandably, frustrating for those who really enjoyed Snyder’s version. However, review-bombing a film that is – at best – tangentially related to Justice League will likely have no effect on Warner Bros.’ future decisions regarding the DCEU. As more reviews trickle in for Godzilla vs. Kong, hopefully they continue to evaluate the film based on its own merits.