[Note: This review will discuss elements of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire that were revealed in promotional material, such as trailers. If you’re someone who enjoys going into recent movies knowing as little as possible, you may want to skip reading this review.]
Have you ever wondered what would happen if a Syfy channel original movie had a budget of $135 million?
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the fifth film entry in the ongoing and ever-expanding Monsterverse. Despite my mixed opinion on the Apple TV+ show Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, I had faith that director Adam Wingard would be able to produce another smash hit in the same vein as 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong. Set three years after the previous movie, the film focuses on Kong’s discovery of a new threat within the Hollow Earth. Armed with dangerous new knowledge about what’s to come, he has to enlist the help of Godzilla—whose Titan senses have caused him to start preparing for the harrowing battle ahead. In the meantime, a group of Monarch scientists travel to Hollow Earth after picking up a distress signal, discovering there’s more to the underground world than meets the eye.
I don’t think it’s any surprise that I’m going to say I loved this movie. What may be surprising, though, is that I loved it in spite of it being the weakest Monsterverse entry so far in my opinion. The bar was set very high for me during 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which remains my favorite movie in the franchise to this day. However, Godzilla vs. Kong comes in at a close second, in no small part because of its willingness to embrace its ideas seriously while also being tongue-in-cheek at the appropriate times. In sharp contrast to that, Godzilla x Kong is a big-budget cartoon with a lovingly goofy storyline plucked straight out of the Shōwa era of Toho films. And by Toho, I do mean beyond just Godzilla. Parts of this movie reminded me of other classics they produced around the same time, like Atragon and Frankenstein vs. Baragon. It’s clear Wingard wanted this to be a movie that embraced the absurd nature of its premise while also respecting its source material. There is a fine line between drawing inspiration from the past and poking fun at it, but Wingard manages to do both in a highly respectable way.
I also appreciated the fact that—despite the movie’s very central focus on Kong—Godzilla had a larger presence in the film than their last crossover, even if he wasn’t in it all the time. In Godzilla vs. Kong, it made sense for the massive lizard to be sidelined to ensure the mystery of its third act wasn’t ruined ahead of time. And here, he’s given a lot more to do that underscores the near-psychopathic attitude he has toward keeping the world safe. Not only does it add to the general excitement of the movie, making it feel a little more like a proper team-up, but it also adds characterization to Godzilla following all the previous events of the Monsterverse. His behavior was more ruthless here than ever before, but I think given everything he’s had to deal with in prior movies (the MUTOs, Ghidorah, and Mechagodzilla), the way he’s presented in this latest film makes sense. Godzilla’s only banner is the one he waves for himself, and it’s a fantastic contrast to Kong’s typical “do what’s right” everyman personality. I do wish we got to see those personalities clash a little more, but what we got ended up being entertaining nonetheless.
The way in which the Hollow Earth expanded was also entertaining, as instead of just trying to make it a generic type of location underneath the world, there were plenty of attempts at fleshing out the history of its creatures. While this wasn’t as interesting nor as streamlined as previous entires, it did a decent job at unveiling how much can be done with the concept of the Hollow Earth. It seems like the location is going to be a staple of the Monsterverse for quite some time, especially given how the movie tackles its major threat coming from underground. The history presented herein to justify its new villains gives plenty of room for future movies to work with, expanding the lore in a generic yet fun way that offers plenty of room to grow.
The reason why I say “plenty of room to grow” is because of my opinion that this was the weakest entry in the series. Aside from some parts I can’t discuss due to story spoilers, two things did stand out to me as general negatives in the film. The first of which is, unfortunately, the movie’s antagonist, the Skar King. Trailers indicated just how big a threat he was going to be, given his army of giant apes as well as the idea that Kong wouldn’t be able to stop him on his own. However, despite how much we’re told he’s supposed to be threatening, he comes across as nothing but a generically evil, skinny, red version of the film’s hero. It’s underwhelming given how high the expectations for him are set, especially in the movie during the buildup to meeting him. While his design is impressive and his characterization makes sense given the overarching narrative of the movie, it didn’t live up to the hype of how dangerous he was hinted at being. Though that may have had to do with a part of the movie I really liked that I can’t speak about without spoilers.
My second big standout issue is one that feels like a semi-spoiler, but that I can talk about without saying anything specific. Due to the amount of time spent in the Hollow Earth, the sheer scale of the Titans featured—Kong especially—feels like it just isn’t there. The Hollow Earth is a place meant for the Titans to live, meaning the environments often mesh with just how sizable the beasts are. However, because everything is to scale with the Titans when they’re in the Hollow Earth the sheer size of them is negated for most of the film. It feels like that aspect of them was neglected for a majority of the movie, even though it could have benefitted from it in numerous ways. This is more of a nitpick, though, as I always enjoy seeing the Titans in manmade locations because of how awesome their sheer size looks. This one is honestly more of a personal preference than anything else.
But neither of these attributes did anything to deter my enjoyment of the movie. There was a very purposeful attempt at balancing both characterization of the Titans—especially Kong—and embracing the more zany parts of some of the earliest Toho kaiju movies. Because of how well the movie balances these ideas, it makes the action parts of the film feel like they hold more weight. While I feel like there could have been more action sequences, feelings like that also permeate my mind whenever rewatching some of the older Godzilla movies. If anything, this movie was more action-packed than many critics have given it credit for, despite some specific battles feeling like they could have been longer and carried more weight for Godzilla and Kong alike. But what we did get was impressive and hilariously destructive, to the point where it sometimes felt like a video game. Definitely gave me the nostalgic feeling of playing Godzilla Unleashed on the Wii over 15 years ago at this point. Jeez. Time sure does fly…
While I did feel the weaker elements of the movie made it the “worst” Monsteverse movie overall, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was a fun theatrical experience that embraced the goofier side of monster movies. It honestly felt like a big-budget B-movie starring the two most recognizable Titans in theatrical history. Although I would have loved to see Godzilla a little more often, the characterization of Kong was still well done enough to make up for his too-often absence. The action scenes are all memorable, and the story was surprisingly cool for something that was leaning into the goofier elements of its universe. While I’m not sure if I want every movie after this to be inspired by the Shōwa era (What can I say? I’m a Heisei guy), this was a great love letter to the older movies, and even felt like it pulled inspiration from beyond the Godzilla franchise. I’m looking forward to seeing where the franchise is going to go next, and how it might expand beyond even Godzilla and Kong going forward.
Oh right—Dan Stevens killed it in his role as Trapper, but other than that, the human story was just serviceable enough. Come on. We all know who the real stars were.
***
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