Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and all the images you see in this review are owned by Warner Bros. Pictures
Directed by Adam Wingard
We’re five movies deep into the Monsterverse, plus one TV series I haven’t bothered to watch yet, and excepting Kong: Skull Island, none of them have left much of an impression on me. A bit of an odd thing to say when it comes to movies about giant monsters getting into fist fights, but something’s always felt missing that kept me from engaging with it beyond a very rudimentary level, and it seems unlikely that we’ll be pulling things back to see what can be fixed when they can just go bigger with each movie. Then again, we’ve come quite far since the dreary days of Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla feature, and if nothing else the addition of a robot arm for Kong and pink highlights for Godzilla show that they aren’t afraid to escalate the goofiness which could be just enough to get me back on board. Will the pieces finally fall into place in this latest monster mash, or has this franchise simply left me behind without even glancing in the rearview mirror? Let’s find out!!
With the discovery of the Hollow Earth, the world has somehow managed to keep on trucking with Godzilla on the surface to bash any monsters that start giving humanity funny looks, and Kong enjoying an early retirement in the Hollow Earth; chilling under waterfalls and basking in whatever the equivalent of sunlight is in the Earth’s core. Still, retirement can be a lonely thing for the last of one’s kind, and Kong can only talk to his awesome warrior axe so many times before it gets weird. Thankfully, the Hollow Earth is like an ogre in that it has many layers, and he stumbles into the home of a race of giant apes like himself. Before we can throw Kong a family reunion, however, it seems these apes are not too friendly towards the big guy and something about their reemergence has put Godzilla into butt-kicking mode as he powers himself up for whatever happens next. What are these apes up to in their own little corner of the world, and will it spell doom for the surface world? Can Kong show these apes a path towards peace, or will he be forced to take them down alongside his frenemy Godzilla? Seriously, who had the foresight to make Kong a power glove? What, did they think he’d have to win an arm wrestling tournament to save humanity!?
Monster movies, like any other genre, can only go so far on pure spectacle, as it’s the characters and story that sticks with you once the credits roll. For me, that seems to have been the problem with the Monsterverse and why Skull Island is such a fantastic exception. None of the movies outside of it had characters I particularly cared for, nor did the monsters give me much to root for either. King of the Monsters was too stuffy with its dark pallet and dreary human storyline, and while Godzilla Vs Kong was a step in the right direction, it never found the right balance between creating an intentionally cartoonish tone and giving us endearing characters. Thankfully, we finally have another movie that understands the assignment and gives us something worth remembering, and while it’s not as good as Skull Island, it has just enough heart to make it more than just an exercise is destruction effects. The secret, as it was for Skull Island and as it nearly was for Godzilla Vs Kong, is the big bad ape himself. Kong has so much personality that he could have easily carried the movie on his own, and the animators should be commended for working as hard as they did to convince us there was emotional depth behind his CG rendered eyes. His sadness, his anger, and certainly his sense of humor, shine brightly and provide us with all the motivation we need to follow him wherever he goes and to root for him in all of his fights. Godzilla is similarly well realized with clear motivations for his actions throughout the movie, but he still feels like a supporting character in a Kong movie rather than a co-lead. Then again, perhaps it’s not necessary for him to take up the spotlight, especially with Minus One still fresh in people’s minds, and he does come into his own in a few phenomenal actions scenes to remind you why he’s the king of the monsters.
Where things start to falter are with the humans, who continue to be a sore thumb in this series. Brian Tyree Henry is back and is sadly just as obnoxious here as he was in the last movie, which is a shame given how great a performer he’s been in other films, but then again, it’s not like any of the other humans bring much to the table. You’ve at least got Rebecca Hall trying to elevate the material, and Dan Stevens is genuinely charismatic, but it’s all bottom tier adventure movie writing. Archetypes and exposition galore, quip-filled one-liners that don’t land, some barely explored character arcs that wrap up without ceremony; none of this is a recipe for a great Kaiju movie, especially in the wake of Godzilla Minus One, but it was efficient and flashy enough to keep me from getting bored whenever Kong or Godzilla were not on-screen. Thankfully they are present for most of the movie as are the new Kaijus who bring much more to the table. The other apes in the movie have almost as much care put into them as Kong himself, which makes the drama between them far more compelling than anything with the humans. In particular, the Evil Kong is a fantastic villain and is a genuinely interesting addition to Toho’s diverse roster of monsters. He’s got a strange, yet imposing, physique, he communicates a lot of menace simply with how he carries himself, and he’s not afraid to be a total jerk to make it that much more fun when Kong gets the upper hand on him. A giant monster can destroy as many buildings as it wants, but you won’t get audiences to care unless they can relate to them on some level. This is why the half-hearted Chimeras never stood out and why this franchise is being carried by Kong, so I’m glad that someone finally got the message for this film and the end result is a lot of great monsters bouncing off of one another in compelling ways before beating each other up in exciting action set pieces!
The key to a good Kaiju movie is simple to explain, but can be difficult to pull off. We all come to these for the spectacle, the destruction, and the cool monster designs, but if we only got what we expected then it’s not going to be memorable. Characters, context, and themes are the things that help a giant monster movie go from a CG building busting snore to a gut-wrenching cinematic masterpiece. This isn’t anywhere close to the masterpiece end of the scale, and it still falls short of the Monsterverse’s high point, but this is the first one that makes me interested in there even being a Monsterverse, and that counts for a lot. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re in the mood for a little goofy fun, but don’t be surprised if that ol’ Kong charm manages to win you over by the end!
The Reviewers Unite 