The giant magma-spewing lizard and axe-swinging ape return once again for perhaps their most ridiculous film yet. If we thought 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong was bizarre, we hadn’t seen anything yet as Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire sees the Monster-Verse franchise amp up the craziness to an 11. But does this make the film a roaring success or a nonsensical clunker?
The unlikely pair team up to face a new threat.
Suspending reality is something you have to do when it comes to this franchise, the most recent instalments in particular, and it’s a similar ask when it comes to the Fast and Furious franchise. If you don’t put aside how realistic something should be, you’re not going to enjoy blockbusters like these.
But when it comes to Godzilla and Kong’s latest outing, the majority of their scenes aren’t where this comes in as we already expect big and zany monster brawls, which we very much get. Instead, it’s all the human scenes that are full of exposition, attempting to make sense of giant apes and lizards beating each other up. They try and add lore and reasoning as to why this is all happening, and it makes the film seem bewildering on another level.
The reason why audiences keep returning to this franchise is because they want to see epic Kaiju battles. Kaiju have always had such a large and devoted fan base and for them, this film probably ticks all the boxes. But for general audiences who have casually enjoyed these films, this new instalment takes it too far.
From Godzilla and Kong running into battle, to Kaiju dentists and Kong’s ‘power-up’ arm, thinking of Gareth Edwards’s first Godzilla film that started off the franchise and had a much more serious tone, it makes this new entry seem so distant from that first film.
Not to mention the recent release of the Oscar winning Godzilla Minus One from Japan which has a very strong and grounded human story that was just as captivating as the scenes with Godzilla himself. And those scenes felt more real and quite terrifying, making for an unforgettable experience.
There may be some competition as Japan’s recent Oscar winner Godzilla Minus One became a critic and fan favourite.
Compared to that film, Godzilla x Kong feels at the other end of the scale. But perhaps that was filmmaker Adam Wingard’s intentions, to have this be inspired and feel like one of the very camp and insane Godzilla and Kaiju films from the 1960s and 70s?
But while the film does deliver on its absurdities, it does deliver on the Kaiju action. There are multiple Kaiju fight sequences in the film that are quite entertaining to watch. They are larger than life, they are ruthless, and they are quite captivating, in a very ‘guilty pleasure’ kind of way.
In fact, there are many scenes which involve just the Kaiju, meaning that there is no dialogue and with that being considered, these are still the most enjoyable moments in the film. Credit should be given to the people who made the unspeakable monsters the most enjoyable characters to spend time with.
The main villain, Skar King is designed very well and does give the film a considerable threat, combined with a new Kaiju that won’t be spoilt in this review. And ‘mini-Kong’, Suko, is a pleasant addition to Kong’s story and there’s surprisingly more to him than meets the eye.
But this story is very much more focused on the apes, with Godzilla showing up here and there but only fully joining the party towards the end, which in a film where he is the first word in the title, was quite disappointing.
Our main human cast, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and Dan Stevens are in fairness actually okay human characters, they could’ve been a lot worse. It’s just whenever one of them opens their mouths to explain why something is happening the film just becomes nonsensical and brings you out of the experience.
Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Dan Stevens also tag along for the ride.
One of the main plot points involves Rebecca Hall’s daughter from the previous film and how she’s involved in a prophecy and its mind boggling as to why the film thinks it needs to involve this storyline. It doesn’t make any sense and we are never presented with a reason as to why we should care.
This storyline however does give us some dazzling things to look at and some fan service for really big Kaiju fans, which does signify that a lot of thought was put into making this a film that the fans would love. It’s just a shame they clearly didn’t think beyond that.
In conclusion, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will give plenty of Kaiju thrills for die-hard fans and perhaps some casual audience members. But beyond that, it’s a bizarre fever-dream filled with nonsensical exposition and may be difficult for some audiences to sink their teeth into.
