Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire might not be winning any awards for dramatic storytelling, but that doesn’t stop it from being a ridiculously good time.
The MonsterVerse returns this week with the arrival of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which once again brings the iconic monsters together for an all new adventure. The world has changed more dramatically since the events of GvS as Monarch’s influence continues to grow and the discovery of the Hollow Earth has made for even more impressive scientific finds.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Directed By: Adam Wingard
Written By: Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett, Jeremy Slater
Starring: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle
Release Date: March 29, 2024
With Kong below and Godzilla above (still protecting the planet for other giant monsters), humanity has formed a kind of “balance” with the Titans. While Godzilla vs. Kong touched on this idea a bit, it feels much more fleshed out in this film. In fact, there are a few things that feel improved upon the previous outing, but I’ll dive into those in a minute.
But even as Kong has settled into his new home within the Hollow Earth, he’s still restless and constantly searching for others of his kind. The result is a constant exploration/push into the uncharted territories of Hollow Earth. Meanwhile, topside, Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) struggles to understand the strange new things going on with her adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle), things that seem to have a connection to her people from Skull Island…
As Andrews strives to understand what’s going on, a new threat that has Godzilla powering up (like super-charging himself), that might connect everything going on. When Kong stumbles upon a hidden conclave of giant apes ruled by cruel tyrant who wields a powerful “weapon,” both humans and Titans will have to come together to save the world.
I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t go into more detail on the story part. Especially because there’s at least one major surprise they’ve kept out of the marketing that had me hooting and hollering in my seat. Generally speaking, though, it’s a pretty straightforward plot and feels way more simple than the previous film. It doesn’t feel like it’s trying to wrap up a bunch of threads from other stories, nor is it necessarily concerned with setting things up for another film. Instead, we’ve given a tight, self-contained story that’s just a lot of fun.
Kong takes the primary focus and it’s impressive how much the film allows you to empathize with him. Much like the previous Planet of the Apes films, there are huge chunks of GxK where there is zero dialog. Instead the story unfolds via the interactions between the various monsters on screen.
The amount of information (and emotion) the film conveys via these moments is pretty impressive. I’ve always been an advocate for “human stories” in monster movies (mostly because that’s what brings the drama and engaging parts beyond action), especially as more people clamor to say “I just wanna see them fighting!”
With the way the film has made Kong and Godzilla into actual characters rather than just monsters, it feels like a happy medium. It’s a testament to both the way the story is crafted and the VFX work, that it’s easier to buy into them being more than simple brawlers.
In Their Shōwa Era
Here’s what I liked most about Godzilla x Kong: it fully accepts how ridiculous it is. What we’re given here is full-scale, big-budget, blockbuster style of Godzilla action from the latter days of the Shōwa Era films. If you’re not as familiar with those, the last few decades of the Shōwa Era is pretty much when all the wild/silly “Vs.” films happened. Godzilla’s “superhero” phase if you will.
There were good and bad films throughout that era, but all of them have a certain charm and fun factor that’s hard to deny. That’s how it feels when watching GxK, except this time they’ve decided to go whole hog with it.
Godzilla vs. Kong was definitely leaning into this territory, but you could tell they were still trying to connect to aspects of the more serious, previous films. In The New Empire, the gloves are all the way off. Honestly, it makes it work much better than I expected.
Because they’re leaning harder on the fantastical element this time around (a thing I won’t spoil) and given up on trying to make the science aspect of it more grounded/believable, I found my suspension of disbelief significantly raised. I was able to better sit back and enjoy the wildness unfold. As new tech popped up, or characters explained something crazy, it felt totally normal for the story being told and how they setup the world this time around.
The result is a movie that’s just one hell of a ride and brings a good amount of charm to the table. The action is over the top and insane, offering a plethora of “holy shit” moments that had my entire theater cheering and howling in equal measure. While the human story isn’t as important this time around, their inclusion offers a lot of fun moments (Dan Stevens’ new character, Trapper, is an instant highlight) and crucial exposition to move things forward.
Again, this isn’t a movie that’s going to win a bunch of major awards, but that’s okay. What we end up with is pure blockbuster action. It’s not high cinema, nor is it trying to be. A “popcorn flick” through and through that knows what it wants to do and makes it look badass while doing it.
It doesn’t take itself seriously and feels all the better for it. If you want more serious fare within the MonsterVerse, don’t skip out on Apple TV’s Monarch series. There’s room for both in this franchise and I’m very much eager to see what they come up with next.
