Fillm Review: Godzilla x Kong - The New Empire

 

Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable

Violence Acceptable

Vulgarity Acceptable

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable

As I mentioned in my recent review for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, I tend to be very easy to please.  This is a movie that has lots giant monsters hitting each other.

That's enough to make the 7-year-old in me incredibly happy.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the fifth film in Warner Bros. "Monsterverse."  And it feels like they finally cracked the formula: More monsters, less humans.

The story takes place a few years after Godzilla vs. Kong.  Godzilla is still keeping the surface world in balance by taking out other giant monsters.  Meanwhile in the hollow earth, Kong has been living free, but lonely in the wilds.  He still must survive against hostile forces, which he does by his strength and superior intelligence.  Kong then accidentally discovers a subteranian world deeper than the hollow earth, where he encounters other giant apes, but they are immeadiately hostile.  On the surface, Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the girl who speaks to Kong starts having visions.  Her adopted mother Ilene (Rebecca Hall), doesn't know what to do, but thinks that it is related to disturbing signals from the hollow earth.  Together with monster veternarian Trapper (Dan Stevens) and conspiracy podcaster Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry) they explore the source.  This eventually leads them and Kong on a collision course with the dangers ape ruler the "Scar King," who could end up leading to the destruction of the surface world.  It will take the combined forces of Kong and Godzilla to take them down.

It is amazing to me how different this movie is than Godzilla Minus One.  Whereas that one was character-driven, terrifying, and thematically rich, Godzilla x Kong is bassically a live-action Saturday morning cartoon.  There is a clear artificiality to the special effects in this movie that fits with the movie's cartoonish nature.  For that reason, I wasn't bothered by how animated it looked.  Director Adam Wingard seems to embrace this aesthetic and just completely rolls with it.  Like all monster movies, we spend time with the humans, but it feels like less, which is a good thing.  It isn't that they performances are bad, but they are not why we purchased our tickets.

To emphasize the cartoonish nature of the movie, I would contrast the emotional feel the city scenes here and in Godzilla Minus One.  In Minus One, when Godzilla comes to the city, it is a time of fear and tragedy over all the lives lost.  When the monsters fight in a populated city, they hurl pieces of skyscraper at each other and it is just fun.  There are no thoughts of the innocent civilians on the ground and in the buildings dying.  That's because this is a cartoon.  It's just a big, bright brawl.

There are some nice themes here too about love and family that are nice and wholesome, but they get completely swallowed up by the monster mayhem.

I've heard some people complain that Godzilla is only in a few minutes of the movie whereas Kong is in a lot more.  However, this is completely appropriate.  Kong is a much more human character.  He is the one that we are going to relate to emotionally.  We actually go on his journey through lonlieness and pain.  Godzilla is a force of nature.  He is power-personified.  You want to keep him on the edges and more mysterious.  He should always be someone of complete danger, even when he is on your side.  When Kong goes to make contact with Godzilla, the giant ape is taking his life into his hands because Godzilla is as likely to kill him upon sight.

Does a lot of the plot make sense?  Not really.  But it doens't need to for this movie to be enjoyable all the way through.  Why do they happen to have a cybernetic hand for Kong in the hollow earth?  Who knows, it just looks cool!

If you can accept this type of film making, then you will enjoy this movie.