It’s not even been a week since we had to deal with a Frozen Empire in the latest ‘Ghostbusters’ movie, and now we have a ‘New Empire’ to contend with. This one is a different beast altogether though, reuniting Godzilla and Kong for another monster battle royale with effects-heavy action and adventure at every turn. ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ is the fifth chapter of this latest iteration of the franchise, after ‘Godzilla’ (2014), ‘Kong: Skull Island’ (2017), ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ (2019), and ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ (2021).
A new threat from beneath the secret world that lies underneath our own is looming. Godzilla can sense it – a conflict with an old adversary that could spell the end for humankind. But thankfully he won’t be alone in the fight. Kong is aware of the threat too, as his own journey takes him to a lost tribe of his kind, who are ruled by a vicious alpha looking to gain access to the surface world. With Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) formulating a team to investigate the seismic abnormalities beneath, including conspiracy podcaster and cryptologist Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), Trapper (Dan Stevens), her ex from college who is now a vet to the monsters and her adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle) in-tow, the team join the titanic fight to save the world once again.
These films are all about the effects as you’d expect, but ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ seems to have finally found a cast ensemble that works well throughout. Rebecca Hall is on-hand for all the exposition you could possibly ever need, including a truly hilarious scene where she is interpreting primitive cave cravings in such a detailed and informed manner that she must be the most intelligent archaeologist to ever walk the earth. And as luck would have it, we also have one of the world’s greatest cryptologists on-board this expedition too in Brian Tyree Henry’s Bernie Hayes. He steals the film with a nice comedic touch and shares a great chemistry with everyone.
Dan Stevens is always worth your time, and as a daredevil monster vet named Trapper, he gives the film some much needed levity, something that was missing in almost every other film in this franchise, barring ‘Skull Island’ – which incidentally still retains the title of the best film in this entire monster series. Young Kaylee Hottle has an expanded role in this film, and handles the increased responsibility well as Jia, whilst Alex Ferns entertains as the brash and obnoxious Mikael – who you can all have fun betting on as to how long he’ll last in the film.
Adam Wingard is a good director, and he feels unshackled in this film to deliver much more unadulterated monster bashing (which is basically what all fans of this franchise ultimately want to see on as big a screen as possible). In that respect, ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ is a success because there are a lot of set-pieces which deliver the goods, especially on an IMAX screen. At times it dangerously teeters on the brink of ‘Transformers’ levels of epilepsy-inducing carnage but it never goes fully to that side, thankfully. For the most part you can coherently see who is smashing whose head in, which is nice. Plus there’s some good comedic moments like when Kong smashes the annoying scrappy-doo wannabe monkey with wanton abandon (think Hulk hilariously smashing Loki in the first ‘Avengers’ movie). For some reason, I also found it hilarious that Godzilla repeatedly chooses to have a kip in the Roman Colosseum.
‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ will do nothing to convert non-believers and it’s largely more of the same shenanigans this time around too. If you haven’t liked any of the other films then there’s nothing for you here. But it has learnt from a few past mistakes to at least give the audience some good action set-pieces which fully showcase the awesome sight of these titans going full-on crazy. Taken on face-value, you need to fully acknowledge that this is essentially a kid’s film – one which they will happily devour, gleefully recreating the carnage with their toys once they get back home from the cinema. If you want a ‘Godzilla’ movie with any actual substance, go and see the truly superb, Oscar-winning ‘Godzilla: Minus One’ – a perfect example of how good this Toho legend can be when it’s used in a mature and involving way, and when every bit of carnage on screen services the story at-hand, rather than a need to sell toys. These two movies couldn’t be further apart in their remits. Go in with the right expectations and ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ is an enjoyable and forgettable Hollywood blockbuster that won’t leave a mark, but will entertain the family all the same.
Cast: Godzilla, Kong, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns Director: Adam Wingard Writer: Adam Wingard, Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett, Jeremy Slater Certificate: 12A Duration: 115 mins Released by: Warner Bros Release date: 29th March 2024
