WARNING! SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire officially released this weekend and kaiju fans everywhere are eager to get themselves into the theaters to see the next installment of the MonsterVerse. Coming off the heels of Godzilla Minus One and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, The New Empire not only reminds us that the kaiju genre is here to stay but also just how versatile Godzilla and his movies truly are. What we have here is a flick that takes serious inspiration from the Showa Era and was advertised as such. Looking at it from that standpoint, one can easily sit back, relax, and have fun with it.
The story takes us back to the Hollow Earth where the world building is expanded upon when an uncharted subterranean ecosystem is revealed. In said ecosystem the last remaining tribe of the Iwi people have been sending a telepathic distress signal warning the surface of the return of Scar King, a great ape who was trapped deep in the Hollow Earth long ago by Godzilla after trying to take over the surface world. As Kong investigates this new world, he learns firsthand the power and strength that Skar King possesses. He has a loyal army of great apes at his disposal and a whip made from the skeleton of a Warbat (or so we assume). Not only does this whip give Skar King a fair advantage against Kong’s battle axe but it also has a crystal which Skar King uses to control Shimo. A massive reptilian titan who, using a frost beam attack, seriously injures Kong’s arm with frostbite. After narrowly escaping this confrontation, Monarch equips Kong with the B.E.A.S.T. glove, a massive gauntlet that allows him to pack an even bigger punch than he already does. Sensing the incoming threat, Godzilla is on the move absorbing as much radiation as he can until he evolves into a more powerful form complete with a new purple hue of atomic breath. The two titans join forces to battle Skar King and Shimo in the Hollow Earth, a battle that leads them to Rio De Janeiro where, with a little help from Suko (an adolescent great ape), the crystal is destroyed and Skar King’s control on Shimo is broken, and she teams up with Godzilla and Kong to defeat the tyrannical titan.
Sounds like an all-around fun monster mash, right? Well, rest assured that it’s exactly that. Godzilla x Kong leans heavy on its Showa Era influences and feels just like one of those movies. Human characters are only there to spout exposition when necessary and conveniently move the plot forward, the over-the-top science fiction elements are on full display, things happen because “reasons”, and the monsters feel more like superheroes. Those who care only to see the monsters on screen will be satisfied as a good portion of the movie is spent with our two title characters. When we aren’t watching Kong in the Hollow Earth, we’re watching Godzilla globetrot around the eastern hemisphere powering up and taking down titans akin to the way he did in Final Wars. And yes, there are fight scenes, plenty of them.
Kong fights the great apes, Godzilla fights the titans, Godzilla and Kong fight each other, it’s an all-out royal rumble. The final fight in Rio De Janeiro did feel a bit brief but much like the finale in Godzilla vs Kong, the destruction dial was pushed to 11 giving fans the kaiju action they’ve been asking for. The one thing I personally have struggled to get used to in the MonsterVerse is the lack of consistency as far as tone. Naturally this is expected with each movie being in the hands of different directors and this is nothing new for the Godzilla franchise but with the MonsterVerse it’s uniquely noticeable, so it’s comforting that Adam Wingard returned to deliver what essentially feels like a part 2 of Godzilla vs Kong. His style and personal touches are present and very welcomed and along with the electronic sound of the OST, the transition between the two movies feels very natural. Speaking of which, another returning creative force, Junkie XL, helps keep the tone consistent with futuristic synths mixed with traditional orchestral sounds. The only complaint I have is that some tracks are rehashed versions of ones we’ve already heard in Godzilla vs Kong. It almost seems like Junkie totally forgot to write new music and dug up some demo tracks from GvK just to meet his deadline. But I digress, if you’re a fan of that neon futuristic feel of the previous film than you’ll be pleased with The New Empire as it delivers more of that with vibrant colors and eye-catching aesthetics which helps keep this movie engaging and fun.
That being said while this movie was a good, action-packed thrill ride, it’s not without its flaws. There’s a 20-minute chunk of the movie that’s dedicated to nothing but Kong trekking through the uncharted region of the Hollow Earth and encountering the great ape tribe. With no humans or cities in sight and with the Hollow Earth just as massive as the Titans themselves it’s hard to emphasize the scale of Kong and with the way Kong and the great apes interact with each other, it feels less like a kaiju film and more like a Planet of the Apes movie. Even in the final fight scene in Rio, the film struggled to emphasize the size and weight of these creatures. Godzilla vs. Kong did scale perfectly and very rarely made you forget that you’re watching 300+ foot tall monsters whereas here it’s the opposite. I know I’m not the only person to make that point but it was one thing that really stuck out to me. Now to be fair the Showa Era didn’t always do scale well either, so you can argue that this is just another way of GxK taking influence.
Also, one of the biggest flaws of this movie is in its marketing. I’ve seen a lot of people complaining that the trailers showed WAY too much, and their gripes are justified. Some of the best action was shown in the dozens of TV spots and trailers and it left little to the imagination when it came time to sit down and watch. This shouldn’t be an issue especially in the age of social media. We’re living in an amazing time where fans can very easily communicate and geek out with other fans thanks to Instagram, Facebook, X, Discord, etc. But when a lot of people want to go in as fresh as possible and would prefer to wait to see something like Shimo’s full reveal for the first time in the theater rather than in a trailer, they avoid online social circles making communication harder and FOMO prevalent. It’s bad enough we have to be vigilant of people posting straight up spoilers now we have to put in the work to avoid official marketing. Marketing is part of the hype, hype that many of us want to be a part of but when you reveal Godzilla fighting Scylla in the trailer just weeks before releasing, it distances fans.
All in all, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a fun action-packed kaiju flick and with Adam Wingard potentially returning for a third film, I don’t see why that movie will be any different. Around the time the first trailer dropped, artist Matt Frank stated that we’re in the “Neo-Showa Era” with the MonsterVerse and he is 100% right. Not only is GxK openly inspired by the Showa Era, but the Monsterverse as a whole is mimicking it. The series barely (if at all) resembles how it started, the lore and canon are an afterthought and kind of don’t matter, and the movies are best enjoyed if you don’t think too hard about them. That’s not a bad thing for one simple reason, because if that isn’t your cup of tea, Japan is constantly pumping out Godzilla content too with more on the way. Whether it’s Minus One or a short film/animation there’s so much Godzilla to choose from and with the MonsterVerse making it absolutely clear it intends to stay in its lane as the over-the-top, sci-fi mess Godzilla, I think it’s more than reasonable to call Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire a worthy entry in the Godzilla franchise. However, it is just that, a worthy entry. While it did what it needed to do to be a good movie it’s missing that special something and is destined to just blend into the background with everything else. For example, Godzilla vs. Kong not only gave us the rematch we’ve been waiting generations to see but with it being affected by the pandemic the way it was, it brought fans together in anticipation in a very unique way. Regardless of if you loved or hated it, you can’t deny the hype was real when that first trailer finally dropped.
But despite all that, if you can see past the flaws and go into Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire knowing what you’re about to see, ignore logic and have fun with it, you won’t leave the theater disappointed. Personally, I’d give it a 6/10.
