Movie Review: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is excessive, chaotic, extravagant and stupidly entertaining
Shared franchises have never been a good idea, each party has its point of view and its way of doing things, and each one sets its rules and transforms what is already done, modernity, perspective, and taking things in another direction may or may not have the success that is expected.
A very obvious case was what TriStar Pictures did in 1998, they managed to obtain the rights from Tōhō to produce an American Godzilla film directed by Roland Emmerich which did not have the success and acceptance that was expected from locals and foreigners, although it was A good production moved away from what the character and its rules were to propose something completely different, there was a lot to tell, something that happened as a sequel in an animated series that continued with the plot of the film.
In 2014, the now popular MonsterVerse from Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros Studios was born, followed by Kong: Skull Island with the intention that these 2 titans would come to face each other in an epic battle as happened in Japan with King Kong tai Gojira in 1962, and I find that it was successful and that now as part of this fictional universe, things have changed and there is still a lot to tell.
In 2024, these colossal giants join forces again to face a new enemy that endangers their world and with it all of humanity, creating a new empire where leadership will be for the one who proves to be the strongest.
What is the movie about?
The great Titans awaken again to face a new threat that looms in the depths of the hollow earth, a completely new adventure that pits the powerful Kong and the fearsome Godzilla to save our world, and theirs and challenge their existence and ours.
After 10 episodes that make up the Apple TV series Monarch, what we expected was to continue with this MonsterVerso that there would be new confrontations between these 2 titans with others, and that all this would follow a line already outlined within a meta-story that involves several generations that They have seen what happens and can happen with these giants around us, some taking care of us and others attacking us to prevail in a tiny and delicate world.
The idea of creating all this is not bad, on the contrary, it is to explore things from another point of view with completely new things in exciting adventures where they can look spectacular with surprising special effects in favor of a story that, beyond convincing us, had its own rules and a logic that coincides with everything else, something that has been carried out moderately, allowing each one to have space and time to develop, one in a television series and another in film, the truth in all this is that this will continue for a long time.
We can say that Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a direct sequel to Godzilla vs. Kong from 2021, something based and inspired by what was already done by Tōhō Studios in 1962 that faced its quintessential kaiju and the gigantic gorilla before uniting them again against an enemy robot, now and with this new work we are offered a more fragmented narrative and sometimes consciously foolishly defying its own rules by crossing over, taking the action to multiple locations within our planet and leading to a confrontation with other creatures that threaten humanity and everything we know.
Each of the Legendary Pictures productions has had a very different perspective in what they have presented to us, each one with its own rules, some more successful than others in general they have been good works and this is where things start to get worse. more different in another context, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire looks and feels more confident about being able to do things differently, that is, they are already taking liberties that they hope will work and breaking rules and imposing others.
We have 4 movies and 2 series that are Godzilla by Gareth Edwards from 2014, Kong: Skull Island by Jordan Vogt-Roberts from 2017, Godzilla: King of the Monsters by Michael Dougherty from 2019, Godzilla vs Kong by Adam Wingard from 2021, Skull Island animated series/sequel and 2023’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, 2014’s Godzilla: Awakening prequel comics, 2017’s Skull Island: Birth of Kong, 2021’s Monsterverse Titanthology Vol 1 and 2023’s Legends of the MonsterVerse: The Omnibus, and Justice League Vs. Godzilla Vs. Kong from 2023, the Godzilla: Aftershock novels from 2019, GvK: Godzilla Dominion from 2021, GvK Kingdom Kong from 2021 and Godzilla X Kong: The Hunted from 2024, and the video games Godzilla: Crisis Defense from 2014, Godzilla: Strike Zone from 2014, Godzilla: Smash 3 from 2014 and Godzilla vs… from 2015.
It seems that it is a lot for almost 10 years of forming this universe, but the reality is that it is not, that they have covered a lot with so little other topic, the structure of this meta-story has been a complicated work, on the one hand we have to The good ideas are already running out and on the other hand, how can they continue to maintain the interest of the public, be they children, adults or a whole new generation that seeks more modernity than something classic.
One of the big problems that this work has faced is that it will be strongly compared to Godzilla Minus One by director Takashi Yamazaki released at the end of 2023 where we see the surprising epic about an unknown giant monster that attacks an entire country in ruins, the contrast Between these 2 productions it is very evident on the one hand we have a film with a modest budget and an Oscar winner and on the other we have a film with a high budget that caricatures its main characters and that serves only to continue generating marketing and collectible toys.
We cannot deny that the premiere of Godzilla Minus One and the television series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters caused a renaissance and interest among locals and strangers and this product as a franchise is at its highest point, with Japanese fans on the one hand and fans westerners of the MonsterVerse on the other and who operate with parallel success each showing a different aspect in another non-shared universe.
The film begins several years after the battle these titans had in Godzilla vs. Kong, Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) continues her work as Kong’s observer along with her adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle) for the not-so-secret Monarch organization, both colossi temporarily retired to rule their kingdoms, without prior notice. notice a mysterious signal emerges from the depths of the hollow earth, Godzilla awakens from his slumber to protect the inhabitants of Rome from a giant kaiju crab and Kong prepares to enter the hollow earth again to discover something disturbing about the past of his species, 2 secrets that could mean doom or salvation for the entire world and humanity.
A new villain is revealed to put Kong at a crossroads in which he must decide for his race or to continue being a friend and defender of humans, he will know why Godzilla was an enemy of his race and what happened to this species of giant gorillas. that evolved in a very different way from that of other primates, all this while humans investigate how to deal with this threat in a world in which we are no longer the dominant species but are at the beginning of our extinction, once again It is Kong who ends up being the protagonist of a film where his human characters and his rival must unite for a common goal. It is expected that after the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters series, it will be Godzilla who remains a secondary character with very brief but effective appearances.
The script written by Terry Rossio, Jeremy Slater, and Simon Barrett plays in favor of Kong by making him have the hero’s journey, showing him as a more vulnerable and intelligent being who, with the help and guidance of Suko, a young giant gorilla is on a crusade for the Search to gain greater knowledge of his species and connect with them, this leads him to face a primal rival King Skar who has enslaved and under his control the titan Shimo who has the dangerous ability to freeze everything, Kong tries to put an end to a tyrannical royalty that frees those who have been held captive, all of this without dialogue with scenes where these monsters only communicate through their eyes, signs and grunts.
The final confrontation takes place in Rio where Shimo begins to induce a second Ice Age by order of Skar King, the sides are balanced until Suko helps them by destroying the crystal in Skar’s staff that he used to control Shimo who freezes the antagonist. while Kong destroys his frozen body, after this powerful battle Godzilla returns to rest in the Roman Colosseum, Mothra restores the protective barrier of the Iwi, and Kong, along with Shimo and Suko returns to the hollow earth, where he becomes the new leader of the tribe, an ending that leaves open the possibility of more sequels along this line and the expansion of the MonserVerso with each character separately.
From the beginning and since its creation this franchise has been a constant fight between humanity and monsters from the perspective of man, that is a rule that does not apply here, it is not yet defined if it is for experimentation or to change things and give them yet another approach to the Titans and their new origins Godzilla King Kong Lives from 1986 or Godzilla & Mothra: The Battle for Earth from 1992 that were failed projects.
The big problems with the script feel very different from Adam Wingard’s direction, which is characterized by films with a particularly colorful and kinder approach. becoming surreal, this feels more like something done for and not something that should function by itself, between what we see and a child playing with his action figures there is not much difference, the narrative gets hindered at the moment in which the proportions on the screen are lost, we see more agile creatures jumping and running from one side to the other and teleporting out of nowhere and without explanation to other places, we are aware as an audience that these beings are gigantic and that each thing and Every move they make can have serious consequences, and there are, but they are completely outside of all logic within this fantastic world and that is why another perspective is necessary, applying and respecting that rule.
The details such as movements in the earth due to the weight in tons each has been seen and mentioned and are not followed up, this game of leaving things to the viewer as already established is applied in a very wrong way, and the story should be more concrete and direct by showing that even in this type of creatures and species there must be order, a leader who guides them responsibly, that coexistence with other beings including humans is essential to maintain balance on a planet. small and fragile, that each action has a colossal consequence for those who live their daily lives on the surface, here humanity takes last place, there is no talk of destruction or casualties that could number in the thousands or of political situations that lead to scientists to design a contingency plan if all this got out of control, the latter is the essence and success of what has been proposed since 1964 and that does not happen here.
We cannot complain when it comes to special effects, the exaggerated use of CGI in most of the scenes also does not respect the proportion in its open shots, it is simply the point of portraying these giants as something very common that can and does exist and with what you have to deal with and live with, the action scenes have good choreography and are very poorly focused and applied, the final battle is full of small and large details that refer to other science fiction films and the MonsterVerse itself, although it is spectacular and it leaves us wanting to continue seeing more, the dose is less than fair, as an audience we do want to see more of these characters in a balanced film and not that this is in favor of a silly and poorly written script.
Seeing Godzilla and King Kong face each other for the second time promised more than it is, now they do it with a very different and stupid audiovisual style, pink or neon yellow tones, wider and unnecessary shots that involve a sequence with zero gravity on Earth hollow, the film is desperate to replicate the success of the others in its franchise and challenges itself and fails to live up to what is asked and expected of what should have happened, after all, the participation of other titans are brief, they feel forced, hoping that a more select audience will want to see them separately in their productions, as is the case with Mothra and Shimo, they do not explain anything with the weak promise that it will be told at another time.
Kong’s relationship with Suko is a father/son opportunity lost in long and unnecessary sequences, the young ape is essentially the portrait of any abused child, and his approach and development are that of a treacherous, selfish, and cowardly being justifying that it is because he grew up. in an oppressive environment that contrasts with Kong who is now depicted as an older orphan of the single, burly, hairy type who lives a solitary existence and as a model of fatherhood treating the young ape with patience and compassion even when he does not deserve it and He becomes a hateful character on screen, during this development he becomes a more pleasant and empathetic primate with others while the humans, well thank you, they don’t matter even though they helped him after the first meeting with Skar by giving him a giant mechanical glove which has been compared to the one Thanos used in the Avengers saga.
Another imminent failure is the redesign of the computer-generated creatures making them appear more agile and cartoonish than in previous installments, his unattractive villain Skar King arrives too late to allow him and Kong to build and develop their antagonism and This one is more credible and solid, it needed something more like the previous film did with the meeting of Kong and Godzilla, it would be fascinating to observe the slow but effective reveal of Kong and mark that contrast with the behavior of his evil villain, making it sinisterly spectacular that it would be in a triumph of justice over cruel and despotic tyranny, good over evil, good against evil and yes that is true, that does not happen here.
Its message is a parallel between the responsibility that Kong now has with the young man as well as that of the doctor with the girl, 2 adoptive parents, two different sets of challenges to overcome but the same basic story, all focused on the family, to love, to coexistence, to understanding and comprehension, the power that each one has as a species, the hope of a better future for both species, that by fighting great things are achieved and blah blah blah, things that we have already seen countless times. End of times and the last thing we want is to see it in a movie about gigantic and monstrous titans.
In summary, the good points are that it has very good cinematography and special effects, some fun moments between the characters, the references and winks, and the detail of its final battle, the bad points are that it has an incredibly stupid story with subplots that do not conclude or contribute or lead to something concrete and that they are only there to be, the opportunity to present something that is at the level of what has been created and not in favor of something marketing and commercial, that this MonsterVerso is more balanced, there is no here References to more human characters that have appeared in other installments simply do not exist, and a group of scriptwriters and a director who have a more neutral vision that can balance what is done in the East with what is done in the West.
The cast of actors who appear very little on screen is made up of Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Kaylee Hottle, Fala Chen, Alex Ferns, and Rachel House who do what they can with what they have in filler scenes, they try to have a development and specify something that serves as a bridge to understanding what is happening, obviously great actors or great talent are not needed for a job like this, it does not matter if they cast a famous person or another who will not be there. just a few minutes and without making any more significant contribution.
The music composed by Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL is not bad at all, we have good pieces of music that accompany some sequences very well and we have others that are a disturbing noise, and nothing memorable is lost within the scenes of action, destruction, explosions, blows and sound effects, a good job that may well be somewhat unnecessary in some sequences.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a simple and silly product that aims to be complex and interesting, as commercial fantasy entertainment it works perfectly well, but it does not work when establishing new characters and new situations that connect with what has already been established, it is more of the same but stupider and with fewer humans getting in the way with their perspective, a film that has a fast narrative that is handled with a cartoon logic with spectacularly excessive and forgettable scenes, it is difficult to define this as a good film, it is simply an expensive entertainment that does not It’s worth the whole process of going to a movie theater and it can easily be enjoyed on some streaming platform on a family Sunday.
In conclusion, the film proudly complies with being what it is, an entertainment that has impressive marketing, which falls halfway between being a serious and complex film and a stupid and poorly made but enjoyable film of which we will surely continue to have more deliveries.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is now out in theaters in our country.
