After clashing for the title of king of the monsters, Godzilla and Kong join forces to wipe out a common threat in the buddy-cop team up of the year. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire finds itself continuing the MonsterVerse in the only way you can at this point - have big monsters fight big new big monsters... only with less impact.
The one and only reason you go to see a MonsterVerse film is for the kaiju battles. Sure, a good story and interesting human characters help, but the key to an enjoyable ride lies with the action. On that note, this film delivers. It's packed from beginning to end with battles both huge and small - some are given quick snippets of the runtime while others break out into 10-minute long brawls. As always, it's just as great seeing Godzilla unleash atomic hell on his opposition as it is watching Kong beat his enemies senseless. There's a large range of kaiju enemies that feature this time around, adding some level of variety to the battles so they don't feel too repetitive. One minor quarrel I have with the film is that the enormous scale of these monsters is occasionally lost in the setting of the fights. Previous films have mostly entirely taken place in cities, or at least in the human world, so there's a tangible sense of scale we can relate the size of these monsters to. This film opts to spend most of its time in the Hollow Earth, which is cool and all, but because everything there is large, the kaiju lose a bit of their grandiosity. It's not a make or break issue, but it does lessen the impact.
Speaking of lessening the impact, I can't help but wonder whether the MonsterVerse might be heading for a premature end. When I think back on the previous entries, whether it be 2014's Godzilla or even 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong, there's something memorable about those films and the fights within them. The scale of Godzilla vs the MUTOs is iconic, Godzilla facing off against King Ghidorah is tense, Kong wielding his new axe against Godzilla is epic. All of these moments are memorable and exciting, then when I think back at what I just watched, there's nothing new or original enough that I feel will be looked back on as a huge moment. The battles themselves don't really have much to offer that we haven't already seen, but that doesn't mean they're not fun. I could watch these kaiju duke it out for hours and have a blast, but in terms of making a lasting impact, the MonsterVerse might be done.
Despite the MonsterVerse starting on a much more grounded level with 2014's Godzilla, this movie is a ridiculous punch-em-up where the key to enjoyment is to not take it seriously. It's basically the WWE of the MonsterVerse, and I mean literally as Godzilla performs a textbook suplex at one point - it's awesome but hilarious at the same time. The action is definitely pushed to the back half of the film, but there's enough snippets throughout to where you get your money's worth.
As for the story itself, it's fine. It's clearly been written with one goal in mind - how do we get this big guy and that big guy to have the most epic fight imaginable. Corners are cut and decisions are made that you just need to overlook and accept, and that's fine for this movie. The human characters in here are all fun to follow, and I feel that's mainly due to the fact that they're almost all returning characters that don't need to be set up. Rebecca Hall (Ilene Andrews) and Kaylee Hottle (Jia) return to continue their respective character arcs and further flesh out their relationship. There's not a tonne of development there, but there's enough to make their characters interesting. They have an emotional arc that flows through nicely and has good payoff amongst all the monster battles happening at the same time. Dan Stevens once again teams up with director Adam Wingard as Trapper a veterinarian for monsters? Sure. His character works if you just accept it. Stevens puts in a charismatic performance that makes him likeable and enjoyable to follow when there's no kaiju battles going on.
Being Adam Wingard's second MonsterVerse film in a row, he knows exactly what he's doing. His goal is to create a large scale kaiju battle of epic proportions that delivers on pure entertainment. The visual effects are plentiful but never overbearing - you know it's all 99% CGI, but it's never a distracting blight on the film. It actually looks quite impressive, especially in the chaotic battles where thankfully you can still see everything that's happening. At just under two hours, Wingard has nailed the runtime so that it's not rushed or overly exhausting. There's a good balance of kaiju content and human storytelling, ensuring it never feels like it's dragging.
In the end, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is exactly what it needs to be - a fun kaiju battle that prioritises knockout action above all else. The action is large in scale and benefits from a variety of monsters going toe to toe, but it's lacking impact. There's no big, memorable moment to remember the film by and much of the action is made up of stuff we've seen in other entries. This is a safe bet for fans of the MonsterVerse - it's more of the same, so you're bound to get a good kick out of it.
7.3/10
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