Recently I was in a department store waiting for a prescription to be filled. To kill some time, I found myself in the toy department. Legos, Hot Wheels, and Transformers sat on the shelves in all their plastic glory. I picked up a Godzilla figure and marveled at his updated design. Just below the neon dorsal fins was a little button you could press. I felt a smile crack as I pressed down and heard that iconic roar. But as a fully grown adult with car payments, insurance woes, and the constant ache of existentialism, I felt stupid. After all, toys are for kids, right? How could I get any enjoyment from a piece of plastic made for a child? Easy. For the same reasons I could enjoy Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.
Following 2021’s Godzilla Vs Kong, and the overall fifth film in the Legendary Pictures MonsterVerse comes Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.
In this installment, we find Kong living out his days in the Hallow Earth as the scientific organization Monarch monitors from a safe distance. Meanwhile, the nomadic Godzilla keeps other Kaijus in check as he maintains his throne as King of the Monsters. There’s an unspoken truce between both titans. Kong is king in the Hallow Earth and Godzilla rules the surface. But when an ancient evil bent on world domination is awakened, the building-sized behemoths must team up to defend their respective titles and prevent the extinction of the human race.
Adam Wingard returns to the director’s chair in Godzilla X Kong, marking the first time a filmmaker has returned for another project in the MonsterVerse. With that comes his distinctive visual flare and sardonic sense of humor. In terms of visuals and narrative, it’s also the first time a film in the franchise feels like an actual sequel rather than an installment.
From brightly colored special effects to Kaiju being front and center, Godzilla X Kong doesn’t steer too far from 2021’s Godzilla Vs Kong in either tone or scope.
Depending on your thoughts on that particular film, that could be a good thing or a bad thing. The film is light on human characters and heavy on Kaiju action. While the story isn’t overly complex but the pacing is breakneck. Not a second is wasted exhausting franchise lore or heavy-handed preaching. The good news is that Godzilla X Kong knows exactly what it is, what fans want, and how to achieve it. The bad news is, well, everything the good news is.
The biggest complaint of 2014’s Godzilla and 2019’s Godzilla: King of The Monsters was the human elements taking center stage while fans just wanted to see giant monsters destroying things. 2017’s Kong: Skull Island may have done a better job of balancing that, but it did so by poking fun at Vietnam War movies. Here, the balance is definitely in favor of the Kaiju. Unfortunately, it may be at the cost of storytelling.
While technically another team-up, Godzilla X Kong is a Kong-centric film from start to finish.
In fact, Kong is the only character with any real arc and even that is somewhat paper-thin. On the other hand, Godzilla doesn’t do much but wreck the occasional titan and conveniently shows up when the cards are stacked against Kong. When that happens in the third act, it’s super cool looking but doesn’t feel authentically earned. Just like the better parts of previous installments, you know exactly what’s about to happen when it happens. By the time the film ends, nothing has really happened to change much of anything.
This leads me to the biggest issue with Godzilla X Kong. There isn’t much here to justify its existence. It’s great to catch up with a few returning human characters, but there isn’t a lot for them to do but exposition dumps in the most obvious places. One of my favorite elements of Godzilla Vs Kong was the relationship between Jia and Kong. That still exists here (and Kaylee Hottle is still an incredible actress) but it’s severely under-utilized. That said, the film’s villain isn’t on screen enough to feel threatening to either humans or Kaiju. He’s evil because it’s implied and we know he’ll get wrecked in the third act.
But man, that Kaiju action sure is a lot of fun! It’s fast, bombastic, and paced with an incredible sense of urgency.
Every punch, body slam, or roasting atomic breath feels satisfying right down to my very soul. And that’s exactly what we love about Kaiju films anyway. The Academy Award-winning Godzilla: Minus One may have proved that a Godzilla film could be cinematically elevated but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy pulp. As a lifelong Kaiju fan, I adore the original 1954 Godzilla film from Toho. But my favorite memories of the franchise will always be our boy mopping the floor with some random monster. It’s obvious that Wingard shares the same sentiment as his films feel like an Americanized version of Toho’s Showa-era.
I don’t want to get into a discussion about what is or isn’t cinema, but it’s clear Hollywood is currently having a bit of an identity crisis. Auters insist comic book movies are killing cinema and superhero films have become self-important. They’re either disrespecting the source material or taking it too seriously. But the same can’t be said about the Godzilla franchise. We’re living in a world where Godzilla is winning an Oscar in February and a few weeks later on the big screen throwing King Kong into the pyramid of Giza like a WCW match. What a time to be alive!
Both Godzilla: Minus One and Godzilla X Kong prove both approaches can not only co-exist but thrive.
Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire celebrates what we love about monster movies. It may not be the most sophisticated slice of celluloid to be projected across a screen but you will be hard-pressed to find anything as fun. Its a film that leans into its own absurdity in its writing as well as direction. Monsters roar, people scream, and stuff blows up. Every single shot is meant to tickle some sort of sense. Even the needle drops like “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” by KISS feel like a big obnoxious wink to the viewer.
Most importantly, it lets you know that it’s okay to be an adult and still get unabashed joy by checking out that cool Godzilla action figure in the toy department. Look at it, smile, and be reminded that it’s okay to like stuff. That’s what it’s there for.
Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire is currently in theaters now.