Ten years in and they keep making Godzilla and Kong movies. Since the first instalment in Legendary’s MonsterVerse hit screens in 2014 – remember when Bryan Cranston was unforgivably offed in the first act? – a string of kaiju projects have followed, usually with a different director at the helm but all with a common thread among them: sometimes you just want to see big monsters fight each other.
And although that might seem like an unfairly reductive appraisal of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, it’s also entirely accurate in the best possible way, for there’s no shortage of big-monster-go-punch-punch here – and I’m not sure why you’d turn up to a movie such as this if not for that.
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The plot’s as CGI-heavy as you can imagine. Godzilla and Kong – who are usually at loggerheads but having staked out claims to separate parts of the world in order to steer clear from the other – are forced to team up to battle their not-so-benevolent counterparts, the lanky Skar King and the ancient ice titan Shimo. Various skirmishes ensure the needless destruction of entire cities and landmarks, as always occurs in these films; this time it’s Rome, Cairo and Rio de Janeiro that bear the brunt of kaiju wrath.
Adam Wingard’s presence in the director’s chair marks the first time a filmmaker has returned to the series for a follow-up entry; he manages to push even further the ethos of the-crazier-the-better from Godzilla vs Kong. Gareth Edwards’ original instalment was slow, almost meditative in parts; Kong: Skull Island had the 1970s setting to distinguish it; and Godzilla: King of the Monsters kind of just exists; but Wingard’s take on these films is characterised by a heavily saturated colour palette and dynamic but legible close-ups. He’s staked his claim on the saga perhaps the most strongly of all the directors so far.
Another Monsterverse trope is that there is only partial continuity of the human characters from film to film – and when they do recur, they always play second fiddle to the otherworldly titans. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen kicked things off but didn’t make it past the first movie; Ken Watanabe and Millie Bobby Brown were around for a while, but neither show up here. Instead, front and centre is Rebecca Hall as Dr Ilene Andrews, the Monarch researcher studying Kong whose adoptive daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle) is experiencing visions of catastrophe.
Returning for another go round is podcaster-turned conspiracy theorist Bernie, played by Brian Tyree Henry, whose humour is a nice counterpoint to the ridiculousness of events occurring onscreen. He’s the fish-out-of-water audience surrogate and the comic relief, but he also shares a refreshing bromance with the character of Trapper (Dan Stevens, joining the franchise), who is introduced as a titan dentist, because of course he is.
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Henry and Stevens are clearly the cast members having the most fun, however it’s Hall who takes the cake, absolutely selling the touching emotional resolution between Ilene and Jia. (Were those…. genuine tears at the end of a Godzilla and Kong movie?)
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is cinema of the fan-pleasing blockbuster, rather than award-winning, sort; the sort that Scorsese would scoff at. But it’s all tremendous fun. Frustratingly bonkers and silly, but fun. You can’t help but chuckle at the infectious ridiculousness of it all.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is out now in cinemas.
