Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Movie Review)

Between last year's Godzilla Minus One and the Apple TV+ show, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, it sure feels like a great time to be a Godzilla fan. And while I am still yet to watch the former and I wasn't particularly keen on the latter, I was very much eager to see what new tricks the titular kaiju had up its monstrous sleeves in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. But does the latest entry in Legendary's MonsterVerse bring anything new to the table or is it simply more of the same?

The film serves as a direct sequel to Godzilla vs. Kong, so those who never got around to watching Monarch can rest easy as that show has no real bearing on the film's events. Much of the movie takes place in the Hollow Earth, where Kong now resides with hopes of making a new home for himself. But he soon stumbles across an entire tribe of giant apes and their tyrannical leader, the Scar King, who is hellbent on spreading his tyranny to the surface world. 

Meanwhile, Godzilla has slipped back into his role of sole alpha and protector of mankind as he continues to keep the different categories of kaiju at bay. But when he suddenly starts seeking out sources of radiation to draw power from, it becomes clear that he is preparing for his most powerful adversary yet. Now, the two titular titans must once again set aside their differences and band together in the ultimate monster tag team. 

The MonsterVerse films have never really taken themselves too seriously. And with each subsequent entry, the filmmakers have leaned increasingly harder into each one's inherent campiness. So anyone going into Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire expecting high art only has themselves to blame at this point. That said, I still found myself taken aback by just how nonsensical this new MonsterVerse entry manages to get in its two-hour runtime.

To call the story in the movie convoluted and dumb would be putting it lightly. It often approaches Transformers levels of ridiculousness with just how logic-defying and reliant on plot contrivances it becomes. It is almost as though Adam Wingard and his writers had taken a bet to cram in as much ridiculous action and farfetched storytelling as humanly possible. But depending on who you ask, that could either be considered a good thing or a bad thing. 

Much like prior entries, the new film suffers from a slew of issues that range from inconsistent pacing to human characters that are just nowhere as compelling as their kaiju counterparts. However, the decision to trim the roster of human characters down and to give the kaiju more screen time ultimately helped to keep the film moving along before it turned into a slog. But I still felt we could have gotten to the meat of the action much sooner.

Because Godzilla x Kong shines brightest when it simply lets its two titans loose to cause all manner of chaos and destruction. It never gets old watching entire cities get wrecked in the wake of these monsters and the film delivers plenty of that, especially in its explosive third act. The visual effects bringing all that chaos and destruction to life were adequate for the most part, although I don't see it winning any awards at next year's Oscars.

Godzilla x Kong doesn't quite match the sheer thrills of the last MonsterVerse movie, but it certainly packs enough of a punch that it is sure to satisfy Kaiju fans. The movie lives up to its title by offering the kind of monster mayhem most of us could only ever dream of as kids. And while it does require leaving your brain firmly checked at the door to overlook some of its more egregious shortcomings, the overall package is still worthy enough to earn another recommendation from me.