Directed by Adam Wingard, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire follows up from the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new adventure. It pits the mighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within the Hollow Earth that challenges their very existence as well as the existence of humanity. They must rise and fight together or fall alone.
The Monsterverse has come a long way since 2014. Every installment has a unique voice, tone, and levels of quality that have gone in a variety of directions yet have maintained a very supportive fanbase. It welcomed audiences of all kinds, making it one of the most surprisingly successful cinematic universes that has remained mostly strong even in the shadow of the larger cinematic comic book film universes.
I was always a massive Kaiju fan as a kid and have grown up seeing and supporting nearly all adaptations of the most iconic monsters, including all the Monsterverse installments, which I have mostly liked or loved up to this point. So I was obviously very excited for this new installment and it was easily one of my most anticipated films of this year, one that I was desperate to see on the biggest screen possible after missing out on watching the previous installment due to the pandemic.
And after getting to see it in its full glory on IMAX I can say that this film absolutely f**king rocks and I loved it so much from start to end. It was an epic cinematic experience that for me personally was on par with Dune Part Two, though obviously for very different reasons. This film lived up to my expectations while also exceeding them as it felt like I was given the ultimate modern kaiju film I’ve dreamed of seeing for so many years but never had until now.
I’m definitely not expecting any of my fellow reviewers or even general critics to have the same level of fanatic and passionate love that I have for this film, but I had no reason to hate or dislike anything this film had to offer. I will delve into what I loved so much about this film without going into any major spoilers, as much as I wish I could share them.
To start things off, the best and most unique element of this film that makes it stand out from the previous installments is the that the titular titans are the lead characters of this film. I am not joking. For the first time in the franchise Kong and Godzilla actually get to be the lead characters in their own story after four mostly human lead installments. They’re treated like actual characters instead of just monsters, which I believe has been the most requested fan desire for so many years.
Yes, human characters are still present in the film to help move and exposit the plot in certain areas but most of the story is told through the titans without any dialogue and relies heavily on visual storytelling. It’s such a refreshing and awesome direction that director Adam Wingard chose to do that I absolutely loved and I think it will impress a lot of people with just how well the titans are handled compared to past installments.
Similar to the previous installment, Kong is heart and center of this film’s story as we see him go on an epically heroic and emotionally compelling journey through Hollow Earth, finding his kind and facing off against a great evil that he finds himself unable to overcome by himself, leading to his eventual tag team with Godzilla.
Through physical actions and incredible expressions, you understand all of his emotions and can follow everything that is going on with him without needing any dialogue whatsoever and I loved every moment of it. He is a fully fleshed-out character that you are always rooting for as he feels so layered and developed compared to any human character in the entirety of the Monsterverse (with the exception of some of the human characters from Kong Skull Island and Monarch).
I loved his journey from start to end, alongside Godzilla who was an absolute badass in this film. Even though he is not as front and center compared to Kong he is still treated like a character that you equally root for as he is on his own journey to evolve into a more powerful version of himself for the grand fight ahead that will determine the fate of the Earth. He is the ultimate protector of Earth in the Monsterverse, in the same way Goku is the ultimate protector in the Dragonball universe, and much like him continuously increases in great power through consuming radiation throughout the franchise, ready to deliver some truly epic showdowns.
I also absolutely loved his evolved design in this film which appears to be hugely inspired by the millennium era of Godzilla films.
As much as I enjoyed seeing the two fight each other in the previous installment I loved seeing them work together in this one, giving perhaps the best kaiju team-up in decades. It was so satisfying to see these two handled the way they were by Wingard and his writing team and I was equally impressed with the handling of the other titan characters in this film.
Our main titan villain of this film is the Skar King, an evil ape titan who is dead set on conquering the surface world, with the help of his ape empire and a powerful ice titan named Shimo. This may be a massive hot take but I consider the Skar King to not only be the best titan villain we have had in the Monsterverse so far but also one of the best Kaiju villains of all time. The reason I say this is because this is the first titan villain I’ve seen in years that I feel has its very own personality and character that oozes with sadistic evil, making for a monster you truly love to hate and ends up being extremely memorable.
He struts around like he is the absolute shit and has this very unsettling laugh that gives him a maniacal charm that you just don’t see with any other Kaiju villains over the years. He also proves himself a formidable adversary, both with his physical skills and more importantly his intelligence. Not to mention he has a great arsenal on stand-by with fearsome ape soldiers and the aforementioned Shimo.
I won’t get too much into Shimo due to spoilers but she definitely had an interesting role in the story that I loved, and was also an awesome original titan who proved to be a great threat to both Kong and Godzilla, especially with her abilities of ice. Her full design reveal was both epic and beautiful, making for an overall awesome inclusion in the film and the Monsterverse as a whole.
Then there is the young ape Suko who was also a great addition to the film, especially with his fun relationship with Kong. He does start off as a mischievous little gremlin in the beginning, despite his deceivingly cute appearance, but eventually shows himself to be more of a victim of Skar King’s vicious rule, having not received kindness from anyone before until he meets Kong. Suko and Kong have both heartfelt and hilarious scenes together that remind me almost a bit of Kratos and Atreus in God of War, without any dialogue but still extremely well executed.
There are also a number of other titans that get shown on full display in this film, including one big surprise inclusion that has surprisingly been hidden from all of the marketing for this film. While titans like Skar King and Shimo were unfortunately leaked even before the trailers came out, this particular titan was somehow not leaked at all, and was such a brilliant surprise addition that made the film even better for me.
When it comes to the human cast this is the first time we get a really slimmed-down cast of characters in the Monsterverse, with only four main characters and a few supporting characters that aren’t as focused on compared to the titans. The main characters include the three returning characters: Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), Jia (Kaylee Hottle), and one newcomer named Trapper (Dan Stevens) all of which I found to be an overall entertaining group of characters that I really enjoyed.
None of them came off as unnecessary and their performances were all great across the board, even if their main purpose was to help exposit information for the story and expand upon the lore of the Monsterverse. They aren’t necessarily deep or fleshed-out characters compared to the ones we recently received in Monarch, but they are compelling enough in their own ways that they never came off as boring or annoying to me as others in the past have been.
Rebecca Hall gives a commanding yet warm presence, especially when it comes to her character’s relationship with Jia. Brian Tyree Henry offers enjoyable humor as conspiracy nut Bernie while also offering a warm presence of his own, not coming off as too over the top like he was a bit in the last film. However, Kaylee Hottle as Jia once again steals the spotlight with both her performance and heartfelt journey to discover her roots as an Iwi. She was very compelling in the last film and is just as compelling now, even though she doesn’t get as much time interacting with Kong this time around.
The returning characters feel consistently good but I was not expecting newcomer Dan Stevens as Trapper to be an absolute stand-out, and he sure was. From the very moment he comes on screen he is fully committed to this film’s tone and energy, adding to it with his own, giving us a highly enjoyable character that you can never get sick of. Some previous actors have attempted to painfully inject their own brand of humor with their Monsterverse characters, resulting in jokes that were very forced and unfunny. Dan’s humor on the other hand felt naturally charming and funny, never coming off as annoying at all, He feels like an absolute gem of a dude to have involved in a film like this.
The supporting characters that briefly appear in this film are good though I will say I was definitely impressed with the whole cast of the Hollow Earth Iwi tribe, including the Iwi Queen played by Fala Chen, who had no dialogue but was able to perfectly deliver compelling presence and mystery when she was on screen.
This film is by far the most action-packed in the Monsterverse and while its story isn’t that deep or complex it is still hugely entertaining, due to it being told with sincerity and fully committing to the tone it sets out to do. It’s clear that this film from start to end is a love letter to the Shōwa Era of Godzilla films, being unapologetically silly yet also heartfelt and satisfying with its epic moments that I felt emotionally invested in.
This film set out to be the ultimate kaiju battle crowd-pleaser, full of fun and insane sequences and I believe it succeeded in that goal. It gets you energized and excited as it goes full sci-fi adventure with its deeper exploration of the lore through the titans and light exposition, without dragging the story to a halt as previous installments sometimes did.
And even if some people were to consider this a mostly mindless kaiju flick in terms of narrative, it is clear that there is still some great creative passion put into this film by Adam Wingard and his team, whether it be the fun and innovative visual storytelling through the titans or the epic and grand visuals sequences complete with some of the best action, VFX, CGI, sound design, cinematography, and score made in the Monsterverse so far.
The action is huge, relentless, and crazy, but more importantly it’s shown in all its glory and looks visually satisfying, mixing in humorous and brutal fun without ever cutting away from it. One of the biggest criticisms the Monsterverse has faced over the years is its continuous need to cut away from titan battles to human stuff, but this film doesn’t do any of that. We get long, creative, and masterfully executed action sequences that are not edited down or cut away from at any point, allowing non-stop fun to go on from start to end.
This film radiates with beauty in its effects, and even though a majority of the landscapes, creatures, and action is CGI it all looks perfect and polished in every frame, showing that a lot of time and care was put into making it look really great and detailed.
This film was not afraid to fully embrace the sci-fi fantasy visuals in epic fashion and utilizes the locations and monster powers to their full potential. Unhinged imagination was allowed full reign in this film and I was absolutely on board with it no matter how nuts it went in every shot. Watching it all on IMAX definitely enhanced the experience as well. Also, I have to give immense praise to creature concept artist Jared Krichevsky for some of the truly outstanding creature designs he made for the film that are on full display. Artists like him deserve way more credit than they get.
When it comes to the music of the film we get a fun selection of 80s needle-drop songs that are fitting for the film’s tone, but the true hero of this film is the fantastic score by returning composer Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL) and co-composer Antonio Di Iorio. Together they deliver a phenomenally epic score that enhances the emotions and intensity of the film as a whole while also offering audible identity. They created a more synth-heavy score that enhanced the sci-fi adventure elements of the film as a whole and all of it was satisfying to listen to, but also the loud and operatic parts of the score were equally as satisfying to listen to.
Do I believe everyone will love this film as immensely as I do? Probably not but I do think there will be a lot of people who will be satisfied or at least highly entertained by this installment. For me personally it was a dream film come to life that I feel I will never stop loving and will absolutely want to see again and again whenever possible. I’m going to give Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire an A+ = 98.
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