If you are a regular reader, firstly, cheers for reading! Secondly, you will know I am not shy to rate some proper B, C or Z movies highly, as long as they know what they are and I manage to have fun with them. That’s why I would never call myself a movie critic. Before watching this film, I hoped I could put that hat on while watching Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. There were some moments I was able to enjoy myself (mainly the last fight in Rio), but most things before that just felt unnecessary, and dare I say too much. Am I really saying this movie had too much action? Yes, I do. Fuck me…
Before we proceed any further, I want to make one thing clear. I am not under the spell of Godzilla Minus One (2023, my review here). Is that a much better movie you should see rather than this Godzilla x Kong? Absolutely, no contest there. However, I knew before even sitting my ass in the cinema that Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire won’t reach the heights of that movie (well, I didn’t know, I had a hunch) because this isn’t that kind of movie. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the other monster movie, where one big monster smashes stuff, fights other big monsters that smash more stuff, then they team up for reasons I still fully don’t understand and smash this third monster. The end. I knew this would be more about how they get them fighting and how those sequences would be shot; it is here where this monster cookie would crumble for me. And this movie… surely has quite a few action scenes.
During the third or fourth action scene, this movie gave me in a relatively short time, I caught myself getting bored. If there’s one thing you don’t want to write when reviewing an action movie where two titans fight each other and then fight some other monsters, that “thing” would be the word “boring”. But the action scenes all had the same “feel”, so they all kind of blended in for me after a while; I don’t know about you, but the moment I can’t differentiate what the difference between this scene and that scene, it’s hard for me to have fun.
The only action sequence I would call “pretty good” (notice I can’t even say excellent) is the one in Rio at the very end of this movie. That fight was filmed well where I understood where everyone was, the location was well-lit (read: bright), the action felt dynamic, and even the editing wasn’t as aggressive. But honestly, I can’t think of one other action scene before that one that would stand out to me, and this movie has precisely 11.259!
The other thing is the human characters are yet again in the way, and I couldn’t care less about any of them. This is shit to write, considering Rebecca Hall, one of the most talented actresses we have today, is in this movie with Brian Tyree Henry, who I like more and more! Rebecca at least tries something, but I don’t know whether her storyline with her daughter (played by Kaylee Hottle) could have ever worked, no matter how you shoot it, considering this isn’t that kind of movie. That storyline was beautiful and impactful, but it felt out of place in a movie called Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Also, this movie made me not like Brian Tyree Henry, as he is supposed to be the comedic relief. Luckily, I know he is funny and talented, so I know this wasn’t him, but damn, they did him dirty in this movie. Almost every single thing his character said felt off, and maybe one or two jokes landed. I feel like it’s important to repeat I am not blaming either of these actors; they did the best with what have been given, and honestly, if you recast this movie with anyone else, I doubt anybody could make these lines work.
What I enjoyed, besides the Rio finale, was the mythology behind the Hollow Earth and being there. I did enjoy the scenes “below” more than I thought. I thought they did a fine job trying to tie everything together (with Skull Island, other titans, ancient tribe). Does it work if you think about it logically? No. But I can accept it in the movie, because that is what I am talking about when I say: “judge the movie based on its merits”. Those parts worked to an extent for me within the movie.
But everything else left me cold. And again, putting aside the juggernaut that was Godzilla Minus One, I still think this movie is just average. When the movie finished, I thought long and hard about whether I had any bias towards this movie due to Godzilla Minus One. I realised I didn’t because even if I compare this film to something “basic, yet entertaining” like Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023, my review here), I enjoyed that movie much more than this one due to the action scenes feeling different. I still remember most action scenes because they weren’t choppy; most of them were shot in a way where you could always understand where everybody was. In this movie, I don’t think it’s the case, and again, it’s never a good sign when action scenes start to blend in with each other after some time.
Overall, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is an okay movie that has one pretty good action scene. As it became a trademark at this point, the human characters feel out of place, even if they get decent actors in these films. Most of the CGI feels the same, and halfway through the movie, you start thinking: “Yeah, I guess there is a such thing as abundance of action scenes; who could have known?” At this point, I honestly wonder whether this “monster verse” isn’t due for a reboot or, even better, a break. Ken Watanabe started it in Godzilla (2014) by saying: “Let them fight.” I think it’s time to let them sleep for a bit.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke