Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Review

Apes together strong… but not as strong as ape and lizard

This Movie IS For:

• Those who are already all in on the Monster Verse (like me)
• Fans looking for the ultimate popcorn movie

This Movie is NOT For:

• People who want to keep Rome or Rio De Janeiro intact
• Anyone who doesn’t want to hear about Kong’s deep hollow earth backstory for thirty minutes

Brief Review With Minor Spoilers

At this point, I might be entering my big monster phase of adulthood—developmental psychologists usually call this the mid-thirties. I’m all in on the Monster Verse for better, worse, and in this case, just OK. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire drops the adversarial ‘versus’ of the previous film in the series, and unfortunately loses some of the fun conflict with it. These titans got most of their good fights out in Godzilla Vs Kong, and honestly, they should have been kept apart a while longer before being smashed into another team-up film.

As with the rest of the movies in this franchise, one of Godzilla x Kong’s greatest failings is the humans that aren’t comic relief. This movie is about a Hollow Earth beneath another Hollow Earth, we don’t need a side story about parenting. As the Monster Verse continues, it either needs to hire better writers for these emotional moments or toss them to the side entirely. Fortunately, the two main sources of comic relief in Dan Stevens’s, Trapper a Titan veterinarian/adventurer, and Brian Tyree Henry’s, Bernie, a conspiracy podcaster, were a delight. Their carefree nearly-bromance throughout the perils in Hollow Earth is one of the best parts of this film.

Now, onto bromances that aren’t as fulfilling, Godzilla and Kong. Unfortunately, the storylines of these two titans are mostly separate for the entirety of the film. Kong’s feels fully fleshed out and interesting, if a little overdone, but Godzilla feels more like an afterthought. Aside from using the Roman Coliseum as a dog bed, there’s not much for our favorite lizard to do. There was potential for some more King of the Monsters-style action, but it never felt fully delivered and was rushed. Ultimately, I don’t think the film needed both Godzilla and Kong. Future entries would do well to focus on one or the other before trying another team-up movie.

Another issue is that the film’s big bad didn’t feel as… well big. When it’s just Kong and the other apes on screen, there’s a problem with visual context. Without anything to compare these titanic creatures to, they look like normal apes. It’s only when titans are next to buildings, or we see humans running in the streets that the awesome size of the monsters is felt. Unfortunately, most of the big fighting happens in Hollow Earth, making much of the middle of the film feel small as a result. Thankfully, the final fight is a spectacle on the surface and is fun to watch. It’s not as good as the climax in King of the Monsters, but you can’t be Godzilla playing Ghidorah’s severed head like a flaming flute.

Overall, Godzilla x Kong is not quite as good as its predecessors, but it is still a fun popcorn flick. If you want to watch giant monsters fight, you could certainly do a lot worse. If you’re averse to going to the theater, you’re in luck and can probably wait a few months for this movie to come to Max. In the meantime, I recommend going back and watching Kong: Skull Island, or Godzilla: King of the Monsters (my review here) instead.

Final Score:

3/5 Stars – Good ape, bad ape, good lizard, bad lizard, I just want to watch them fight.

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