GoMovieReview Rating: ★★★1/2
Rating: M
Directed by: Adam Wingard
Screenplay Written by: Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett, Jeremy Slater
From a Story by: Rossio & Wingard & Barrett,
Based on the Character, Godzilla owned and created by TOHO Co., Ltd.
Produced by: May Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric Mcleod, Thomas Tull and Brian Rogers
Starring: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns and Fala Chen.
‘Aggression is his love language.’
The next instalment of the Monster verse, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire opens in a familiar green.
Fluorescent crystals rise towards the sky. And somewhere in Hollow Earth, Kong runs.
Old timey music plays.
The world tilts.
That feeling of vertigo persists throughout the film as Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) continues working for Monarch with adopted daughter, Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last of the Iwis, to monitor Kong in his new home.
The only way to stop Godzilla and Kong fighting was to keep them apart: Kong in the Hollow Earth and Godzilla on the surface, where he, ‘can fight battles we can’t.’
Monarch monitor Godzilla because he’s the alarm for any threat from a titan.
So when signals start registering that can’t be explained, and Jia starts dreaming while awake, like something’s calling her, they know when Godzilla starts charging from a nuclear reactor that something big is about to threaten the surface.
Without giving too much away, Kong and Godzilla must unite to face the threat that lurks even deeper within the earth. Within the Subterranean Realm. Uncharted territory closed off. Until now.
It’s a little cheesy.
But there’s tongue-in-cheek humour sprinkled throughout, note the return of Trapper (Dan Stevens) now vet / dentist to the titans, and Podcaster Burnie (Brian Tyree Henry) who comments to Trapper, ‘I think there’s something seriously wrong with you.’
Sometimes the humour hit, sometimes it didn’t.
There’s a lot of gooey green stuff, including Kong tearing a death jackal apart over his head to cover himself in its gizzards.
And there’s a lot of blasting action trapezing across the globe, scenes shot in Hawaii, Brazil, Marocco and Iceland, the scenery spectacular to watch on the big screen.
This instalment is directed by Adam Wingard who also directed Kong Vs Godzilla (2021), so there’s a similar feeling to the action, yet there’s a refresh to the cast with Jia taking a lead role who’s enchanting in her silence.
I just didn’t warm to the story to really get behind the drama.
Kong’s facial expressions were more nuisance and there’s a lot of communication conveyed through sign and expression.
A highlight when Burnie is confronted by a tribesman, where it’s polite to make real close eye contact, the expression of the eyes the communication. Burnie did not like the forced eye contact. I’m still giggling at the memory of it.
I re-read my review of Godzilla Vs Kong to recall a comparison and found I was using the same language to describe Godzilla x Kong: rollercoaster, cheesy, worth seeing on the big screen.
So if you liked Adam Wingard’s previous Kong / Godzilla movie, you’ll like this one.
