'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' Review: Monster Mania Demands the Big Screen Experience
Legendary’s “MonsterVerse” has flown under the radar for nearly a decade now as one of the most consistent franchises active on the cinematic landscape. Save only for the Godzilla’s (2014) self-serious portrayal of the titular character, the array of releases since have ranged everywhere from appropriately self-aware to downright ridiculous; the latter isn’t a negative. Since taking over with Godzilla vs. Kong in 2021, director Adam Wingard has imbued his releases with neon and pure adrenaline, syncing the untouchable legacy of the monsters with his own energized style. The result has been two of the most straight-up entertaining releases on the blockbuster scene in the past decade, with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire rounding off the duology with an increased mania in all manners.
Where GvK opted for moonlight fights and new human characters, GxK dwells in the sun. The characters from the previous effort return, and exist almost solely as exposition machines. In a film like this though, where we go long intervals with no human contact at all, it’s nice to see the focus properly diverted in such a way. The monsters are the main attraction, and Wingard knew that, especially after their overdone screen time being a main point of criticism in his last effort. The ultimate goal would be to do away with them completely unless they’re running for cover below a kaiju brawl in a big city. GxK is a step further in the right direction, and deserves some extra credit for experimenting with an extended opening completely devoid of human presence.
We follow Kong in a reintroduction to the hollow earth, picking up where the last film left off and showing just how comfortable he’s gotten living life on his own. It’s a solid 10 minutes before we finally cut away, and even then, Kong is firmly at the forefront of the conversation. We get to Godzilla shortly after, drumming up an incredible title card, but this is wholly Kong’s story.
Nearly every arc features him in some form, and the emotional climax is his alone. It’s a refreshing twist, one he deserved after seeing nearly no development in his past two appearances. Godzilla fans have plenty to work with here too, especially in the third act. He spends most of his time visiting national landmarks, demolishing villainous monsters and stopping for the occasional nap in between. Also being fitted with new purple spikes, his addition to the film may feel cosmetic, but he only adds to the experience. Narrative purpose or lack thereof, who’s saying no to Godzilla?
Wingard’s aesthetic influence goes far beyond the purple spikes, though those are gnarly in their own right. There is a mechanical feel to even the sprawling natural landscapes, something so calculated and exact about it all that ensures the same experience for everyone, every single time. It’s a staunch blockbuster presentation that stands out against a modern over-reliance of green screen and wonky special effects. Not that special effects aren’t utilized here (how else would we get the giant monkey fighting), but their utilization is more than proficient. Every ounce of the staggering $135 million budget is used fully; GxK should go down as one of the more impressive displays of budget and CGI in recent memory, and that’s no easy feat. Wingard accomplishes this with a steady hand and roaming, unafraid mind.
On the page, there's less tact and a heightened feeling of desperate necessity. Again, it’s Kong’s story, but the humans’ forced inclusion remains a problem in relation to the pace. This film being a promising development towards getting rid of the human parts in these sorts of stories means sacrificing much of its own integrity to be a bridge, in a way. Information that must be delivered is done blankly and without subtlety through hapless human dialogue.
It means less time on the ground, sure, but it does distract from the narrative’s conceptual promise after a while. Where there is a good idea there is often also a rushed execution of said idea; the 115 minutes of runtime feel surprisingly thin by the time this is over. As these movies increase their breadth and scale, it becomes harder to cram all the world building and monster mashing into a breezy runtime of any kind.
Most of this film is spent in the fictional hollow earth which, prior to release, had hardly been explained. GxK feels jarring in this way, taking this universe into the center of the earth with nearly no warning and throwing fastballs of exposition like mad, constantly. We’re introduced to villains down there who, along with their motivations, have been hidden away, waiting for the painfully convenient time to strike. Wingard’s aforementioned aesthetic force comes to the rescue here, winning out in distracting viewers from the messy cacophony of new knowledge and loose strings. This is an entertainment first effort after all, and it is in that way that the film succeeds the greatest.
GxK represents a lost brand of blockbuster filmmaking that aims for fun factor, and fun factor alone. It is oddly reminiscent of something like the first Ghostbusters movie; not in craft, but in that it simply serves to sweep the audience off into a world wholly different from the real one, smoothing the cracks in everyone’s reality and filling them with the amusing occupation of their wild adventures. Of course, this isn’t on the level of a classic like Ghostbusters, but it is nice to see this attitude return with Wingard in his monster mash-up movies. The industry needs releases like these as much as it needs the wholly serious, thoughtfully challenging ones. Sometimes, people just want to see something so far removed from our own world that you could never confuse it with anything within, and GxK is that to a tee.
There will inevitably be value lost when this one is no longer in theaters, as the kaiju action and absurd magnitude will certainly be dampened on smaller screens and sound systems. But you’d regret not checking this one out in theaters before then, as GxK, despite its hiccups, is a rare experience at the movies. There is something so irresistible about these beasts and the incredulity of their world that demands seeing it on the biggest screen possible.