GODZILLA X KONG THE NEW EMPIRE

Stars: Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Bryan Tyree Henry, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns, Fala Chen and Rachel House.
Writers: Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett and Jeremy Slater.
Director: Adam Wingard

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ½

It’s 2024 and too much Godzilla is not nearly enough. Audiences ears are still ringing from the auditory assault that was the Japanese-produced, Oscar-winning international hit Godzilla Minus One and he arises once again (as he’s known to do) in GODZILLA x KING THE NEW EMPIRE. 

But if the big lizard is going to campaign for another Oscar come next year’s ceremony, it’ll have to be in the Supporting Actor category, because it’s his hairy monster mate Kong that takes the lead in the latest instalment of Legendary Pictures’ ‘Monster-verse’, which has included four films that have proven just globally successful enough to warrant subsequent narratives - Godzilla (2014); Kong: Skull Island (2017); Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019); and, Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) 

Returning director Adam Wingard opens with a giddy sequence that sets in motion exactly the kind of sensory onslaught you’ll face for the next two hours. In the alternate world of Hollow Earth, we find Kong fleeing a pack of reptile-wolf predators that prove really no threat at all. What has consumed Kong, however, is a bout of melancholy, a Titan-sized depression brought on by his disconnection from his species. 

This is reflected in the loneliness felt back on Earth by teenager Jia, played by the fantastic Kaylee Hottle, who is yearning to be reunited with her tribal ancestors, the Iwi people, and who shares an ET/Elliott-like bond with Kong. She lives with her adopted mom and Monarch boss Dr Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), who is a bit preoccupied tracking increased activity by a certain giant lizard.

Kong’s narrative is the central plot; his discovery of an enslaved ape colony gives him hope of some same-species company but also provides a nasty villain in the shape of brutal overseer, Skar King and his ice-breathing pet-monster, Shimu. Godzilla’s fans may be frustrated that their preferred monster spends two-thirds of the film wandering the planet, charging himself up on nuclear energy in anticipation of a big final showdown. 

Kong understands to defeat Skar, he needs his old foe on his side. At the cost of most of Cairo and a pyramid or two, he (sort-of) convinces ‘Zilla to join him in Hollow Earth alongside Jia, Dr Andrews, sexy vet Trapper (Dan Stevens), Titan conspiracy podcaster Bernie Hayes (a shoe-horned Bryan Tyree Henry) and a stunningly-realised Mothra in all its elegance for an effects-heavy showdown.

Wingard only addresses real world issues and emotions in the most perfunctory of ways; so disinterested in his human characters is he that in big setpieces he all but lays waste to both Rome and Rio, with not a second to reflect upon the human lives lost. His cast doesn’t fare much better, with all but Hottle asked to do little else but look up and occasionally explain the plot.

No, this is all about the Titans and Wingard, upscaling pure Saturday morning cartoon energy to accommodate his big-screen vision for chaos and destruction, delivers all that as well as fully-earned if fleeting beats of wonder and emotion.