With Godzilla vs Kong being the first real post-COVID blockbuster to drag audiences en masse to cinemas in 2021, and Godzilla Minus One winning an Oscar this past March, the Godzilla stock is at a real high as the moment, making for a slightly higher-pressure environment for Godzilla x Kong The New Empire to debut in that it might have expected. Thankfully, Adam Wingard’s goofy new entry into the Hollywood ‘Monsterverse’ side of the legendary atomic-dino franchise mostly clears the bars set for it – it’s already made a ton of money at the box office and, my usual complaints with this series’ treatment of its human characters aside, this is a super-solid and thuddingly entertaining monster brawl.
After going from enemies to reluctant allies last time out, New Empire opens with the titular Titans at a begrudging peace – Kong is adventuring down in the Hollow Earth wilds while Godzilla battles hostile beasts on the surface world in between naps in which he curls up in the Roman Colosseum like a big scaly cat. Of course, though, a new threat emerges in the form of the Scar King – another colossal ape who lives secretly in an even Hollow-er Earth beneath the regular Hollow Earth and sadistically maintains control of an entire giant-ape society that Kong ends up stumbling upon.
The Scar King is a genuinely compelling villain even before he unleashes the giant ice-dragon thing he has chained up in his lava dungeon upon the denizens of Rio de Janeiro (New Empire happily hops across the globe, destroying cities and landmarks with reckless abandon). Without any words, his evil is visible, way more of a schemer than any of the previous, more purely animalistic, baddies this series has presented the Titans with. His rivalry with Kong hits home, sensational effects lending all the big apes (even the Scrappy Doo-esque kid one that becomes Kong’s sidekick) a real expressiveness.
If this loving attention to Kong-detail does leave Godzilla noticeably playing second fiddle, it’s a worthy trade-off, and the big lizard still gets some real fun fights. Wingard keeps the thunderous weight of his Titan cast mostly intact even as he pulls from some videogame-y inspirations to keep the battles faster and more fluid than ever before. It’s frequently a real technical marvel, even if the awe-inspiring sense of scale and grandeur that Gareth Edwards opened this series with back in 2014 is now almost entirely absent.
It’s important that the monster stuff is as good as it is, because the human side of proceedings remains dismal. With the exception of franchise newcomer Dan Stevens, who does manage to leave a solid impression as Titan vet Trapper, the cast here are in a mode you’d struggle to even call autopilot. Returning stars Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry (please, please Hollywood, give this man the roles he deserves) rattle through their dull exposition and awful jokes with a real sense of grim obligation and everyone else is just instantly forgettable, almost all dialogue scenes suck the air out of the film completely.
It’s not really a dealbreaker, as the humans are decidedly *not* the star attractions here, but it would have been nice to see the rest of the cast join Stevens, who is rocking an accent that you might generously call Super Hans-esque, in embracing the schlocky B-movie vibes and having actual fun with it. Given the financial success that New Empire has already enjoyed, another sequel is inevitable – let’s hope that one has the guts to go full silent movie slapstick with the title stars and ditch the feeble human race altogether.
Jack Blackwell – Film Reviews 