I guess I should get this out of the way up front: Do not go into "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" expecting something like "Godzilla Minus One." That was a character-driven monster movie that explored generational trauma, PTSD and a nation's collective fear of a crusty radioactive kaiju that indiscriminately destroys Japan as easy as breathing. Would it be nice if "GxK" had the same emotional depth as "GMO?" Sure. But the films have completely different intentions, and to judge one on the strength of the other is a losing battle.
Japanese kaiju movies will always have a deeper core of emotion to them because they're coming from the perspective of a society that survived Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Godzilla is Japan's collective trauma and fear of the bomb wrapped up in a 400-foot-tall nuclear murder lizard who only sometimes comes to the protection of humanity, but more often than not only knows how to destroy.
American kaiju movies like "Pacific Rim" and the five films and two series that encapsulate the "MonsterVerse" don't truck in that fear and regret. Instead, they exist to generate pure Hollywood spectacle featuring a few laughs, some post-ironic needle drops and enough loud and bombastic destruction to discourage any audience introspection. We don't go to our Blockbusters for that. Maybe we should, but we can't blame these movies for feeding us the meal that we keep eating.
But look at the "MonsterVerse" as a whole. "Godzilla" in 2014 took the concept fairly seriously, treating the monster like an elder god of chaos and destruction. With a cast featuring Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche and Sally Hawkins all giving serious dramatic performances, it looked like the "MonsterVerse" was going the prestige route of Hollywood monster movies. Then, 2017's "Kong: Skull Island" went the opposite direction: instead of maintaining the solemnity of "Godzilla," it went full-on campy action adventure, though still packing the cast with great actors including John Goodman, Tom Hiddleston, Sam Jackson, John C. Reilly and Brie Larson.
The next two films really shaped the "MonsterVerse" as we know it now. With 2019's "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" and 2021's "Godzilla vs. Kong," they leaned so far into the cartoonish and goofball spectacle of giant monsters fighting each other that the human drama became an underwritten afterthought. That should have been impossible considering those two films had casts including Millie Bobby Brown, Sally Hawkins, Ken Watanabe, David Strathairn, Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler, Alexander Skarsgård, Lance Reddick, Brian Tyree Henry and Rebecca Hall. Those are all very solid actors who tried and failed to elevate the material.
I'm sure I'll be in the minority here, but I think "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" takes the formula that sputtered to a halt in the last two films and makes it work here. With the returning Hall and Henry, plus the added bonus of the great Dan ("The Guest") Stevens, we have humans who are fun to watch as they go on an adventure to (as was discovered in the last movie) the Hollow Earth to try and save the world from evil kaiju. While there is a little character work and drama, "Godzilla x Kong" instead just decides to be ridiculously fun while giving King Kong the best arc he has had in a movie in decades.
Here are five ridiculous things I loved that will help you decide whether you'll be into "Godzilla x Kong:" 1) Dan Stevens' character is named Trapper and is a veterinarian specifically for giant monsters. He wears Hawaiian shirts and is into Badfinger and Kiss. 2) Godzilla rage tackles Kong through a pyramid in Cairo. 3) Godzilla curls up in the Roman Coliseum to sleep like a lizard puppy. 4) One of the big set pieces involves Godzilla, Kong and the evil monsters all fighting in zero gravity!! 5) The fight between Kong and Godzilla is choreographed like The Rock and Stone Cold in a professional wrestling match. Do those things sound stupid, fun or all of the above to you? There's your answer.
Yes, these movies could be better. The AppleTV+ "MonsterVerse" series "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" finds the balance between the humans and monsters much better than the movies have, but it's also 10 hours long and has the space for actual character development. The audience I saw this with applauded rapturously when this was over, so I know it's still a crowd pleaser, but I'm not sure these movies will ever have the depth of their Japanese counterparts. Still, for what it is, "Godzilla x Kong" remains a fun and shallow time at the movies.
