The last time reigning champs of hollow earth came together, it nearly meant the end of Kong, but not before a Ghidorah-powered mecha threat brought the two together, ending the conflict, naming their turfs, and sticking to them. However in the MonsterVerse, nothing ever stays calm for long. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire brings the iconic titans back together, and while one may overshadow the other here, that doesn’t mean our reluctant duo doesn’t get time to shine alongside each other.
Big Sad Monkey Man
Diving deeper than before into the hollow earth here, we return to find Kong being pursued by a pack of wolf-like creatures, fending them off and grabbing a quick bite in the process. We very soon see that Kong has never felt lonelier; believing himself to be the last of his kind and failing to find even a hint of any other ape titans, he feels lost. At least at one point he had Jia to speak with and understand him, but within the hollow earth, he has no one.
What works best in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is how it finally allows its monsters to be their own individual characters, specifically Kong. They aren’t just vast beasts of an untamed nature, they have personalities and even some feelings, especially Kong. It’s said in the film that the titans were the protectors of nature and the apes were the protectors of man. While Kong didn’t have much contact with humans outside of the Iwi of Skull Island, it was still in his nature to protect and to have familial connections with others. Without humans to protect, Kong feels as if he’s lost his purpose.
The G-Man
Like I’m sure many of you have heard, the big lizard takes the backseat this time around, lurking (or sleeping) for a good chunk of the film and building strength for the battle to come. With the titular titans separated, Godzilla being above ground means he is a lot less involved with the conflict unfolding beneath the surface. Most of the film is just him dealing with other issues and taking a bit of a European vacation, all while draining any and all radiation he can find.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire takes the opportunity to make a cosmetic change to its leading lizard, slimming down on him and allowing him to evolve for the first time since we met this iteration. Many fans were unhappy with the character’s design, with most saying he’s just way too pudgy compared to his predecessors. It’s a change that works, but the bright blue glow will surely be missed. The look became an iconic part of this iteration and was a great design choice.
While he doesn’t get as much screentime as Kong, he’s still allowed to kick some ass, and really gets his dues toward the end of the film, when we see him in the hollow earth. Besides that, there isn’t a ton here for him, but hopefully Godzilla takes center stage next time around. You never know whose gonna crawl out of the hollow earth next… or even fall from the sky.
Stealing the Spotlight
There are good chunks of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire where no words are spoken, this time is set aside solely for monster drama and its fantastic. While they can’t verbally communicate with the audience, you never feel lost in the drama, the movie is always able to effectively convey context of the scene and whats going on with its monsters in the film.
This feels like it could be their key to success. The human drama in the MonsterVerse has always been one of its most criticized aspects, unless you are Monarch, which I must admit is the best work with human characters in the shared universe. They’re learning to treat Godzilla and Kong as actual characters, rather than just being a giant gorilla and lizard. The universe has always tried to treat them as such, but never to this length – usually just crediting the titans as themselves in the credits. This movie actually takes the time to allow us to follow Kong himself throughout the hollow earth.
The Humans
The dreaded humans of the MonsterVerse… every movie has to have them! They’re your way in; the audience needs something to latch onto and some human drama to connect with. Let’s get it out of the way – are they fantastic? Not really. Are they entertaining? Sure!
The best part of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire‘s cast is how much they slimmed things down coming off of a pretty busy cast on Godzilla vs Kong, featuring the likes of Millie Bobby Brown, Eiza González, Alexander Skarsgård, and Kyle Chandler. Here you get returning stars Rebecca Hall, Kaylee Hottle, Brian Tyree Henry, and newcomer Dan Stevens, and that is absolutely all you need. They finally figured out that people aren’t really coming to see these big hollywood names, the only big names they need are from the actors taller than skyscrapers. Why shell out massive paydays for these big names when you’ve already got what you need?
Much of the human drama here isn’t super gripping – of course it’s nothing like what we saw in Minus One, because they’re two very different films. Much of the human dialogue is just exposition dumping, and undercuts what could’ve been some cool scenes for other titans at some other point in the film, but it isn’t super noticeable. Dan Stevens is just having the time of his life here, playing the carefree and witty Trapper, presumably the one and only titan vet. He gets some fun moments and comes equipped with a killer mixtape that leads to some fun needle drops throughout the film. Stevens’ Trapper and Bryan Tyree Henry’s Bernie Hayes even develop quite a fun dynamic.
I don’t think we give enough credit for how well this franchise incorporates American sign language into its movies. More recently with the inclusion of Jia, played Kaylee Hottle, it’s nice to see a deaf actress play such a prominent role in the franchise, making for a much more interesting protagonist than previous inclusions in these films have attempted. We even get to see Kong sign at times in this film, mostly when communicating with Jia.
New Friends and Enemies
Of course a new MonsterVerse film comes with new titans! The majority of these newcomers, however, are more foe than friend. Since the beginning, this universe hasn’t been afraid to come up with its own original ideas, specifically with its monsters. The Mutos were just the beginning of this idea and would eventually lead to Skar King and Shimo, the newest threats on the hollow earth block.
Skar King isn’t the exact threat we thought he’d be but he’s good enough. He’s ruthless, cocky, and even a bit sassy. We just really do not get to know that much about him. This is where that exposition dumping comes back into play. Like many of the past MonsterVerse films, we learn about a lot of the lore through carvings and drawings depicting great battles, and it’s similar here for the origins of the Skar King. We know how he got the name but why? How does that crystal control Shimo? Where did Shimo come from? just a lot of unanswered questions that could’ve been answered with more time allotted to our leading stars, the monsters.
Shimo suffers from this more so than Skar King. We know nothing about this ice dragon titan; all we know is that she is under the control of the King via a crystal lodged in his bone whip. What would’ve really helped these two was showing us how Skar King gained control of Shimo, showing us the war between Godzilla and the apes, stop telling, show us!
Everybody loves Suko! he’s a lovable little shit who is apprehensive to trust Kong at first, seeing this strange ape fend off so many other apes and hold his own against a water serpent. Suko soon learns to trust Kong, seeing him as a father figure and someone who can help free the other apes from the ape tyrant. This would be the film’s best arc, the way both Kong and Suko needed each other than they thought, Kong finding someone to call family and Suko finding someone to protect and love him.
All That Extra Budget
When you’re not shelling out massive paydays to a star-studded cast, you’ve got a whole lot more money to make your movie better, and that is exactly what they did. Reportedly only running about $135m with its production budget, for something so CGI-heavy, the movie looks great.
Even beyond the CGI, the set design and especially the lighting on the film is fantastic. Multiple times throughout the film I was caught off guard by how vibrant and colorful the film was. They really went the extra mile to help this film feel out of this world and much more fantastical. I also have to shoutout: Another criticism from fans remedied here was the constant kaiju action that’s pushed into night time fights, of course with heavy rain.
Many hated those choices and how much harder it made watching the brawls. Here, and even in Godzilla vs Kong, we get a ton of daytime action, and even if it is a bit darker out, there is sufficient lighting to make things easy to follow. That Adam Wingard sure loves his neon, and he truly is the man for these films; it would be a shame to see these stories continue without him, and it’s obvious how much love he has for this franchise and its characters. Let him keep making these and find all sorts of weird new stuff to do and new monsters to introduce.
‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ – Final Thoughts
While the film is a little more Kong than it is Godzilla, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire truly feels like the first MonsterVerse film to be about the monsters. Kong takes center stage as he travels deeper into the hollow earth than previously known. With some awesome action, a decent cast, and some stellar VFX work, this will surely be a fun time at the movies! Make sure to see it on the biggest screen possible.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire releases in theaters on March 29, 2024. Check out the trailer below.
The Review
TL;DR
While the film is a little more Kong than it is Godzilla, this truly feels like the first MonsterVerse film to be about the monsters. With some awesome action, a decent cast, and some stellar VFX work, this will surely be a fun time at the movies!
