Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) Movie Review: One of the best films of 2023, with even a historic Oscar win, was pulled from the US theaters earlier this year. What’s even more puzzling is that it still hasn’t opened widely in many Asian markets. Despite “Godzilla Minus One” being in the top 10 movies for theaters, garnering both critical as well as audience acclaim, there’s been no sign of when it’d be available on streaming or any kind of home video.
The reported gatekeeping of the movie not releasing in the same year as a Legendary production in the 70th anniversary of Godzilla isn’t just a logistical concern, but one of artistic integrity too. Why I’m saying this is because, as it appears, the people who’ve inherited this franchise are so adamant about making it ‘fun’ that they’ve forgotten how to earn that feeling. The majesty that Gareth Edwards brought to the Hollywood screens back in 2014 with his film should have been the template for how to make these movies feel worthy of the summer spectacle they’re straining to be.
But anyone who thought the studio’s latest would reflect that feeling of swashbuckling awe would be disappointed to find that “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” eagerly strips all its seriousness and scale while stripping its human characters off their souls. Do you want a dumbed-down summer film that bathes in its own ridiculousness?
We got that in director Adam Wingard’s 2021 film, which was the first major blockbuster to come out when the pandemic had shuttered films over a simultaneous streaming release. What’s more disappointing is that The New Empire is so far removed from its predecessor’s gleeful and truly escapist hijinks that it flattens the joy of it into a big-screen adventure equivalent of a 10-year-old kid smashing his toys together.
The film continues to follow us with the native Skull Islander named Jia (15-year-old Kaylee Hottle), who now lives with her mother, Ilene (Rebecca Hall). As things quickly deteriorate, as they often do, Ilene gets orders to have the arch-enemies save the day without causing mayhem. She takes the help of the conspiracy theorist Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry) and vet doctor Trapper (Dan Stevens) along this journey to the Hollow Earth, lumping the trio with bits of comedy until they stop struggling to make any of it work.
The villain, whom the film’s title refers to, hopes to make it into his own new dominion now that Monarch has opened a two-way portal between the planet’s different levels. For all its worth, the makers substantially give Godzilla less individual screentime, thus turning Kong into a full Koko the Gorilla. The silent scenes following the latter particularly remain the only highlight of the film, as we watch Kong discover that he might not be the last of the apes as he had thought earlier.
The trio of credited screenwriters — Simon Barrett, Jeremy Slater, and Terry Rossio — being handed the giant responsibility of living up to the expectations of the MonsterVerse ultimately seem thumped by the audience’s response to the Titans’ films over the years. The attempt appears to be in having some sort of emotional crux in Jia and Ilene’s dynamic. But neither does that part of the screenplay get its cathartic duo, nor does the film deliver in giving us more of the ‘fun’ its dodgy marketing titles have promised.
Even when the majority of the runtime starts to feel repetitive, Tom Holkenborg and Antonio Di Iorio’s synth-driven score carves out the way for a seeming adventure flecked with mysterious undertones. But by the time the movie reaches its grand finale on the beaches of Rio, it loses any sense of visual dexterity or coherence that only serves as a glaring reminder of how much of “G x K” it has failed to deliver. Three years after the pandemic, there’s arguably less audience demand for another installment, especially following the writers‘ strike and the giant success of the Japanese film. Even the brash pop culture is unlikely to make any kind of impact of this pre-summer blockbuster sustain itself by the start of the summer.
