Godzilla and Kong have both been staples of the movie world for several decades. Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse continues the long legacy of both iconic characters at once by telling a single story that focuses on each of them. With the recent release of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Godzilla and Kong’s world has expanded more than ever before. Now that we’re five movies into this unique cinematic universe, are things starting to feel stale or are they only getting started? Let’s take a look at all the kaiju chaos to find out.

The Good

The kaiju combat is every bit as explosive and action-packed as one would hope. When you have this many massive beasts in one movie, the battles better be epic, and they absolutely are. Punches, atomic breath, tail whips, weapons made out of spines, mechanized arm enhancements, and more are all used to spice up the action and create an especially exciting experience.

It all looks great, too. The visual effects used on each of the kaiju, the sci-fi tech, and the destruction all look lifelike. Unlike some previous entries in this franchise, we get great looks at the monsters and they’re given the screen time they deserve. There’s no holding back with the special effects, and it all works in their favor.

There are certain scenes of the movie that tell the story with just the movements and facial expressions of the creatures. No dialogue is needed. The audience is given a solid idea of Kong’s character by how he treats the other Great Apes. We see how he communicates with the humans and the other kaiju and completely understand him. The same can be said for others like Suko and Godzilla. It’s quite impressive that they’re able to tell so much of the story with zero dialogue.

One of the issues with some of the previous entries in the MonsterVerse is that too much of the focus has been taken up by the human characters rather than the monsters. The human characters are handled much better in this film. There’s just the one core group, so there’s far less jumping around. They’re actually rather entertaining, offer a lot of humor, and experience emotional arcs worth caring about. Best of all, their part of the story feels directly tied to the monsters’ story. The human characters are needed to guide part of the story and represent our place in these global tales, so it’s important that they’re handled this well.

The worldbuilding for this universe has been expanded more than ever thanks to this film. There’s tons of new lore for diehard fans to explore, from new areas and history of Hollow Earth to brand new kaiju. Perhaps the most intriguing detail is how it blends together the lore from classic Godzilla and King Kong films to make something that works for this story starring both icons.

I mentioned the humans have emotional arcs worth caring about. Surprisingly, so do the kaiju. They may be big CGI beasts, but the movie makes it difficult to not care about them. When they’re hurt, you worry about them. When they get a win, you cheer for them. The monsters, especially Kong, even grow as characters throughout the story. It must have been no easy feat, but the filmmakers succeeded in making the audience care for these monsters and actually allowed them to receive character development.

The Bad

The movie may be called Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, but Godzilla does feel a bit absent at times. When he is on screen duking it out with other Titans and teaming up with Kong, it’s nothing short of incredible. It’s just hard not to notice that Kong is given so much screen time and that so much of the story is about him while Godzilla mostly just gets some cool action sequences here and there.

In 2014’s Godzilla, the human characters were devastated by the amount of destruction caused by both Godzilla and the MUTO even though they recognized that Godzilla was there to help the world. Here, however, Godzilla and Kong wreck plenty of buildings, bridges, and monuments and even cause the deaths of numerous innocent people. Nobody seems to care whatsoever. It feels weird that it’s something they don’t even bat an eye at. Godzilla and Kong are “the good guys” here, after all, right?

Conclusion

If you’re a fan of giant monster movies, or just sci-fi action movies in general, you’ll surely enjoy Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. It’s as thrilling and action-packed as you’d hope to see with giant lizards and apes duking it out. It’s easily one of the more exhilarating films in this cinematic universe. It also offers up surprise levels of heart, worldbuilding, and humor to boot. There are some issues that lead to a bit of awkwardness, but they don’t take away from how much fun you will have watching this movie.

Rating: 9/10

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