Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) Review!

Synopsis – This latest entry follows up the explosive showdown of Godzilla vs. Kong with an all-new cinematic adventure, pitting the mighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence – and our own.

My Take – Ironically it’s been only a few weeks since Godzilla Minus One (2023), the critically and commercially acclaimed Japanese epic won the Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards. A resounding success that has been termed as a powerful work of art by many critics and viewers.

And this weekend, saw the release of the latest installment of the MonsterVerse franchise, a series already consisting of four features, Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), and has efficiently expanded in the form of the animated Netflix series, Skull Island, and the excellent live action Apple TV+ series, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. All working within a serious underlining that there’s nothing wrong with just being fun and ridiculous.

As one would expect, like its predecessors, this fifth film too delivers the cinematic assault one wants from such big-budget creature features, that are brought to life with the some excellent CGI work, a couple of exciting twists and decent world-building.

Returning director Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest), once again embraces the absurdity and silliness of the premise and makes the most of it to deliver a crowd-pleasing entry, placing the monsters front and center, while jettisoning any unnecessary drama in favor of catering to the fans of both these decades old titans.

Yes, the human characters are once again exist merely to provide exposition, and despite top-billing, once again surprisingly contains lesser Godzilla.

But, the film still works as an efficient monster fight delivery system, with dense and exciting set pieces, and a pulsating electronic score. And there’s just enough plot to push from one brawl to another. Though, the plot is often total nonsense it’s always in service of making the monsters fight each other while looking spectacular.

Set a few years the after defeat of Mechagodzilla, Kong has moved on to establish his territory in the recently discovered Hollow Earth, while Godzilla continues to remain on the surface, maintaining order between humanity and the Titans. But soon something begins looming, threatening to disturb this fragile peace.

As the team at Monarch have started detecting unusual electromagnetic pulses coming from Hollow Earth, leaving Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), an anthropological linguist who works closely with Kong, worried mainly as her adopted daughter, Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last member of the Iwi tribe who lived on Skull Island, who while struggling to understand her place in the world, has been sensing something, drawing random spikes, that weirdly match with seismograph patterns from Hollow Earth.

Joined by Trapper (Dan Stevens) and infamous pod-caster Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), Ilene and Jia decide to head down to investigate, as Godzilla wakes up from resting in the Colosseum, and begins traveling around the earth consuming as much radioactive energy as he can, as if he might be preparing for a big fight.

Simultaneously, Kong discovers an uncharted Subterranean region and is shocked to find a tribe of giant apes living down there, but under the rule of a tyrannical leader and an ancient legend that Godzilla, at some point centuries ago, had suppressed below and has since then waiting to escape.

Without a doubt, director Wingard and writers, Terry Rossio (Godzilla vs. Kong), Simon Barrett (The Guest) and Jeremy Slater (Death Note) have managed to weave an engaging narrative along with several larger-than-life elements, which will make you cheer for both the Titans. While the story thus looks complicated, the filmmaker successfully executes in the simpler way to make sure the audience connects with all his prominent characters and Titans.

Here, as director seems to be having a lot of fun with textures, colors, and camera work, and indeed, he’s adept at giving fans the over-the-top monster action that they demand via an imposing new villain. By this point, both Godzilla and Kong have been developed as much and, frankly, more than all the human characters. They’re not inscrutable gods; they’re heroes with responsibilities. The CGI performances of these creatures smartly conveys their inner journeys. And that action tells a story.

But much like its predecessor, Kong is the heart and soul of the film, with Godzilla largely feeling like an accomplice or sidekick. Godzilla, whose athleticism takes on Olympic levels here, is barely in the film, nor does he interact with the main characters until the last twenty minutes. Juiced up with sugary pink crystals Godzilla’s diminished presence might cause concern with fans.

Kong serves as the main monster throughout The New Empire, which immediately casts him in a more human, sensitive light that’s easy to empathize with. Showing clear signs of aging through graying fur, the leviathan is weaker and more vulnerable than ever before – at one point, he’s taken out by a toothache.

His sense of mortality is what sells a desire for familial connection, and that drives most of the plot for both monkey and man. Kong’s segment with a ‘mini Kong’, who bizarrely gets one of the series’ more fun character arcs, leads to a literal Planet of the Apes sequence that, dialogue-free, is the most entertaining part of the film. The first half of the film is almost entirely about Kong’s exploration of Hollow Earth, the subterranean ecosystem where the Titans live.

While learning about the mystical world was engaging and intriguing, it lead to a delayed introduction of the villain, leading to the VFX filled third act that is top-notch with battles between the Titans being the biggest highlight. The creative camerawork captures the lunacy of the fights with such audacity you can’t help but admire the total commitment to insanity.

Performance wise, Rebecca Hall is fine and continues sharing excellent bond with Kaylee Hottle. Dan Stevens and a returning Brian Tyree Henry are mainly present to deliver the necessary humor, which they do. In smaller roles, Alex Ferns, Rachel House and Fala Chen are decent. On the whole, ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ is an epic visual action spectacle that delivers bonkers escapism.