It was three years ago, during that second phase of enforced lockdown, that director Adam Wingard unleashed Godzilla vs Kong onto the unsuspecting public. At the time, watching it on the small screen, I lamented how these two Titans deserved so much better than a film that struggled to know what to do with them most of the time.
In stark contrast to both Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla vs Kong lacked the immense sense of scale that directors Gareth Edwards and Jordan Voigt-Roberts successfully brought to these characters.
To 2024 then, and the release of another Wingard picture, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. In spite of its ridiculous title, does this behemoth of a film manage to capture the essence of its two leading Titans?
Godzilla and the almighty Kong, now living in Hollow Earth, face a colossal threat hidden deep within the planet, challenging their very existence and the survival of the human race.
Notice how short that synopsis is? That becomes our first problem. The story, crafted by three writers no less (Wingard, Terry Rossio and Simon Barrett) is as hollow as the kingdom that Kong resides in. Fleshed out by frankly uninteresting human characters that include familiar faces Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) and Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), the film grinds to a halt whenever they are on screen.
Dan Stevens (Beauty & the Beast) joins the cast as Titan vet, Trapper, but what could have been an interesting character is reduced to being cocky comic relief alongside Henry’s insufferable Hayes. In fact, the only actor to make any sort of impact is Kaylee Hottle, reprising her role as Jia from the previous film.
While the CGI is admittedly impressive, it’s all been done before, and better. Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla should have been the reference point for how Wingard was to shoot this film. There is none of the scale of how massive these Titans are – something that has blighted every film in the MonsterVerse except for the first two. By shooting the action from the point of view of the monsters, Wingard clumsily drops the ball and makes the entire 115 minutes feel like a video game.
Godzilla cleverly shot much of the action from the ground, with only the legendary beast’s feet and tail in frame – really showcasing the terror of being caught up in a Godzilla attack. The Hawaii sequence in that film in particular is an absolute masterclass of tension building – unfortunately Godzilla x Kong has none of that. Sure there’s masses of destruction but it is completely weightless. If you like that sort of thing, great, but these films have the potential to be so much better.
And despite giving Godzilla top-billing, this is very much Kong’s film. In fact, Godzilla has around 10 minutes of screen time, awkwardly sidelined with no real explanation for much of the movie’s runtime.
On the plus side, we’ve got some nice battles with other Titans, a punch the air moment for a returning character, and the film’s big bad is relatively interesting, but this can’t mask a sequel that lacks much of the care and attention the earlier films in the series brought to the table.
If the MonsterVerse is to continue, and by the looks of the box-office projections for this film, it will do, Legendary and whoever may be in the director’s chair, really need to start understanding that the only way to successfully bring these powerful characters together is to ensure the audience can feel the sheer scale of them. As I sat there watching Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire at the cinema, I was reminded of Michael Bay’s Transformers series; loud, obnoxious and entirely devoid of personality. I quickly tried to erase that depressing thought from my brain – just as a giant CGI ape used a bone whip. Oh dear.
And for goodness sake, give Godzilla something else to do. The poor lamb spends most of the film asleep.
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