Godzilla x Kong : Le Nouvel Empire

Something is very wrong with American film making for some time. Nothing makes sense here, intelligence of people is sharply underestimated (on the level of insult) and nothing really works with story. This last film about monsters shows that while it is trying to draw some long forgotten mythology that works worse than in most cartoons for children under 12. Human characters exist only to remind us of long forgotten cliches and definitely not of characters. Destroying the cultural and historical heritage of mankind is order of a day. And in all that there's nowhere in the site possibility of simple 'just sit back and enjoy the rid'. What an insulting mess of corporate idiocy... That beautiful queen under the surface and some fights do save this experience, but the whole thing is not worth the effort at all...

Lots of Titans fighting. That's why we go to something like this, right?

G X K is about the same for entertainment wise as G vs K, though I'd give the newest entry a slight edge for a couple of reasons. For one, there's a bit less silliness. There's comic relief of course, but it's not out of place or goofy. The 80's throwbacks with the tunes, synths, and vibes were great. And lastly, the Titans were back to being the bad guys instead of humans. I always find it a bore when you watch a movie about monsters fighting, but have to bare through a story of human villains and their idiotic ideologies.

A side note, it's hilarious that these Titans seem to really enjoy having their royal rumbles in the biggest cities on the planet, or while destroying some of the world's most revered structures. Like really guys, you couldn't have thrown down in the middle of the Sahara? More destruction equals more entertainment I suppose. Also, Godzilla just casually murders hundreds if not thousands just walking around from point A to point B. I digress. Go pink Zilla!

Releasing merely weeks after the critically and commercially acclaimed "Godzilla Minus One" won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects is a boon as well as bane for "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" - while more people are familiar with the behemoth radioactive lizard, there is an undeniable urge to draw comparisons between the two movies. Adam Wingard's second Monsterverse film following 2021's "Godzilla vs Kong" delivers satisfying Titan action, but overall, the film feels like a step back, largely owing to dull and tedious human drama.

Personally, I found "Godzilla vs Kong" to be the best Monsterverse film. It embraced the absurdity and silliness of its premise and made the most of it to deliver one hell of a show, placing the Titans front and centre, while jettisoning any unnecessary human drama. "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" starts off much slower, with the actual plot taking nearly 20 minutes to kick in. Combined with an uptick in uninteresting human drama, this slows down the movie with certain portions feeling boring.

Much like its predecessor, "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" struggles trying to the connect the stories of the two leading titans. Kong is the heart and soul of the movie, with Godzilla largely feeling like an accomplice or sidekick. The first half of the movie 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 third act feeling slightly rushed and less rewarding compared to the enthralling finale of "Godzilla vs Kong".

The action sequences themselves are a whole lot of fun, with a face off in hollow earth with gravity slightly messed-up being one of my favourites of the entire franchise. The finale in Rio delivers plentiful excitement and fun too.

"Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" is best suited for fans of the Showa era. For Kong fans(like myself), there is a lot to like about the movie, owing to the humanisation of the great ape. The action scenes are fun, colourful and campy, similar to it's predecessor, but an increased focus on human characters and a slower pace make this a slightly underwhelming entry to the Monsterverse.

I think I've been spoiled by the masterpiece that was Godzilla minus one. Going back to this ultra generic brainless 0 story nonsense is just disappointing. I don't expect a great story but the dialogue was so bad and the story so pointless I almost wanted the humans dead so I didn't have to listen to them. Several Uber generic rehashed MCU jokes that weren't even funny. I love Godzilla and the monster verse started off great with Brian Cranston and that first Godzilla film but since then it's just slowly gotten worse imo. Like I said, I knew this would be dumb and I went in with low expectations but left feeling almost insulted at how ridiculous and stupid it was. I hate to say it because I love the idea of Godzilla movies.

As a hard-core Kaiju fan of many years, I love that we are being treated to all of these Godzilla movies as of late. My opinion of the first two in this series (Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters) is that they were (somewhat) reality based and not obviously made for children. My criticism of G v K (the ending in particular) and this movie is that so much of it is far-fetched and fantasy based. Much more cartoonish.

The bottom line is, they're making the monsters out to have too much human intelligence when they should actually be more animalistic. This was like watching a superhero movie and in my opinion, making the monsters out to be superheroes is a huge mistake. That's what happened when Toho did this in the 60's/70's which resulted in Godzilla movies becoming silly, low-budget kids movies, which has since been ridiculed for decades and has tarnished Godzilla's image. I understand the writers are trying to be creative and give the fans something different from all of the other monster movies out there, but this can be done without all the cheese. Please stop making the monsters so human!

I enjoyed the movie but have to admit that I am somewhat disappointed.