The past decade was uncharted territory for both “Godzilla” and giant monster movie fans. Both American and Japanese creators have released Godzilla movies over the years, and while this may seem like a good thing, in reality, it has made the differences in the quality of the films more apparent.
The 2023 film “Godzilla: Minus One,” directed by Takashi Yamazaki, had the difficult task of animating a giant lizard with a measly budget of just $15 million. Not only did they render the monster to his full, terrifying capacity, but they also won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects at the 2023 Academy Awards, a feat never before achieved in over 70 years of Godzilla’s property destruction. However, the latest American Monsterverse endeavor is very far from winning any awards.
In 2021, Godzilla and King Kong faced off against each other in “Godzilla Vs. Kong,” directed by Adam Wingard, with the pair ending the film as cautious allies, keeping to their parts of the Earth. The latest sequel, again helmed by Wingard, “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire” picks up very soon after, but assumes that the audience does not remember the previous storylines, so the viewer is stuck watching constant exposition dumps, even with events that happened less than 30 minutes prior.
What many American directors have been unable to understand about these monster films is that they are never really about the giant lizard or giant monkey trashing a city, instead, they are about the humans that have to deal with these conflicts and their consequences. Even within the Monsterverse franchise, the most popular one is “Kong: Skull Island” (2017), in which the human characters were developed and the monster-fighting was simply a backdrop for a more interesting story. In contrast, the latest venture in the franchise was unable to recapture that same magic.
The human characters in this movie were not multifaceted or complex, even leaving some viewers unable to remember their names when the credits started rolling. Each character in this film follows common Hollywood sci-fi tropes: the genius scientist and single parent, the rebel pilot with a heart of gold, the skeptic extremist and there is even a young child who turns out to be the chosen one. Not a single one of them goes through even a semblance of a character arc, making them very difficult to connect to as an audience member.
The one positive of the movie is its action. Viewers can leave the theater satisfied if all they need is some giant monsters beating each other up while causing billions in property damage. The only change from the previous films is that this property damage occurs in a new setting: The Hollow Earth, but all it does is replace skyscrapers with mountains and humans with different humans.
Kong and Godzilla are again given not much to work with in the villains department. “The New Empire” repeats the same boring trope we saw in “King of the Monsters” and “Godzilla Vs. Kong” of the villain being the hero with a twist. “The New Empire,” actually plays it up by having two of these same-but-different monsters. Quantity does not save them from being poor quality enemies in the end.
“Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire” again fails to tell any meaningful story in the backdrop of basic kaiju violence. Instead of spending money on this boring, derivative CGI-polygon riddled fest, do yourself a favor and rent “Godzilla: Minus One.” You are sure to enjoy your time watching that a lot more.
