TL;DR – While this is more of a Kong film, I love that they leaned into the camp, but some hollow aspects held it back.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Review –

One of my joys in recent years has been the big Kaiju punch-em-up that has been the Monsterverse. There is just a lot of fun seeing two giant creatures rumble their way through a city. But now that we got the big team-up film last time, the question then becomes: where do they go from there? Well, that is the question we will look at today.

So to set the scene, at the end of Godzilla v Kong, Godzilla becomes the alpha of the surface world, and Kong becomes the alpha of Hollow Earth. A sort of detente that exists only if nether of the two strays into each other’s territory. But when Kong heads up to get some dental surgery, and Godzilla starts ripping out nuclear reactors in Europe, it feels like something is coming their way. This is then when we ask the question: Is Hollow Earth as far down as you could go?

To start with, what I liked about this film is how they leaned into the camp. There is a particular joy that happens when you see a guy repel down from a hovercar and do dental surgery on a Titan as a rock anthem plays. Dan Stevens and Brian Tyree Henry are hamming it up to the extreme, and they make a great buddy duo. Also, the Titans are as ridiculous as always. Take Godzilla, who straight up wrecks Rome but then does the considerate thing and leaves via the river so he does not stop everything. There are some straight-up absurdly funny moments, including what Kong uses as a club sometimes. There are also some deeply touching moments, and it was a good idea to trim down the human characters and focus them on Jia (Kaylee Hottle), who was the most exciting part of the last film.

Sadly, I think the big problem for this film is that between GvK and GxK, we have gotten a genuinely excellent Godzilla film in the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, which nailed every part of the production side of a Kaiju film while also giving some of the best characters in this setting that I have seen. However, GxK does not land every part of the production, and its narrative does feel hollow in places. I honestly didn’t mind that this is primarily a Kong film with Godzilla off brooding for most of the film. However, the film really struggles to make things land after the main villain is revealed or even finds its place in this world. This creates a thematic thud in the narrative that makes the film kind of putter into the final confrontation; some lacklustre exposition dumps do not help that. Also, some aspects of the production, like the music, were strongly lacking. The film was missing a lot of the bombast that you found in previous works.

In the end, do we recommend Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire? Look, while it is not a perfect film, it was still a mostly fun time, and all the issues don’t stop that final battle from being a blast. We have just reached a point where I think these films need a bit of substance behind them because we know how well that can work. If you liked Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, we would recommend to you Godzilla Minus One.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Directed by – Adam Wingard
Screenplay by – Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett & Jeremy Slater
Story by – Terry Rossio, Adam Wingard & Simon Barrett
Based on – Godzilla & Mothra by Toho Co., Ltd. & King Kong by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper
Music by – Tom Holkenborg & Antonio Di Iorio
Cinematography by – Ben Seresin
Edited by – Josh Schaeffer
Production/Distribution Companies – Toho, Legendary Pictures, Universal Pictures & Warner Bros. Pictures
Starring – Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Kaylee Hottle, Dan Stevens, Alex Ferns, Fala Chen & Rachel House
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: PG; Germany: 12; New Zealand: M; United Kingdom: 12A; United States: PG-13