Promoting Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire recently, Dan Stevens gave an interviewer what might be one of the most honest publicity quotes from an actor ever. "I'm under no illusion people come to see these films for the two main guys", he said, meaning the actual humans on screen. "The human element is really a fun sideshow". That’s probably the case for most monster movies, and it is especially so for this one, the fifth entry in the Monsterverse franchise that began with the reboot Godzilla (2014). Director Adam Wingard, who also directed the previous instalment, Godzilla Vs. Kong (2023), has ramped up the action with lifelike visual effects, and added a kaleidoscopic swirl of colours since last time. For fans longing to see Titans, as the Monsterverse creatures are called, go at each other – again and again and again – it's fine. For anyone else, it's just another Kong movie, with Godzilla himself a kind of sideshow.
The title Godzilla x Kong is a bit misleading, and that has nothing to do with the confusing x, meant to be silent. Kong and Godzilla, who basically hate each other, do team up at the end to save the world when evil monsters threaten to take control. And Godzilla appears on a rampage smashing through Rome early on. But he spends most of the time swimming toward the Arctic while the movie focuses on Kong and those beside-the-point humans who have travelled to Hollow Earth, the realm in the depths of the planet where Kong now lives. That place is familiar from Godzilla vs Kong, although in one of Wingard's vibrant upgrades its junglelike landscape is now a brighter, lusher green.
Because mysterious signals are coming from Hollow Earth, Dr Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), the world's most eminent Kong researcher, takes a trip there to see what's up. Her young adopted daughter, Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last of the Iwi tribe introduced in Kong: Skull Island (2017) goes along, which is handy because Jia can communicate with Kong telepathically and in sign language.
Then there's the comic relief, which works very well. Stevens plays a veterinarian called Trapper who specialises in Titans. In a red Hawaiian shirt, Aviator glasses and a goofily charming grin, Stevens could easily have overplayed the role, but he makes Trapper just quirky enough. The same holds for Brian Tyree Henry, returning from the previous film as Bernie, the overeager podcaster whose monster conspiracy theories aren't necessarily wrong. If there had been more comic touches, the film would have been more consistently witty, but altered the action-above-all tone.
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Trapper joins Andrews' expedition because Kong has a toothache, and Wingard's impressive visual effects let us see that without anyone saying a thing. This Kong looks slightly different than before, his coat a subdued grey with a rougher texture. His gestures are more human, as he rubs his jaw with a pained expression. The first-rate effects include the humans' scary descent into Hollow Earth and a multitude of creatures prowling around above and below, like the giant thing that looks part octopus and part crab that towers over an Italian city street.
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And Kong's first action set piece is kinetic and absorbing. He is attacked by a band of vicious apes led by the villainous Skar King, whose main weapon is another creature called Shimo, a kind of ice-breathing dragon. Hall's role calls for her to step in now and then and tell Trapper, Bernie and us some version of "That's Shimo" even if those aren't her exact words.
The Hollow Earth scenes include bits and pieces that bring to mind other adventure films. There's an echo of the Planet of the Apes movies in Kong's many ape-on-ape battles. Some episodes might qualify as homage. The humans stumble across an ancient temple that seems to be there waiting for Indiana Jones to turn up. Best of all, when Godzilla finally recharges his nuclear energy in the Arctic, he emerges with his once-blue spikes now a lovely pastel pink that wouldn't look out of place in Barbie. Creating "Godzilla Barbie" can't have been intentional, but we live in Barbie's world now.
Godzilla has been storing up that energy to fight his own enemy, Shimo, and Andrews decides that Kong and Godzilla must set aside their differences and together battle Skar King and Shimo. But first they tangle with each other in front of the Pyramids of Giza. The scene is fun partly because Kong uses some old-school touches, kicking desert sand in Godzilla's face and trying to drag him away by the tail. And Godzilla's icy pink glow, with rays of rosy light roaring from his mouth, give the battle flair. By the time it gets to the final battle among the Titans, the film feels drunk on its own CGI. But as Stevens suggested, that's what everyone, including the audience, signed up for.
Some films can re-energise a genre, like last year's huge hit Godzilla Minus One (a Japanese movie that is not part of the Monsterverse series) draws viewers into the action instantly, and creates a streamlined World War Two story that is credibly human. It's an old-style Godzilla movie that seems fresh. Godzilla x Kong is the opposite, a dazzling visual accomplishment that already feels old.
★★☆☆☆
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is released in the US and UK on 29 March 2024.
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