Godzilla x Kong : Le Nouvel Empire

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.

This movie has a real problem - It tries to cater to a wider audience by adding more 'Marvel type' action and storytelling rather than focus on doing what it could do really well and appeal to a more niche audience.

The "doing what it could do well" part I am referring to is the BIGNESS of the Kaiju's / monsters. Not just their actions but their presence and size.. a bit of slowness in how they walk and move, to feel that "thud" when they take a step and the sheer overwhelming presence that they represent - Like in Pacific Rim or in Godzilla King of the Monsters. You FEEL the bigness and the size.

A splash in the ocean can causes huge tide-waves due to the size.

A resounding BOOM that is felt when two Kaiju's collide.

Where is that?

There is no respect paid to the bigness.

It's just they took some superhero action sequences and applied them to giants and made them move like they were the same size as humans.

There is no FEEL or BIGNESS - It's simply a 6 out of 10 movie because it caters "enough" to enough people because it goes for what's popular and throws a lot of it while giving away the depth and the "feel" of a big monster movie that is what godzilla is meant to be.

It serves up a berserk dreamscape with plenty of payoff to please the MonsterVerse faithful. Shame about the human stuff, though. Director Adam Wingard has a lot of fun with textures, colors, and camera work, and he's adept at giving fans the over-the-top monster action that they demand via an imposing new villain. Unfortunately, there's no time to spend on making things make sense or even matter all that much, and what few emotional punches are thrown lack the necessary wind up to connect, save for some very well done moments between Kong and his Hollow Earth kin.

Overall didnt live up and the plot was mediocre at best.

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!