Godzilla x Kong The New Empire Review: It was a strange old time. When the creature feature mash-up Godzilla vs Kong was released. The first major blockbuster in cinemas since Covid shuttered them all a year prior. Expectations were low. Thanks to how rotten the last two Godzilla films had been, but thirst for something, anything, truly escapist was high and. The big screen equivalent of a kid smashing his toys together became. An unlikely saviour, both commercially and critically.
Godzilla x Kong cast: The obvious
Three years later with normality resuming. There’s arguably less audience demand for another instalment, although the industry could definitely do with another monster hit, the strikes leaving. The first few months of 2024 a little weakened. There’s enough easily marketable simplicity to Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire that it should become a swift global hit (the film is tracking to make $135m worldwide in its opening weekend). But, especially in the shadow of the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One. There will be predictably diminishing returns for those who venture out. It’s a still fun yet far sloppier outing. A second round that’s less of a win for us and more of a draw.
Dr. Ilene Andrews: Rebecca Hall
We start out with a truce of sorts. Godzilla remains king, and protector, of the regular world, fighting off creatures of the week. When they surface while Kong stays down in the Hollow Earth, the magical other space discovered in the previous film. But their time out is coming to an end, spurred by some dental issues for poor Kong. Whose infected tooth, and maybe sad sack loneliness too, thrusts him back to humanity. Something greater is also at play, plaguing the dreams of Jia (Kaylee Hottle). Who shares a bond with Kong and now lives with her adopted mother (a returning Rebecca Hall). That requires the arch enemies to go from v to x.
Bernie Hayes: Brian Tyree Henry
The New Empire sets up its “Godzilla above, Kong below” dynamic early, so we know that after 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong the two frenemies have come to an understanding of mutually assured destruction should they stray from their respective lanes. But, as a shock to no one, that fragile peace doesn’t last for long. Kong serves as the main monster throughout The New Empire, which immediately casts him in a more human, sensitive light that’s easy to empathize with. Showing clear signs of aging through graying fur, the leviathan is weaker and more vulnerable than ever before – at one point, he’s taken out by a toothache.
Trapper: Dan Stevens
His sense of mortality is what sells a desire for familial connection, and that drives most of the plot for both monkey and man. It’s also what sees Rebecca Hall’s Dr. Ilene Andrews disappointingly go from the strong, intelligent protagonist of Godzilla vs. Kong to a mother-like figure softened by love for adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle) and… an old college buddy? It doesn’t help that, though she is arguably the main human character, Ilene’s opportunities to shine suffer under the heavy weight of the Titans. Kong’s emotions, and those of the other apes he seeks out, come across stronger than hers do.
Jia: Kaylee Hottle
Kong’s relationship with a big-eyed little scamp of an ape. That he meets while exploring Hollow Earth is a much bigger missed opportunity, although. The bits we do see are performed by motion capture performers and the FX teams with imagination and care. The younger ape is essentially an abused child. Who is treacherous, selfish, and cowardly because he grew up in a cult.
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Mikael: Alex Ferns
He suddenly now has a good parenting model courtesy of Kong. A hairy, burly single dude who lives a solitary existence, is an orphan himself, and had no parent role models (at least not that we know of), yet still treats the younger ape with patience and compassion even. When it’s not earned, and makes a decent primate out of him. Adam Sandler has told a version of this tale many times. As presented here, it’s a mirror of what’s happening between Ilene and Jia. The latter reconnecting with her own roots and Ilene growing increasingly sad at the possibility that the girl might outgrow the need for her. Two adoptive parents, two different sets of challenges, but the same basic story: so much could’ve been done, but wasn’t.
