The Monsterverse has released its newest chapter with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. The film continued the arcs of Godzilla, Kong, the Hollow Earth, and the surface. It elevated the fun madness that comes with a big monster movie. If anyone wants to be entertained by a spectacle of big monsters clashing, this film is the one. And that’s what the film is. It never tries to be anything else other than guilty fun. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire goes for it! It held nothing back. The team behind it knew exactly who were the audience and catered to them. It was a movie for the fans who grew up with giant monster movies and wanted nothing less than that. It wasn’t a movie that tried to test personal or social philosophies. There was one goal for this movie and it was; big monster vs big monster. And even with a simple, innocent core as that, there are a few, great things to pull from that make Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire a pure joy to watch.
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE
One great part of this film is Kong. Kong, once again, goes through a character arc that feels relatable, even though he is a three-hundred-foot-tall gorilla. He is the heart of the film. Adam Wingard makes Kong so personable that the audiences attach themselves to Kong. Part of the reason is that Kong is more expressive in this movie. It’s clear what he is feeling in any given scene. When he is hurt, the audience feels sympathy for him. When Kong is ready to throw down, it’s easy for the audience to feel that surge of adrenaline. There were moments in the film, where Kong was merciful, patient, and gentle in his approach especially when it came to the newest member of the Monsterverse, Suko. His relationship with Suko in fact, was a big part of Kong’s character arc in the film. At other times, Kong was itching to beat down another Titan or ready to go to war without hesitation. But Wingard made it so that Kong was powerful enough to stand against great odds but still make him vulnerable. A trait that well-written characters have. His lightly updated look is also good, once recognized. The beard that many fans wanted in the first place is a little thicker and longer, and so is the fur on him. Kong was the lawful good in the movie. He showed the Boy Scout traits to give an audience more reason to follow him but gave him enough ferocity and aggression to give him an edge.
Now as for Godzilla, he was a true force of nature that the Monsterverse was creating him to be this entire time. Perhaps it’s the culmination of all the past stories, and like any other force of nature, Godzilla was nondiscriminatory. If anything stood out of his way, it was safe. If anything, if any Titan wanted to test him, he put all of them in a permanent slumber. Godzilla was on a mission and had to accomplish it. That meant ending things fast and brutally. There was a different savagery to him this time around, but at the same time, he stood to his assignment to be nature’s enforcer. He was an anti-hero in this film. While other films tittered between making him a hero or anti-hero, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire made Godzilla a true anti-hero. A chaotic neutral. He was bullish, cruel, and was bloodthirsty. He did the dirty things to get the best outcome. Since he is nature and the protector, he had to be. He has to be what nature needs him to be. With another set of threats that wanted to ruin the world, Godzilla had to reflect on the direness of the situation. In Godzilla (2014), he was classified as an alpha predator, at the top of the food chain. This movie took those descriptions of Godzilla to heart. Godzilla walked with that attitude, and if any Titan questioned, he made them know who was king again.
The tone of the movie was a major component. It did bring the vivid, psychedelic tone director Adam Wingard wanted. More than that it called back the Showa Era of Godzilla movies. It brought back the lore, the myths, and some of the whimsical aspects of those films. The Showa era brought in Infant Island, Monster Island, Seatopia, Godzilla flying, and slide kicking. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire introduced a new realm where even more Titans exist alongside an ancient race of humans. Godzilla adds more agility to his fights by sprinting and leaping off mountains. But there is a purpose behind his faster mobility, in the movie, it’s fueled by ferocity, anger, and agitation. All in all, the movie itself modernizes the whimsical nature of the Showa Era but keeps the Heisei Era of Godzilla in the movie. The Heisei Era Godzilla was fierce and a powerful, bullish anti-hero. This movie merges both of those concepts well. It truly respects what came before.
The relationship between Godzilla and Kong is another highlight. In Godzilla vs Kong, their’s was a rivalry that grew as the movie went on. Godzilla viewed Kong as a threat and Kong defended himself against himself against the King. When they saw each other the second time, it was clear where that rivalry was. They were both angry at each other. Godzilla was angry that Kong was not only alive but had the bravado to challenge him. And Kong saw him as an enemy, to be a threat, and was probably vengeful. Then when Mechagodzilla was revealed, they leaned on each other. Not so much as teaming up, just aligning because there was a common threat. Once it was over, Godzilla gave Kong the benefit of the doubt and Kong was able to live. This time around, when they see each other for the first time, Godzilla is infuriated. Realizing giving Kong mercy the last time, was a mistake. Kong had some respect for Godzilla he knew Godzilla was the one that would give him the best support, but there was never mutual respect, strong alliance, or even a buddy cop situation. There was a situation where two enemies arose and needed two protectors to stop them and that was Godzilla and Kong. Once the fight was over, they didn’t become allies, they didn’t show respect to each other, and they didn’t do anything like that throughout the whole movie. Once the fighting was over, they went on their own ways to their own parts. That does the characters justice because they need to have that separation to continue standing on their own. They are more than capable of doing that. If Godzilla and Kong did have mutual respect and understanding, they would be intertwined and their stories wouldn’t hold up. Also, since they are both viewed as Alpha Titans seeing them respect each other, will undo some of that. They need to have that tension between them to have a rivalry, demand respect from other Titans and humanity, and keep peace in their worlds.
A big surprise to the film was seeing the return of Mothra. A scrapped idea for a post-credit scene in Godzilla: King of the Monsters was supposed to tease her return with a reference to a surviving left fans wondering when she will come back. Now she has returned. She helped Godzilla and Kong by fending off some Great Apes but most importantly, settled Godzilla down to prevent him from killing Kong. A huge plus was seeing Godzilla, Kong, and Mothra share the same screen for the first time ever. The three of them are the Trinity when it comes to giant monsters. Seeing them together was long overdue but was a great moment for the cinema and fans. Her return though does something for the Monsterverse; it adds another monster to the roster that could lead a movie. So far, it’s been Godzilla and Kong carrying the weight. Now with Mothra back, she could helm a movie and make the Monsterverse bigger, add more depth to it, and potential to move forward. With uncertainty surrounding the Monsterverse, the more characters that are accessible will hopefully lead to more films.
At the time of this writing, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is doing good at the box office, especially among fans. The continuation of the universe depends on those two elements. But the future is blurry but this movie is now. It respected both characters and the building blocks that the Showa and Heisei era laid down. This movie was made by a fan, for the fans, and everything that goes into a cool monster movie is in this monster movie.
