It’s unlikely that many are tuning into the latest film in the MonsterVerse franchise, for the human characters. The ten-year-old franchise, which began with Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla in 2014, has been consistent in providing loud and energetic fights that capitalise on the spectacle of giant monsters – called Titans in this universe – battling with each other. The newly released “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” offers much in the way of majestic fight sequences. These extend beyond the titular Titans to include various new creatures: an ice-breather, an imposing sea serpent and a deranged giant ape that seems to be an inverse of Kong. Colour me surprised, then, that despite the firm focus on the giant monsters, “Godzilla x Kong” manages to make its human characters feel more than obligatory deadweight like some of its previous entries.
Much of this has to do with the way the story is set-up, with the multiple monster-fights punctuated throughout as the film roars towards a climax featuring several Titans. Although there is a noticeable element of an almost procedural level of devotion to tropes in setting up the story, “Godzilla x Kong” is fortunate to have Rebecca Hall as our primary human entry-point. She plays Ilene Andrews, an anthropologist on the Monarch Project, who spends a lot of the first act responsible for giving us the film’s primary exposition while navigating her relationship with her adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle). Jia, considered to be the last survivor of the Iwi Tribe from Skull Island a few films back, has been frenetically making detailed drawings that mirror mysterious energy pulses that the Monarch team have detected on their monster-tracking technology. The pulses also coincide with vivid dreams that Jia is having, unnerving Ilene and prompting a visit to Hollow Earth where they seem to be coming from.
Elsewhere, the two titans of the film find themselves alone for much of the running time. Godzilla, who has also been sensing the signals, spends much of his time throughout the film, ingesting bits of nuclear energy from around the world as if preparing for something. A mysterious sinkhole near his home transports Kong to an uncharted region where he finds a tribe of his species, including a young and precocious ape. When Kong meets the leader of the tribe, the malevolent Skar King, the monster story arc begins to accelerate as Kong finds himself unwittingly placed into a potential role of father-figure figure and potential liberator. The varying stories clash when the humans journey to Hollow Earth. There, they realise the important link between Jia, her ancestors and the role of the Titans on earth and with that “Godzilla x Kong” sets up a basic story about the importance of community while preparing us for a steady stream of rewarding monster chaos.
It’s a loud film and the technical gains much mileage out of the taut moments of silent anticipation as well as the resounding discordant clashes that come in later scenes of cities under destruction. Like any film in the MonsterVerse, it’s the visual appeal that’s most striking and although “Godzilla x Kong” might be playing with less overtly dynamic visual language than some of its predecessors, it makes good use of an expert FX team that makes the most out of the motion-capture performers who inhabit the characters of the primates. It’s confident and expressive work that draws genuine emotional resonance from the relationship between Kong and his new ward, Suko, whose initially dodgy allegiance takes on an emotional core even if the film sometimes feels too casual in its lightness. Nonetheless, it’s an arc that effectively mirrors the relationship between Ilene and Jia, and offers a potential point about creating bonds beyond blood that could be philosophically profound if this were a different kind of film.
The high-octane thrill-ride we do get is its own kind of reward though. The sincere emotional thread of the Ilene/Jia relationship is offset by the delightful comedic duo of Trapper (Dan Stevens), a Titan veterinarian and Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry returning from the last film), a conspiracy podcaster. The two are part of the Hollow Earth expedition and have great chemistry with Hall. Stevens and Henry are clearly having much fun playing against type and offering variations of comedic relief that manage to supplement rather than interrupt the carnage in other parts of the world. Their chemistry helps to ensure that a mid-film plot-twist about Jia’s ancestry, and the role of the Titans in Hollow Earth, feel urgent and affecting rather than hazily assembled plot development and its credit to Rebecca Hall more than anything that a final embrace between mother and daughter manages to feel emotionally resonant in a film where the monsters are what gets the audience into the door.
And it’s worth getting into the door for the sheer thrill of the chaotic destruction of the climax. “Godzilla x Kong” is shrewdly aware of the importance of establishing a human value to the primary fight, but also offers the audience absurdly thrilling sequences of buildings being destroyed as monsters fighting to the death.
Godzilla x Kong: A New Empire is playing in cinemas
