Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (12A)

Godzilla rules the waves while Kong reigns supreme over the Hollow Earth. A devastating new threat emerges, hidden within our world, which jeopardises not only humanity's existence but also the survival of the mighty titans. Two gigantic rivals unite in an epic battle of strength and tenacity to combat a terrifying force rooted in the mysterious history of Skull Island.

LondonNet Film Review

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (12A) Film Review from LondonNet

Relatable humans are the endangered species in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Not just the digitally rendered men, women and children, who are crushed under foot by hulking monsters in the sequel’s bombastic action sequences, but also the flesh-and-blood actors including Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens and Brian Tyree Henry. They are sidelined for prolonged periods of director Adam Wingard’s monster-mashing smackdown to allow battalions of special effects wizards to take over the asylum and excitedly decimate or desecrate landmarks including the Colosseum in Rome, Egyptian pyramids and the statue of Christ the Redeemer, which gazes serenely down on Rio de Janeiro…

When characters do materialise, they squeeze obligingly into pigeonholes – the maternal protector, the quirky love interest, the comic relief – and casually distil a ramshackle plot in expository dialogue. It’s a far cry from the Japanese blockbuster Godzilla Minus One released at the end of last year, which used its Oscar-winning visual effects sparingly and never lost sight of human lives devastated by large-scale devastation.

Rivals become wrestling tag team partners in the cacophonous sequel, which strays into territory inhabited by the Planet Of The Apes saga with the heavy-handed introduction of a rival primate to Kong. Like a wrestling match, the outcome is predetermined and any tears shed inside the ring are purely for show to manipulate our emotions.

Kong reigns supreme over Hollow Earth, the fantastical self-contained ecosystem buried deep within the core of our planet while Godzilla rules the surface. A peculiar electrical signal emanates from the hulking ape’s subterranean domain and Godzilla reacts to the disturbance by consuming vast amounts of nuclear energy. Anthropologist Dr Ilene Andrews (Hall), who works for scientific organisation Monarch, assembles a research party to venture into the “nightmare monster hellscape” of Hollow Earth to locate the signal’s source. Head of security Mikael (Alex Ferns) leads the expedition comprising Ilene, her deaf ward Jia (Kaylee Hottle), titan veterinarian Trapper (Stevens) and conspiracy theorist podcaster Bernie Hayes (Tyree Henry).

The interlopers stumble upon the secret, bloodthirsty history of Skull Island, handily immortalised as ornate temple carvings so Ilene can verbalise the convoluted mythology. A power-crazed ape christened Scar King, who failed to annihilate humans many blood moons ago, is entombed somewhere within Hollow Earth. Should the villainous primate escape and reach the planet’s surface via a wormhole, mankind will surely fall.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire beats its chest in protracted fight sequences, merrily razing cities under the auspices of protecting our species from rampaging titans. When the dust settles, scriptwriters Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett and Jeremy Slater cough and splutter through perfunctory dialogue that strains to balance broad humour with sentimentality. Computer-generated beasts are the stars of a bloated show but the louder they roar, the harder the film falls.

– Kim Hu