There is a trend happening with films and people either love it or hate it. Maybe it has always been a thing, but now it is harkening back to an era I remember. The 80s are back and in the best of ways! That trend is to be entertaining first and (read with a snooty accent) cinema later. Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire is a buddy cop movie, and I will defend that point until I am blue in the face!
When an evil that predates human civilization threatens Earth, two adversaries must set aside their animosity to save the world above and below for titan and humankind. Oh yeah and those adversaries happen to be the most celebrated kaiju of all time!
It has been a very long time since a movie has created a wider divide between my judgements on whether a film is worth a viewer’s time, but Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is very much a bad movie that happens to be wildly entertaining throughout. It is a balancing act for sure and could fall on any side from a viewer-to-viewer basis.
The picture is gorgeous and there needs to be a massive amount of credit given to the art department for the level of detail and care to ensure that nothing felt visually ridiculous unless it was meant to be for the story. This was a massive task for a movie that relied on the visuals to tell roughly three quarters or more of the experience.
My struggles with the film are solely based in aspects of the story where logic flies out the window in areas that could have been better suited as the grounding for a kaiju movie. Illogical timing and pace somehow were a bigger drawback than setting aside that we are ostensibly watching a giant ape and lizard fighting in various locales.
Bringing the audience back though is one of the strongest triumvirates of acting talent seen in a picture such as this. Rebecca Hall might be the most underrated actress in the world and consistently delivers excellent performances. Her maternally emotional delivery in this movie was stellar and would fit into any critically acclaimed drama. Brian Tyree Henry has been crushing every role he has had since his breakout in the show Atlanta, and executing such range from comedic sidekick to heart-and-soul that it earned him an Oscar nominee for Causeway. I really want a behind the scenes for this just on how much of his material was improvised. Finally, we have Dan Stevens, an admitted man crush for me. Every scene he has are the best scenes with people each time. With all due respect to Ms. Hall, I would watch the hell out of a show or movie of Stevens and Henry dealing with various titans in their specialties. Trapper might be the most entertaining human character in any Godzilla or Kong film, and I guarantee that is thanks to his talent and charm.
To be honest, I have a struggle in recommending this as I would think that outside of a premium format, IMAX specifically, this is a film that can wait for home release, but there are so many ways that would be incorrect. Running the list: 80s inspired music, catastrophe, fights, action, fun, heart, escape from reality, and more. If any of those strike a chord with you, then you absolutely need to go see Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and enjoy!
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