How funny is it that, in the wake of Godzilla Minus One’s critical acclaim and success at the Oscars, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire seems like the outlier. Both Minus One and Japan’s previous effort, 2016’s Shin Godzilla, were serious, somber movies. Suddenly Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire being a proudly, unabashedly stupid movie makes it seem like it’s the one that doesn’t fit with the franchise, when in reality the majority of the nearly 40 Godzilla movies are quite silly. So the timing of the latest American kaiju romp’s release shouldn’t be held against it, as some of the most beloved giant monster mashes are quite dumb. If only Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was a little better at being dumb.
The King of the Monsters and the Eighth Wonder of the World’s previous bout, 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, was exactly what it said on the tin. Godzilla fought Kong and it was exhilarating if not especially intelligent. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a title whose promise is much less clear and harder to deliver on. What does “x” mean in this instance? What is “The New Empire?” Is it in any way related to Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, which came out a week earlier and also featured a bad guy with ice powers?
The answer to the second question is no (“empire” must just be testing well with focus groups), but Godzilla x Kong doesn’t quite get around to explaining the lofty expectations it set for itself. Following their Hong Kong-leveling fight and eventual tag-team defeat of Mechagodzilla, Kong and Godzilla have gone their separate ways, with Kong living inside Hollow Earth and Godzilla up on the surface fighting other Titans and causing marginally less damage to cities like Rome than if he’d just let the other monsters go nuts on their own. However, there’s a strange beacon coming from inside Hollow Earth. Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last survivor of the tribe of people who used to live on Kong’s former home of Skull Island, is receiving an ominous psychic message, much to the concern of her adoptive mother, Kong expert Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall). Dr. Andrews takes Jia and conspiracy theorist Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry, the only other returning human character from Godzilla vs. Kong) into Hollow Earth to investigate, joined by Trapper, a new character played by Dan Stevens who gets laughs as the world’s only (?) kaiju dentist. Up top, Godzilla’s building up strength for a looming fight.
It’s a surprising amount of setup, and it’s not until shockingly late in the movie that we learn what the big threat is: Skar King, an evil, lanky member of Kong’s species, wants to escape from Hollow Earth with his giant ape followers and rule the surface. He’s aided by an ice-breathing kaiju who trumps even Godzilla in size, though what this monster’s whole deal is never really clarified. Thankfully Skar King makes the most of his role as a villain to rival Mechagodzilla, King Ghidorah, or other heavy-hitting kaiju that fans are already familiar with. A surprising amount of Godzilla x Kong is dialogue-free, as Kong communicates plot through gestures in his interactions with Skar King, Godzilla and a Baby Kong who is, begrudgingly, pretty cute. It’s like a silent movie, only with giant CGI apes instead of Buster Keaton.