188) Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) - NEW TO HORROR

"Kong can't stop this on his own."

Director
Adam Wingard

Cast
Rebecca Hall - Dr. Ilene Andrews
Brian Tyree Henry - Bernie Hayes
Dan Stevens - Trapper
Kaylee Hottle - Jia
Alex Ferns - Mikael
Fala Chen - Iwi Queen
Rachel House - Hampton

🦎Some minor spoilers ahead 🐵

I really regret seeing "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," currently playing in theaters, before 2023's "Godzilla Minus One" from Japan. I haven't heard anything bad about the latter. And I'm very anxious to see it.
"Godzilla x Kong" is a sequel to the 2021 film "Godzilla vs. Kong" which is a sequel to "Kong: Skull Island" (2017) and "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" (2019). This is the fourth movie in what's being called the "MosterVerse" which starts with the 2014 film "Godzilla." 

It's also the 37th Godzilla film ever. 

I can't write about another Godzilla flick without mentioning my reviews of the first 15 Godzilla flicks which I sat through, one by one, back around Halloween of 2022. That was fun, and I plan to review the next movies during some future Halloween. 

I did enjoy watching the previous "Godzilla vs. Kong." So much so that I completely forgot all the characters who return in this new movie. In my review of "Godzilla vs. Kong" which I wrote for a local paper, I called it a "fight worth waiting for." 

This new movie takes place three years after the events of the previous movie. 

Kong has established himself quite comfortably in Hollow Earth, which is where scientists put Kong in the last movie. But even giant apes get lonely, especially when there's a lack of a female presence. 

Up on the Earth's surface, Godzilla is still boss keeping an eye on humanity, and making sure no new titans are coming around to cause trouble. 

After defeating Scylla in Rome back in the first movie, Godzilla has turned the Coliseum in Rome into his own personal bunk bed. 

Observers at Monarch, the organization that kept Kong in the last movie, are keeping an eye on him. They realize they have to bring Kong up to the surface of Earth because he has an infected tooth. Thankfully, Monarch has a dentist on hand who specializes in big gorillas. Trapper (Dan Stevens) manages to sedate Kong, pull out his infected tooth, and replace it with an artificial one. 

They've also picked up an unusual signal from Hollow Earth. 

Up on Earth, Jia (Kaylee Hottle) the last survivor of the Iwi tribe from Skull Island, is also mentally picking up on this signal. It's causing her to have hallucinations.
Her adopted mother, Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) is concerned, naturally. 

And guess who else is catching this signal. Godzilla! 

This leads him to go attack a nuclear power plant over in France and absorb all the nuclear energy in preparation for an upcoming fight. 

I had no idea why he took any interest in everything that comes next, but my guess is he's protecting humanity from any threat brought about by another titan or titans. 

From there, Godzilla makes a B-line for the secret lair of Tiamat, another monster titan, up in the Arctic. 

These two monsters fight with Godzilla winning effortlessly of course. He steals Tiamat's radiation supply which continues to give him a generous surplus of power.  

The brainiacs at Monarch think Godzilla is preparing as much as he can for a major fight. 

Kong, meanwhile, finds a sinkhole which takes him to an unchartered portion of Hollow Earth where other giant apes have survived. 

A little giant ape named Suko finds Kong and alerts other giant apes. These apes don't take kindly to him. 

After Kong beats up the other apes, he forces Suko to take him to the whereabouts of more giant apes. 

Suko takes Kong to a secret liar were other apes serve a tyrant leader known as Skar King. 

He sees Kong as a threat and fights him with a crystal that controls an ice breathing monster lizard called Shimo. 

As Kong and Shimo duke it out, Shimo gives Kong frost bite on his arm after breathing on it. 

Ilene Andrews gets the help of podcaster and conspiracy theorist, Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry) because he was in the last movie and has to be in this movie, too. 

Together with Kong's dentist, they all travel into Hollow Earth. Down there, they discover hieroglyphics telling the tale of how Skar King once attempted to ascend to our part of the Earth, conquer it, and battle Godzilla and his species. Godzilla defeated him and kicked him back to Hollow Earth. 

These carvings also indicate how Jia and the Iwi tribe will one day awaken Mothra. So, there's that exposition of what's to come later in the movie. 

The explorers find members of the lost Iwi tribe who help Jia awaken Mothra. 

Kong manages to ascend back to the Earth's surface, emerging in Cairo, Egypt. He calls out for Godzilla for help, but Godzilla is anything but thrilled to see him. He attacks Kong despite Kong's efforts to talk and explain the situation. I mean, that's basically what happens. 

Thankfully, Jia and Mothra arrive and manage to explain things to Godzilla who relents and agrees to help Kong in his own Godzilla way. 

They all head back to Hollow Earth to take on Skar King and Shimo. The name 'Shimo' sounds like one of the three stooges, or the 6th Marx Brother. 

Anyways, they all fight down there and eventually drag their fight to Rio De Janeiro. This is Skar King's chance to conquer the Earth and take down Godzilla and Kong.

Unlike the previous movie, Godzilla and King Kong don't really fight each other. They do have a little scuffle in the middle of Cairo. Otherwise, it's all about getting Godzilla on board to fight a battle for a purpose which he has absolutely no role in or use for. Still, he's completely gung-ho for this fight on Kong's behalf.

Mothra's presence is a welcomed plot point for me. Her presence gives the movie that giant monsters all-out attack atmosphere. It's giant ape and lizard against...another giant ape and lizard. 

With all this check-your-brain-at-the-door cheesiness, the movie still manages to have all the Godzilla movie feels. For instance, the dentist/ scientist just happens to have an artificial giant ape tooth on hand once he extracts Kong's bum tooth. 

Later, when Kong's arm is frostbitten, the scientists happen to have a left-over robotic exoskeleton arm brace that just happens to be there in Hollow Earth right when it's needed. And it happens to have all the green glowing stuff necessary to heal Kong's arm. 

Again, check your brain at the door. 

It's the monsters versus monsters, and the Godzilla movie feels I enjoyed the most. That's what audiences want in a Godzilla movie. So, it had what I came for which is always worth the price of a matinee ticket and bucket of popcorn. 

Some Godzilla films have the King of the Monsters being the good guy. Others have him as a bad guy. He's a good guy in this one. 

After recently watching "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" which has a scene where a beach freezes over, I was treated yet again to another scene of a beach freezing over in "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire." Purely coincidental, I think. 

Otherwise, the characters and story in "Godzilla x Kong" are forgettable. And the primitive giant apes carry one with a sudden intellect that wasn't there before is lame. It's all about those monster feels, and not much more. 

After watching this movie, I am all the more anxious to see "Godzilla Minus One."

We've come a long way since the first fight back in '62...