When various Monarch stations begin reporting strange readings and Kong emerges from Hollow Earth to the Surface World, Dr. Irene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) has nowhere else to turn except for amateur Titan-enthusiast, Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry) to try and figure out what has caused such a disturbance.  Together, with veterinarian Trapper (Dan Stevens), pilot Mikael (Alex Ferns), and Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last of the Skull Island Iwi Tribe, they travel to Hollow Earth to discover the source of Kong’s frustrations.  Deep below, they find that Skar King is forming his army to break through Hollow Earth and make their way to the Surface World; a threat is so great that Kong must unite with his mortal enemy Godzilla so that they can save both of their worlds. 

Adam Wingard returns to the Warner Brothers’ Mosterverse with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.  Written by the team of Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett, and Jeremy Slater the 115-minute film is the 4th installment – or 5th if you count Gareth Edwards‘ Godzilla (2014) – in the series and continues the pattern of increasing the silliness with each new entry.  The cast reunites Hall, Henry, and Hottle while filling out the remaining humans with a new cast of largely disposable and unimportant characters because more so than even Godzilla vs Kong (2021), this film is totally focused on the Titans while pushing the human characters in the role of exposition machines that interrupt the massive melee on which the film was sold. 

It has been more than 60 years since Godzilla and King Kong first clashed in Ishirō Honda’s King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963), and since then the two behemoths have been intrinsically linked.  While the men in rubber suits may leave much to be desired by today’s standards, the glut of CGI that supports Wingard’s efforts is a massive overcorrection, steering now in the wrong direction.  In an effort to make Kong and the rest of the Titans photorealistic, the film ironically ends up looking even more conjured up and imagined because almost none of what is seen on screen physically exists.  This is especially apparent in the finale which is set up and rendered for cheer-worthy moments, but the entire sequence falls flat because it is so glaringly artificial. 

The way to combat this would have been to build up the human characters, but the script seemed fairly uninterested in them, too.  In a roundabout way, this is probably better for the film overall because the humans are poorly written and used as bantering pals to keep the film feeling zippy and light.  Wingard is desperately trying to reinvent the series from the darker tones present in Kong: Skull Island (2017) and inject it with the zany levity of something like how Taika Waititi pivoted tonal trajectory in Thor: Ragnarok (2017), but he is speaking in a whisper whereas Waititi roared. It is hard to say what drew this cast to the series – either those returning with at least this sequel baked into their contract or the newcomers – but no one here is being asked to do anything remotely up to the level that they have been proven capable of delivering.  This is not solely expecting art in something that is purely commerce, but it is asking the filmmakers to at least try and give the cast something to work with so that audiences are not wasting their time and dollars.  

What the film does promise is a vague notion that Godzilla and King Kong will once again be facing off and in that area, Wingard does deliver.  The film slants pretty heavily in Kong’s favor so those looking for some dino action may still feel a bit slighted by the time the credit roll.  We are treated to a cute image of the monolithic monster curling up for a nap in the Colosseum, but his showdown with Tiamat is all of thirty seconds long and 90% fought off-screen.  By comparison, King Kong has an entire arc and character growth; the last of his kind in a new world seeking companionship, he finds a nomadic clan of other apes and after fighting them off, he takes on a paternal role with a juvenile ape.  Godzilla’s main purpose in the film is to come in with an assist to Kong because even with Mothra’s official introduction to this new Toho-agnostic series, the Queen of the Monsters’ involvement is filmed and framed in a way to convey an excitement that just is not present on the page and everything remains in service of Kong. 

For a film that somehow manages to both prioritize and sideline its monsters, there are some good kernels of lore present throughout the film that give it some shape and sends out a lifeline to audiences waning interest. We journey to the depths of Hollow Earth where the Iwi Tribe’s temple to Mothra sits. It is only hastily explored, however, which is a shame because it is one of the few instances where the sets actually feel physical. Much of Hollow Earth is littered with these psychedelic crystalline objects that might sound cool and interesting, but on screen, their luster quickly fades and both human and beast alike do not fit organically in the frame with these pressurized environments. Anyway, the Iwi are able to harness the power of gravity through magnetism, and that is how they are able to communicate with Jia in the Surface World. It is a little complicated to understand not in its complexity but in its usage in the film. Heavily referenced but seldom implemented, this superpower ends up being just that, super, to the point where its involvement in the finale leaves much to be desired because its limits are still not fully understood by audiences.  Like so much else in the film, it is a neat idea left underdeveloped and thrown on screen for audiences to reckon with and balance. 

The film is trying to draw similarities between Kong and Jia, both the last of their kind forced into a new world and a new family, and then further guides them into the position of a savior. Jia is the key to unlocking Mothra who will help quell the uprising in Hollow Earth and Kong is continually poised to be the balance of power preventing Godzilla from wrecking the Surface World; just do not think too much about it because the whole thing is a house of cards. Godzilla is the one taking down the other Titans and Monarch has hidden Kong away in Hollow Earth. A more robust script would have worked this angle that it is the actions of humans that will be their ultimate demise and it would teeter this era of films into potentially dealing with the climate crisis. Instead, it retreats to following the route of an empty calorie blockbuster, and not even one that really capitalizes on its best aspects since the title beasts feel more like placeholders as they work their way through this treatment outline that was somehow greenlit to enter production.  

Continuing the pattern of diminishing returns, The New Empire came to screens with frightening low expectations and, to be kind, met them.  With so little respect or care for their legacy characters or their own original characters, the film struggles to connect to any audience because it feels so confused about what it wants to do.  Neither Kong nor Godzilla retain any of their metaphorical backing, and while it is not absolutely necessary to bring poetry into a world dominated and destroyed by beasts, it certainly helps give the world some shape about it.  As presented here, nothing really matters.  Nothing builds, nothing came before and it is not expected and anything we see will have an impact on what comes next.  It is in-the-moment storytelling that relies on spectacle but then does not give the effects houses the money, time, or both to really make something, well, spectacular.  Released in the wake of the sleeper hit Godzilla Minus One (2023) and in the midst of the marketing campaign for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024), The New Empire looks like a crayon drawing on a kid’s menu in comparison.  Oh, how the mighty have fallen!