[Film] Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire directed by Adam Wingard released on March 29, 2024. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a story of two ancient titans: Godzilla and Kong. These titans are rivals that end up having to put down their differences and save the Iwi tribe. This film was a continuation of the Godzilla and Kong movies where researchers Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), Jia (Kaylee Hottle) and Trapper (Dan Stevens) as the main human characters, but the humans are not the protagonists of this story.
While the human researchers investigate the history of Skull Island, the residence of Godzilla, an unknown threat emerges. Their research expands to Hollow Earth, where Kong was sent to live to stay away from Godzilla. The trio head into Hollow Earth after learning about Skar King and his army. They also witness Kong’s quest to find companionship. This film portrays Kong’s loneliness as he spends his time hoping to find more creatures like him. Eventually, he meets Suko, another Kong, and quickly becomes a father figure to the lonely small ape. But Kong also discovers Skar King’s enslavement of the other ape-like creatures. In order to control these creatures, Skar coerces Shimo, an ice breathing Godzilla look-alike, to freeze them.
Eventually, the fight between titans gets dragged to Rio De Janeiro. Skar King controls Shimo, and uses this power to his advantage. Meanwhile, Godzilla arrives in Hollow Earth and you watch the interaction between Kong and Godzilla go from punches, to sharing, to helping each other fight when Godzilla at last teams up with Kong. In a fight that is nearly unwinnable for the two original titans, Suko arrives through the portal with Kong’s ax and destroys the crystal Skar King uses to control Shimo.
The actions and CGI compared to the earlier films stays standard with good visuals and keeps everyone on edge while they break buildings, scare people, and generally cause destruction to the different countries in which their fights occur.
The dialogue is minimal, occurring only between the scientists and lab workers whose jobs are to monitor and supervise Godzilla and Kong. There was also dialogue between mother and daughter in the film, Ilene and Jia, that kept emotions light. Ilene is a protective mother figure throughout the whole film while also being supportive, trusting, and understanding.
I recommend this film to people who like action, and enjoy watching and trying to figure out what the twist is going to be. As someone who watches films often and tries to decipher the ending, this movie was unpredictable; things you often overlook as background material actually turn out to be a crucial part of the plot.
Rated PG-13 for creature violence and action, the film runs an hour and 55 minutes.
