Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 29, 2024 3:49:43 GMT -5
Hot off the coattails of Toho's 70th anniversary film for their mascot monster, Godzilla Minus One, comes an American produced Godzilla film that is actually being unleashed in Godzilla's seventieth year (though the big guy won't actually turn seventy until November. Godzilla Minus One actually had to do an act of avoidance for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, because their contract with Legendary states that they're actually not allowed to release their own Godzilla film in the same year as Legendary produces their own, which meant Godzilla Minus One had to kick off the festivities early, even if it was only the big birthday of 69 (nice). Some have pointed to this as the reason Minus One isn't on streaming yet in the US, though I tend to believe that has more to do with the film needing a US distributor first, and Toho tends to let foreign home media releases lag behind, so they don't compete with their own domestic releases (I've been following Godzilla DVDs a long time). So, by happenstance, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the official flick celebrating the franchise's latest milestone, though it narrowly misses Kong's 90th anniversary by a full year. Respectively, The New Empire is the 38th Godzilla film and the 10th Kong film.
Taking place several years after Godzilla and Kong's brawl with each other that turned into a fight against a giant robot, because reasons, The New Empire sees Kong chilling in his new home in Hollow Earth, where he finally begins to see signs of a simian civilization that he might have hailed from, which is being led by a ruthless ape that has turned them against human civilization. Kong's only chance to keep them from reaching the surface world is to team up with the lumbering brute Godzilla in a tag team match against an army of apes.
With 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong, director Adam Wingard leaned heavily into the absurdity of late-Showa-era Godzilla stylings, with elaborate sci-fi production design weaving a tale that leaned heavily into the fantastical and had no time for any sort of reality to weigh it down. While it was rough around the edges, you could see a code to the MonsterVerse being cracked on-screen as it shed the more grounded elements that previous films in the franchise struggled with (particularly King of the Monsters, which had a balancing act of grit and camp that chained it to the ground). With The New Empire, Wingard doubles down on his approach, making a movie that's even more absurd and silly and just making a film that was a wild ride. This could have been either a good thing or a bad thing, as it could either be really fun or just numbing. Turns out it's both.
A lot of Godzilla vs. Kong's suffering came at the expense that it felt like the film's plot was stripped in post-production in an attempt to keep it simple, which came at the expense of certain elements lacking coherency. The New Empire doesn't have that problem, at least, not for a good long while. The story is simple with a purpose, and it goes through its adventure-trotting feeling like this was what it set out to do from the beginning. The third act is a different matter. A new element is introduced to the film that has been kept out of the trailers, and from a screenplay perspective, it plunges the movie into chaos. Veteran Godzilla fans will understand it, and probably dig it, sitting in their seats and going "OMG, are they doing...? THEY ARE!" Someone who is only versed in the MonsterVerse will probably just tilt their head and struggle to understand just what the hell is going on. It's not their fault either, as the script doesn't really introduce it properly and it rushes through it to get to the monster action faster.
I don't think we ever had any fear that the monster action was going to be neglected though, because The New Empire is probably the most beast-heavy film of the MonsterVerse saga, and they're ready for a tumble, let me tell you. The film is pure pulp, with the title creatures as the heroes. Kong is Conan the Barbarian and Godzilla is John Matrix, and the Schwarzenegger-inspired duo are ready to bulldoze everything in their way. The movie has no interest in holding them back, though one might suspect Godzilla gets sidelined in favor of Kong. It feels like Wingard and the writers favor the ape because it's much easier to humanize him, so Godzilla gets stuck fighting a few monsters in brief matches in the meantime, ala Godzilla: Final Wars. And when they finally team up for the finale, it is a dizzyingly frantic showcase of CGI that will either make you vomit or leave you grinning from ear-to-ear.
It's not as good as Minus One, though it doesn't need to be. Kaiju flicks have ranged between harrowing and spectacle, and that is part of their beauty. The New Empire struggles on its own path, though it has a clear ambition that it comes close to achieving.
Taking place several years after Godzilla and Kong's brawl with each other that turned into a fight against a giant robot, because reasons, The New Empire sees Kong chilling in his new home in Hollow Earth, where he finally begins to see signs of a simian civilization that he might have hailed from, which is being led by a ruthless ape that has turned them against human civilization. Kong's only chance to keep them from reaching the surface world is to team up with the lumbering brute Godzilla in a tag team match against an army of apes.
With 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong, director Adam Wingard leaned heavily into the absurdity of late-Showa-era Godzilla stylings, with elaborate sci-fi production design weaving a tale that leaned heavily into the fantastical and had no time for any sort of reality to weigh it down. While it was rough around the edges, you could see a code to the MonsterVerse being cracked on-screen as it shed the more grounded elements that previous films in the franchise struggled with (particularly King of the Monsters, which had a balancing act of grit and camp that chained it to the ground). With The New Empire, Wingard doubles down on his approach, making a movie that's even more absurd and silly and just making a film that was a wild ride. This could have been either a good thing or a bad thing, as it could either be really fun or just numbing. Turns out it's both.
A lot of Godzilla vs. Kong's suffering came at the expense that it felt like the film's plot was stripped in post-production in an attempt to keep it simple, which came at the expense of certain elements lacking coherency. The New Empire doesn't have that problem, at least, not for a good long while. The story is simple with a purpose, and it goes through its adventure-trotting feeling like this was what it set out to do from the beginning. The third act is a different matter. A new element is introduced to the film that has been kept out of the trailers, and from a screenplay perspective, it plunges the movie into chaos. Veteran Godzilla fans will understand it, and probably dig it, sitting in their seats and going "OMG, are they doing...? THEY ARE!" Someone who is only versed in the MonsterVerse will probably just tilt their head and struggle to understand just what the hell is going on. It's not their fault either, as the script doesn't really introduce it properly and it rushes through it to get to the monster action faster.
I don't think we ever had any fear that the monster action was going to be neglected though, because The New Empire is probably the most beast-heavy film of the MonsterVerse saga, and they're ready for a tumble, let me tell you. The film is pure pulp, with the title creatures as the heroes. Kong is Conan the Barbarian and Godzilla is John Matrix, and the Schwarzenegger-inspired duo are ready to bulldoze everything in their way. The movie has no interest in holding them back, though one might suspect Godzilla gets sidelined in favor of Kong. It feels like Wingard and the writers favor the ape because it's much easier to humanize him, so Godzilla gets stuck fighting a few monsters in brief matches in the meantime, ala Godzilla: Final Wars. And when they finally team up for the finale, it is a dizzyingly frantic showcase of CGI that will either make you vomit or leave you grinning from ear-to-ear.
It's not as good as Minus One, though it doesn't need to be. Kaiju flicks have ranged between harrowing and spectacle, and that is part of their beauty. The New Empire struggles on its own path, though it has a clear ambition that it comes close to achieving.
