Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Hey everyone and welcome today we will be talking about the film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Fun Fact, This movie came out 10 years after the movie Godzilla which launched the Monsterverse franchise, and is also being released on the 70th anniversary of the character Godzilla’s debut. This film came out in 2024 and stars Academy Award winner King Kong, Academy Award Winner Godzilla, and Rebecca Hall and was directed by Adam Wingard. So without further ado let’s get right into it.

The New Empire explores more of the Hollow Earth and sees King Kong and Godzilla being forced to team up again to take on a new threat, Skar King, who wants to escape his prison and Hollow Earth and wreak havoc on Earth.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is an action-adventure film. It has similar vibes to Godzilla Vs. Kong, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, or Jurassic Park.

Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire is such a fun movie and I think that all the films in this franchise are, whether or not the film is good, you will have fun. While I did enjoy the movie and had a blast I think what truly is holding these films back is the human stories which is what starts the film on a slower note but picks up once we see more of the two title monsters in action. Also if you are wondering why I called Godzilla and Kong Academy Award winners, you should look it up and realize movies for both of these characters have in the past, for different projects, won Academy Awards which is think is cool.

Rebecca Hall leads this film as Dr. Andrews who heads the research of King Kong. I enjoy that her character is one of the connections to Kong but one thing that bugs me about her and others at Monarch is they’re so confident that they understand these creatures and are constantly reminded that they do not. She has an adopted daughter who is the last of the Iwi people from Skull Island and I feel like there were so many times when we were reminded that she was a mother and had a daughter and it got to the point where I was like ma’am we get it you are a mother lets move on.

With Dr. Andrews leading this film, the story becomes more King Kong focused which was fine for me. The toothache storyline was one that I know they used as an excuse to get into Hollow Earth but I truly believe that they could have come up with a better storyline to justify going to Hollow Earth instead of a dang toothache.

We meet a small ape that I call Little Kong who from the first trailer I thought would be so cute but in his first meeting, I recognized that he was a menace. Kong was trying to be nice and this little demon bit him. I mean Kong proceeds to toss him around like a ragdoll right after which he deserved because biting someone trying to be nice is rude. In the end, he helps Kong and I was happy that he realized Skar King was a menace and he had better odds of surviving with Kong.

I love how while we are seeing Kong explore his new home Godzilla is out here keeping order among the monsters and napping in the Colosseum. I don’t know if it was intentional but I thought it was hilarious how we see Godzilla destroy so many human structures like buildings and bridges and just not care, if it was in his path it was getting leveled. When he was absorbing energy they listed out his stats on a computer like a video game and I was like just imagine a Godzilla video game and how much fun that would be. Also with all that has happened with Godzilla when will these humans learn that these planes with guns and missiles will do nothing when going against Godzilla, hes been around for a while now, eating nuclear energy and it’s like they haven’t learned that attacking him with normal weapons will not work.

Skar King was a menace and him having an ape army reminds me of Planet of the Apes a bit. He is a tyrant and while all the others would probably rebel against him if they could and win, he has Shimo which is his secret weapon that prevents them from ever standing a chance. I’m glad in the end Shimo is freed and gets some payback on Skar King because he was hurting poor old Shimo with that crystal and Shimo deserved to be part of getting rid of him.

Bryan Tyree Henry is perfect for this movie, his line delivery and comedic timing are great in this film and he was just a great addition. I love also how he was brought in as someone who thinks outside the box and offers a different solution to why some things might be happening.

Through Jia, we get to know more about the Iwi people, and I’m glad we got to see that they aren’t lost and how Jiwi was the key to getting Mothra back. It was cool to see how they are psychic and really connected to the hollow earth. I loved when Trapper told Bernie not to show the video of the tribe because too often tribes who are living peacefully and away from society get exposed in pictures and videos and then people want to learn more about them which eventually puts them in danger because of diseases and some humans are just evil.  I love how she was the bridge between the two worlds and helped make sure the crew went to the right place and understood what was going on.

Mothra is a bad bitch i just have to say it. She was in King of the Monsters and the Queen of the Monsters finally makes her return in this film. Without a doubt, once I saw her I knew that she would be saving the day and she really was and made sure that Kong and Godzilla not only got along but also helped fight the Skar King’s army.

In this film, we see how Monarch and the government know about all these monsters, and it’s shocking to me that they managed to leave them alone and observe from afar. If there is one thing the government constantly does, it’s meddling where they need not to and make things worse.

I wonder how smart these creatures are. Like is Godzilla protecting humans or just protecting his territory, how did he know there was an impending battle and he needed to get more energy, why do Kong, Godzilla, Mothra, and the other apes seem like they can form ideas and see whose bad and whose good while Shimo seemed like a dog. I just want to know the extent of the capabilities of these monsters’ thought processes.

There were a couple of people not mentioned that I was shocked to see weren’t included in this movie. Like where was Maddison? This girl was a big plot point in the last two movies and now all of a sudden she is gone and there is not one mention of her or her dad. Then there are the people from the Monarch show which gave us more info about Hollow Earth and we see how their dad plays a big part in Monarch’s research section even though by the end of that show he’s not with them and I was wondering why make the Monarch show if you won’t even address any of that.

I loved that we got to spend so much time in Hollow Earth in this film and see what is different down there. Hollow Earth comes into play in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters which is in the same universe and with this movie there seems to be a big continuity error. In that show, it’s established that each day in the hollow earth is a year on the human earth which is not mentioned at all in this film. The characters are down there for at least a couple of hours or a day which would mean a couple of months at least if not a year lost in the human world. I think this was important because it shows that down in the hollow earth time doesn’t move as quickly and the people that go down there to be stationed or to visit would be missing a lot of time at work or just life in general and I feel like that should’ve been discussed. Also, where is Apex Cybernetics? I will say at least the Hollow Earth was pretty and had lots of colors.

My favorite part of the film was the zero-gravity fight. It was so epic and I loved seeing King Kong vs SKar King, Godzilla vs Shimo, and Mothra saving the humans while also taking out the other apes. This part reminded me of why I liked these films, to see these monsters duke it out and the humans stay out of it.

Godzilla X Kong: The Frozen Empire is a fun movie even if it does have its flaws. This is one of those movies you should see on the big screen because it’s just a great way to take in these monsters and everything happening. I do wonder if there will be more of these films in this franchise but all I know is that I enjoyed them.