In the latest entry in the MonsterVerse franchise, Kong gets an infected tooth and there is only one solution – drugging him up and yanking the offending molar out with the help of a giant heavy-duty aerial vehicle before replacing it with a falsie. Trapper, the man in charge, arrives in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire like a cross between Han Solo and Indiana Jones. With the MonsterVerse reaching its fifth film, director Adam Wingard cuts loose with a wild storyline involving a Titan tooth extraction, man-eating tree monsters, and a gravity-free fight as beasts float in the ether bashing seven shades out of each other.
This latest instalment takes us deeper into Hollow Earth, the untouched world in the planet’s core where Kong now resides, keeping him apart from his rival Godzilla. When an SOS comes from this subterranean landscape, Godzilla heads to the lair of Tiamat, a fellow Titan, to take him down and power up, all too aware that he’s about to face off with a new threat to his dominance and mankind’s safety. Meanwhile, Monarch intercepts the same signals and Dr Ilene Andrews, deciding to investigate, heads down into Hollow Earth with her deaf adopted daughter Jia, and others.
Wingard has a riot with Hollow Earth, or the “nightmare monster hellscape” as Bernie puts it, but the straightforward plot and thin characterisation may disappoint some viewers. With long dialogue-free sequences, it’s just the monsters going toe-to-toe with Wingard relying on gestures, grunts, and groans from his alpha-beasts, essentially creating the most expensive silent movie ever made. But it does deliver some next-level destruction as famous landmarks get trashed.
Despite the lack of character development, Godzilla X Kong offers barnstorming building-bashing, making for a thrilling, visceral experience. With the humans almost becoming irrelevant once the fighting starts, it’s a perfect film for those looking for non-stop action. The film stars Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and Dan Stevens and was released in cinemas on March 29th
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