When “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” was released earlier this year, it was a surprise juggernaut, cresting more than $80 million on its opening weekend on the way to becoming the most successful movie in Legendary’s Monsterverse series of films. In this film, a direct follow-up to 2021’s “Godzilla vs. Kong,” a new threat emerges from Hollow Earth – a lanky red ape who, unlike Kong, wants to conquer the surface world. (He also keeps an adorable, ancient kaiju named Shimo under his spell; she has the arctic power to trigger a new ice age.) This forces Kong and Godzilla to form an uneasy alliance in order to take down the Skar King and free Shimo. Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry return from the earlier film, now joined by Dan Stevens as a affable kaiju veterinarian named Trapper. (Stevens’ charming performance is almost as big as any of the monsters.) This leads to some of the biggest and most outrageous monster battles in the entire franchise, and serves as a colorful dessert after the more somber, full meal of the more somber “Godzilla Minus One.” You know. Like some raspberry sorbet after a steak dinner. What makes the current pop culture landscape so fun is that allows for all of these disparate iterations of Godzilla, which speaks to the elasticity of the character and the creativity that these different filmmakers bring to the franchise. Long live the King of the Monsters. – Drew Taylor
Two ancient titans, Godzilla and Kong, clash in an epic battle as humans unravel their intertwined origins and connection to Skull Island’s mysteries.
- Director
- Adam Wingard
- Writers
- Terry Rossio
- Adam Wingard
- Simon Barrett
- Stars
- Rebecca Hall
- Brian Tyree Henry
- Dan Stevens
