The MonsterVerse movie franchise has come a long way since it began a whole 10 years ago with 2014’s Godzilla, eventually leading to the epic colossal showdown in 2021’s Godzilla vs Kong, which absolutely delivered on the hype and exceeded expectations. Their stories don’t end there, however, as Legendary and Warner Bros. bring us the monstrous sequel, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, now showing in cinemas worldwide.

Years after their gigantic earth-shaking battle and teaming up to take down Mechagodzilla, Kong and Godzilla went their separate ways. Godzilla remained on the earth’s surface, even becoming its protector fighting off any colossal beast that emerges. Meanwhile, Kong has found a new home in Hollow Earth, but feels lonely and still trying to find his place in life. He soon meets others like himself, but it isn’t what he hoped for, and he finds himself becoming the prey. While being hunted, a beaten-down Kong must find Godzilla and team up once again to take on a new threat bigger than both of them combined.

The story takes place after the events of Godzilla vs Kong in 2021, which had slightly more focus on Kong than Godzilla. This time, there’s even more focus on Kong while Godzilla plays more of a supporting role. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since a lot of Godzilla’s backstory has already been told in the earlier films, while there is still more to explore with Kong. This allows the film to focus more on Kong trying to find a place that truly feels like home, as well as the previously untold origins of the Titans and Skull Island.

Focusing more on Kong ends up working for the better since he’s the one who can convey more emotion to help tell his story, even if it means that Godzilla needs to be pushed to the side. Since the previous film, Kong has shown a lot of character development, illustrating his improved intelligence hunting other giant beasts for food, setting up traps and being able to adapt to almost any situation.

When he meets an entire civilisation of giant apes like himself and other scenes without any human characters around, the film does a great job telling the story purely through their body language and facial expressions.

Even with less Godzilla this time, he still makes a huge impact when he eventually does get involved with the main plot and the wait is well worth it. The new threat that Godzilla and Kong face is indeed bigger than both of them combined, leading to some colossal battles of epic proportions. One segment of their battles where there’s no gravity, does look a bit silly with all the giants floating in the air, but thankfully it doesn’t last long and gets right back to the fights we want to see.

Comparing the kaiju battles to the previous film, it does feel that the 2021 movie was more exciting compared to the latest entry. It had the perfect set-up for that big fight feel and actually delivered on that hype, it was promising and exceeded expectations. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire didn’t have the same hype and buildup, and the battles may feel like we’ve seen it before, but still exciting and satisfying to watch as they tear it up in Hollow Earth and cities on the surface.

Even though Godzilla and Kong are presented as the heroes, it’s hard not to think of all the destruction and casualties they cause with barely any mention of it anywhere, but it’s just one of those things where you’ll have to ignore the logic to enjoy the action. We can’t help but admit it’s a guilty pleasure watching these titans duke it out on the big screen.

While the latest film may fall a bit short in some areas, it does however, improve on other aspects from the previous film, mainly the human characters who are featured a lot less this time, giving more screen time to Godzilla and Kong. Returning from the previous movie are Rebecca Hall as Dr. Ilene Andrews, Kaylee Hottle as Jia and Brian Tyree Henry as Bernie Hayes, while the rest are nowhere to be seen which is honestly for the best as they didn’t really add much to the overall plot, other than just being annoying.

Dr. Ilene and her adoptive daughter Jia were the two best human characters in Godzilla vs Kong and it’s great to see them back. Ilene and a team of experts are still watching over Kong and studying his new surroundings, while Jia, like Kong, is also trying to find her place. She now

attends school in Barbados, but barely interacts with the other kids and doesn’t focus on her work. She struggles to have a normal life not due to being deaf but feeling culturally displaced, being the last of the Iwi tribe and because she and Kong have a strong bond, and she’s more interested in knowing how he’s doing. Her relationship with Ilene was done really well in the previous film but feels a bit rushed and generic this time.

Even the few scenes of her interacting with Kong don’t feel as impactful as before. The film does, however, do a great job of exploring the history behind the Iwi tribe, helping Jia find a place that truly feels like home. Kong and Jia share even more in common this time, even if the film doesn’t quite highlight that aspect enough, it will surely tug at the heartstrings of those who do catch onto it.

Bernie Hayes has continued his podcast focusing on conspiracy theories, this time based on events he witnessed firsthand, and Ilene seeks his help with researching the mysteries in Hollow Earth. He brings the same enthusiasm, clumsiness, and paranoia from the previous film which brings some comedic relief without overshadowing everyone else. Joining the main cast is Dan Stevens as Trapper, an expert who helps look after Kong. He can be very overbearing with his positive but cocky personality and a little flirtatious with Ilene, but thankfully the movie doesn’t become all about him.

Ilene, Jia, Berney, and Trapper plus a few others are the only group of human characters that the movie focuses on to help tell the story. This is a really nice change from the previous MonsterVerse films that had too many groups of human characters, taking up too much screen time with their needless antics. It’s a perfect example of less is more.

The visual effects do an amazing job illustrating the sheer size of Godzilla, Kong, and other colossal titans, and how small everything is around them. Seeing more of Hollow Earth this time helps answer some questions from the previous film, hinting there could possibly be a human civilisation and even the origins of Mothra who was featured in 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Of course, seeing the giants battling it out in various parts of the planet is always a treat to see. This time, all the battles are in broad daylight, so audiences can see all the details of Godzilla, Kong, and more, so it’s definitely learnt from its mistakes in the first film where all the monsters battled in the dark.

Tom Holkenborg returns to compose the film’s soundtrack, this time working alongside Antonio Di Iorio. The main theme simply titled “Main Title Theme” has elements of the iconic theme from classic Godzilla films, possibly taking inspiration from the recently released Godzilla Minus One, made by Toho and unrelated to the MonsterVerse films. Hearing that iconic tune when Godzilla is on screen helps deliver some nice fan service.

It may not top the previous film, but seeing Godzilla and Kong back on the big screen duking it out with other oversized titans is always a good time. It also explores more of Kong’s origins and Jia’s lost tribe. It might fall short in certain aspects compared to the 2021 film, but it also improves in other areas. This time it puts an even bigger focus on the titular characters while minimising the number of human characters, only keeping the ones that actually help carry the story.

No future films have been announced for the MonsterVerse franchise as of yet, but fans will be eagerly anticipating seeing what comes next. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire gives us even more colossal battles of epic proportions.

Written by: Sammy Hanson