![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Godzilla-x-Kong-The-New-Emp.jpg?resize=620%2C348&ssl=1\")
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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Action-Adventure-Sci-Fi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 115 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (creature violence and action)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Adam Wingard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett and Jeremy Slater\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Tom Holkenborg and Antonio Di Iorio\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ben Seresin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 29, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns, Fala Chen, Rachel House, Ron Smyck, Chantelle Jamieson, Greg Hatton.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The victory goes to Godzilla in this battle in the never-ending war of the Titans in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire<\/strong>, the latest entry in the MonsterVerse franchise and a direct sequel to 2021\u2019s Godzilla vs. Kong. I say that not because his storyline is any better than Kong\u2019s. It\u2019s not, not really. It has more to do with the effects. In short, the scenes with Godzilla look better than the ones with Kong which look more like a video game than a movie. He and the other apes look so computer-generated, it\u2019s distracting. It certainly took some of the fun out of it for me.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0I am really on the fence about Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire<\/strong>. Parts of it are undoubtedly fun. Other parts, not so much. I enjoy a good monster movie as much as the next guy. I love the idea of a giant creature attacking cities and destroying everything in its wake while everybody runs for their lives. That\u2019s the central attraction of most if not all kaiju movies. There\u2019s certainly plenty of chaos, destruction and monster mano-a-mano action in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire<\/strong>. That\u2019s not the problem. It\u2019s the confused storyline. It\u2019s all over the place. Returning director Adam Wingard tries to cram too much into one movie and it ends up working against it. However, he semi-redeems himself with great characters, some cool action sequences and a fun devil-may-care approach to the material.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0It seems there\u2019s trouble in Hollow Earth, the subterranean place where Kong went to live after the events of the previous film. An identified signal has been detected and it\u2019s on Dr. Ilene Andrews (Hall, The Town) to uncover the source. This means an expedition to Hollow Earth. It couldn\u2019t have come at a worse time. She\u2019s struggling to connect with her adopted daughter Jia (Hottle), the last member of the Iwi tribe and the only one capable of communicating with Kong (through sign language, she\u2019s deaf). She too detects something is amiss. Against her better judgment, Andrews brings her along on the mission.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The anthropological linguist is also joined by Bernie (Henry, Bullet Train), a podcaster and conspiracy theorist looking to prove he\u2019s not lying about what happened the last time he worked with Monarch, and Trapper (Stevens, Downton Abbey), a veterinarian who specializes in treating Titans. Once they get to where they\u2019re going, they discover who sent the signal and why. It\u2019s a warning of impending disaster for the people of the surface world. That\u2019s not the only surprise awaiting them. There\u2019s also a race of giant primates living in an uncharted region. Their ruler, of course, is a tyrant who enslaves and brutalizes his own kind.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Meanwhile on the surface, Godzilla appears to be gearing up for something big. He destroys a French nuclear plant in order to absorb the radiation. He then heads to the Arctic to do battle with….. oh, never mind. It\u2019s not all that important. What does matter is that he eventually finds himself face to face with Kong. They have a pretty cool fight before teaming up to fight something far worse than both of them combined.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0One of the more interesting aspects of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire<\/strong> is the emotional content stemming from parallel stories about adoptive parents trying to form a bond with their children. On the human side, we have Andrews and Jia. The doc worries that she might lose her when the opportunity to reconnect with her roots presents itself. It\u2019s a possibility given that Jia feels out of place in a world different from the one she was raised in. This kind of thing extends to primates as well. Kong takes an ape-child under his wing after a hostile first encounter with his tribe. He\u2019s essentially a kid that grew up in a cult situation not unlike the mining operation in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He has issues that he gradually starts to overcome as his new father figure tries to show him a different way to live. Blame it on the VFX, but I felt more for the human child than the ape one.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The acting in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire<\/strong> is about what you\u2019d expect from an effects-heavy blockbuster hopeful. The cast does their best not to be powered by the CGI and sadly, don\u2019t always succeed. Stevens is agreeable enough as the vet\/swashbuckler wannabe. He enjoys a good rapport with his co-stars, Henry in particular. The latter earns a few laughs with his attempts to document every step of the perilous mission. Deaf actress Hottle takes her young character beyond plucky to portray a traumatized but courageous orphan looking for her way in the world. Hall is a good actress, but I\u2019m not sure she\u2019s leading lady material, especially in an action-oriented picture like this.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0All in all, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire<\/strong> is a little better than okay. At times, it\u2019s pretty good. It has its fun moments. It\u2019s just not consistent. The CGI is more distracting than usual. For my money, I prefer the Toho version from 1962 (King Kong vs. Godzilla). It may be cheap, but it\u2019s how a silly monster movie should look.<\/p>\r\n Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Action-Adventure-Sci-Fi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 115 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (creature violence and action)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Adam Wingard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett and Jeremy Slater\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Tom Holkenborg and Antonio Di Iorio\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ben Seresin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 29, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-fi-fantasy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Godzilla-x-Kong-The-New-Emp.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1022,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions\/1022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Godzilla-x-Kong-The-New-Empire-POSTER.jpg?resize=620%2C918&ssl=1\")
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