New Monsterverse installment gets job done, albeit recklessly
“Dune II” notwithstanding, it has been a difficult year at the average movie theater. Now comes the new GodzillaKong smackdown — the marketing materials, for the record, tell us that the “x” in “Godzilla x Kong” is silent, which is a waste of a perfectly good letter. But I’m happy to report that the follow-up to 2021’s “Godzilla vs. Kong” does the job — unevenly, yes, but with a pleasantly reckless spirit of engagement.
It’s directed, as was the 2021 movie, by Adam Wingard and features the return of Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Kaylee Hottle and assorted digital Monsterverse golden oldies, from ’Zilla to Kong to Mothra and more.
The applause from the preview crowd, particularly in the blithely destructive Rio de Janeiro climax — a team-building exercise for the headliners — had the ring of genuine approval. At one point, Godzilla and Kong sprint toward their enemy, Scar King, the orange nightmare whose territorial ambitions as a Kongscaled antagonist know no bounds. You know the shot: the action-movie slow-mo dash toward the camera, executed here in such a way as to suggest that Godzilla and Kong have spent hours rewatching “Bad Boys.” Dumb, right? Sure. Also amusing, and exciting and sincere.
At the end of “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the sea lizard and the simian reconcile after vanquishing the human-made Mechagodzilla. Despite widespread human fear and skepticism, Godzilla agrees to keep an eye on monstrous threats to humankind. Kong then returns to Hollow Earth, the wonderland of verdant beauty and violent predators.
The threats double, triple and quadruple in the new movie. Scar King ranks as Headache No. 1. But there are others, and Godzilla gives up his post to chase down an unexplained distress signal emitting from Hollow Earth. The signal perplexes the humans in “Godzilla x Kong,” nervous about what might happen if Godzilla and Kong mix it up again.
These humans of whom we speak include the brilliant scientist Dr. Andrews (Hall). Her adopted daughter Jia (Hottle), the sole surviving member of the Iwi tribe of Skull Island, has been plagued by visions of Hollow Earth and imminent catastrophe. Reunited with podcaster Bernie (Henry) and Andrews’ one-time squeeze Trapper (Dan Stevens), the humans head to Hollow Earth to make their own set of astonished green-screen discoveries.
I love Hall in just about everything, and she and Hottle capture enough authenticity in their mother-daughter relationship to earn a tear or two. To be fair, some of that comes from the screenplay by Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett and Jeremy Slater, although the laziest exposition and boilerplate dialogue puts the “bored” in “cardboard.”
I’ll take these GodzillaKong movies over most corporate studio franchises these days. Yes, Godzilla and Kong cause untold and blithely unexamined human and property damage in Wingard’s latest. The Rio carnage is quite extensive; earlier, there’s a dash of sweet pathos in the sight of Godzilla klutzing around Rome, damaging priceless landmarks like the Colosseum because he can’t help it. Typical foreign tourist.
MPA rating: PG-13 (for creature violence and action)
Running time: 2:02
How to watch: In theaters