Godzilla and Kong: The New Empire carries on its shoulders the burden of the completely unmemorable previous film, Godzilla vs. Kong. Kong: The so-called MonsterVerse that started with Gareth Edwards' Godzilla in 2014 It continued over the years with increasingly loud films, veritable “popcorn films” in which special effects replaced introspection and narrative. Overall it was fine. Who pays to see Godzilla and (King) Kong beat each other up, and hit other people too, for good measure? KaijuIt's not like I'm looking for the meaning of life in computer graphics.

But then came Godzilla Minus One, which changed the game a bit, even winning an Oscar and being well received by critics and audiences. However, we won't be making a comparison between Adam Wingard's new film and Takashi Yamazaki's award-winning film. Because the MonsterVerse is ultimately something else, it has a different purpose and speaks its own language. The problem, if there is one, is deciding on this Review of Godzilla and Kong: The New Empirewhether the MonsterVerse takes one step forward or two steps back.

The problem of the three monsters

Previous MonsterVerse films, especially King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong, has been criticized for its insistence on “human” subplots, that is, on that part of the story that shows the actors in the flesh, their interactions and the relationship between them. with Titans, the primordial species to which both Godzilla and Kong belong. If the Russell family's twisted family feud may seem cloying but still engaging in Godzilla II, the parallel stories in Godzilla vs. Kong did leave something to be desired, but above all, they stole time and space from real heroes, and the computer graphics monsters you want to see on the big screen. Well, the new film takes a step back in that sense, or at least tries to, clumsily but trying.

The story of Godzilla and Kong: The New Empire revolves around three parallel stories. There's Godzilla, which is really limited to a few scenes of our favorite lizard doing things and destroying things. And if you're going to the movies for him, we're sorry to inform you Godzilla, despite his title, has an almost marginal role: For two-thirds of the film, he stands aside and is seen every now and then, only to enter the final act with a straight leg for the inevitable climactic clash.

The New Empire, in fact, is a movie about Kong. The other two stories move in parallel and intertwine in the second act. We have a human subplot, which has certainly been simplified compared to the past, but it's still very intrusive. After firing Kyle Chandler and Millie Bobby Brown, Wingard focuses on the always good Rebecca Hall's Dr. Andrews, who forms a team to follow up on a telepathic distress message received by her adopted daughter Jia deep in the Hollow Earth. If what you just read sounds weird to you, it means you weren't paying much attention when the MonsterVerse veered into wild sci-fi in the previous film.

Also in the mix are conspiracy theorist Bernie, played once again by Brian Tyree Henry, who is brought in on a ridiculous pretext in order to have a questionable comedic sidekick in the cast, and the extravagant vet Trapper, who is a bit too much even for an actor as skilled and extravagant as Dan Stevens. Bernie remains the weak link in the human subplotsIt represents humanity's reaction to the presence of the Titans in the age of social networks. If it weren't for the skill of Henry, who managed to give him the bare minimum of humanity, he would look like a walking meme.

The last, and most important, subplot has Kong as the protagonist. Gorillana discovers the existence of a tribe of giants like him, once enslaved Evil King Scar: The latter, trapped since time immemorial in the Hollow Earth, aims to return to the surface to conquer it. The only ones who can stop him are Kong and Godzilla, along with a slew of supporting CG characters that help them a little and hinder them a little. The story of the New Empire – which actually is not clear what this empire is – is all here and takes an hour and a half to get started, between the pseudo-sci-fi explanations, chases, and clashes between giant apes and… Cities ending in land, including RomeA scene that is perhaps one of the best scenes in the movie.

The script is complex, combining prophecies, supernatural theories, myths, and legends, only to leave us breathless at the moment we really wanted to see: the tag team of Godzilla and Kong facing off against their enemies together. But at that point The film runs for just under two hourshas already ended and within a few minutes we reach the end credits after a rushed ending, and without the now usual post-credits scenes.

A little blood and a lot of ash

As we said before, trying to deliver a deep story in a movie called Godzilla and Kong would be quite surreal, and indeed Our problem with Wingard's new film isn't the improbability of the plot Or in the summary characterization of the characters, but in the imbalance of the individual parts: Godzilla is seen little, humans much, Kong has his own space and manages to involve the viewer in the concerns of little Sawako and his peers. Too bad just to An opponent without charisma. There will be a very long debate about our perception of giants like Kong, who resemble real apes and gorillas too much to seem truly intimidating and intimidating. Compared to famous monsters of the caliber of Ghidorah or Mecha Godzilla, the Skar King has little hope.

Because of this, the final battle is also amazing, but not exactly exciting. Wingard, who actually comes into his own at various moments in the film with clever and surprising shots, when he's not citing old sci-fi between colors and image distortions, directs. An incredibly stunning decisive engagementto push maximum special effects in a stylized battle royale between titans.

After all, these are the moments when you go to the cinema to see a movie like Godzilla and Kong. The stunning nature of these scenes, well and brightly shot, thanks Sophisticated and compelling computer graphicsIt should be worth the cost of entry. Unfortunately, the film is quite dry in this sense, setting aside the visual diversity of the more monstrous titans to focus on Kong's tribe. Godzilla and Kong, for example, are less disastrous than they should be. Don't get us wrong, Titans blow up various cities around the world and turn them into smithereensUsing buildings to throw weapons and tear down the most famous historical monuments, but in addressing all eras, they ended up neglecting two things: violence and consequences.

Throughout the film, we only see a couple of characters die. Stop. At most we look at the residents who flee from here and there, however The direction never depends on these scenes, nor on the physical and psychological consequences What these devastating battles can cause. Edwards' first Godzilla film did an admirable job of this, and King of the Monsters also smartly and shockingly focused on death and destruction.

For fear of showing blood and death to impressionable children, Godzilla and Kong greatly underestimate the implications of these disasters for the human race, Making sure to show us the Titans tearing apart the world, but not those who inhabit it. This way you lose the viewer gravity, the stakes are dramatically reduced, and Earth – real, on the surface – becomes a massive playground for these monsters who willingly or unwillingly slaughter thousands of innocents, but the heroes of the film don't care because everything comes to a nice ending. A group hug in complete indifference. Almost the same thing that accompanied us when leaving the theater, while we tried to understand whether we had fun and whether the Hollywood MonsterVerse still has something to offer.