Alright, I know that movies featuring giant monsters fighting aren’t something exactly new to the big screen.
However, I’m all about action flicks that feature titanic creatures duking it out with an awesome soundtrack and easy storyline.
And I got to see all of that last week when I caught “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” at our local theater.
Empire is a 2024 American monster film directed by Adam Wingard.
Produced by Legendary Pictures, it is a sequel to Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), and the fifth film in the MonsterVerse franchise.
It is also the 38th film of the Godzilla franchise and the 13th film in the King Kong franchise.
The film stars Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns, and Fala Chen.
The movie clocks in at 115-minutes long and is rated PG-13 for creature violence and action.
Three years after defeating Mechagodzilla, Kong has established his new territory in the Hollow Earth and searches for more of his kind.
On Earth’s surface, Godzilla continues to maintain order between humanity and giant monsters, known as “Titans” — killing Scylla in Rome and resting in the Colosseum afterward.
A Monarch observation outpost stationed in the Hollow Earth picks up an unidentified signal.
On the surface, the signal causes Jia (Hottle) to experience hallucinations and visions, causing her adoptive mother, Dr. Ilene Andrews (Hall) to worry.
Kong heads topside to the Earth’s surface to get a rotten and broken tooth extracted by Titan veterinarian Trapper (Stevens).
Also sensing the signal, Godzilla leaves Rome and attacks a nuclear plant in France to absorb the radiation before heading to the Titan Tiamat’s lair in the Arctic.
Monarch believes Godzilla is strengthening himself for an oncoming threat and is scrambling to figure out what to expect next.
When a sinkhole opens near his home, Kong discovers an uncharted region where a number of his species has survived, including a juvenile named Suko.
After an initial confrontation with other apes, Kong forces Suko to lead him to the tribe’s lair, and the two slowly bond on their journey.
The tribe’s tyrannical leader, the Skar King, battles Kong with the aid of an ancient ice-powered Titan, Shimo, whom the Skar King controls with pain using a crystal.
Shimo’s ice breath damages Kong’s right arm causing frostbite, but with Suko’s help, Kong manages to escape, though losing his axe in the process.
Andrews and Jia, alongside Trapper and conspiracy podcaster Bernie Hayes (Henry) travel to the Hollow Earth to locate the source of the signal after losing contact with the Monarch outpost stationed there.
Unfortunately, they find the Monarch outpost completely destroyed and all the stationed personnel dead.
As the group ventures forward, they discover a temple that leads them to a subterranean section that houses a surviving Iwi tribe, who communicate telepathically with each other.
All I have to say is that this is the film for the pure enjoyment of monster battles and if you’re looking for anything else you’ll be disappointed.
Besides, epic battles are always better on the silver screen in my book and this movie definitely has great fighting sequences that transition smoothly.
