By John Corrado

The sequel to 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire finds the two Titans teaming up after duking it out, and the results are mixed.

Directed by Adam Wingard, returning to the series following GvK, GxK is a monster-smash movie that offers little else besides massive creatures pulverizing each other. There can be some dumb fun in watching the spectacle of this. But GvK already did this better, and The New Empire ends up feeling somewhat tedious with little in the way of compelling human characters for us to grab onto.

The film begins with King Kong having settled into his life in Hollow Earth. Meanwhile, Godzilla roams the surface world warding off other Titans, with the giant lizard having taken to sleeping curled up in the Roman Coliseum. Kong’s domestic life is shown in the opening sequence, as he showers to rinse off the green blood from the creature’s corpse that he rips apart over his head, and suffers a toothache that draws him to the surface for treatment.

When a distress signal is sent from Hollow Earth, it is telepathically picked up by Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last of Skull Island’s Iwi tribe and adoptive daughter of Monarch scientist Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall). Dr. Andrews assembles a team that can travel to Hollow Earth to investigate, including eccentric veterinarian Trapper (Dan Stevens) and conspiracy theorist podcaster Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry). They find King in a battle to take down Skar King, who wants to rule over Hollow Earth.

One of the big problems plaguing The New Empire actually comes down to an unfortunate matter of timing; the film simply pales in comparison to the recent Japanese film Godzilla Minus One, which was released just a few months ago. That film understood that the key to the monster action being exciting lies in having grounded human characters around them. In The New Empire, the humans aren’t given much to do, so the film doesn’t strike that balance; it shows the titans crashing through cities, without giving us a sense of the collateral damage.

The scenes with the rest of Kong’s tribe recall the modern Planet of the Apes movies, which, again, did this better. It’s not exactly soulless, but it doesn’t feel inspired, either. The film basically devolves into a mess of computer-generated creatures fighting each other, recalling the worst tropes of modern superhero movies (the visual effects are also somewhat murky, with an uncanny valley feel to the opening scenes in Hollow Earth).

Kong punching Godzilla in the face with a robotic arm is really all The New Empire delivers. Which isn’t nothing, but the film’s direct predecessor already did the dumb fun thing much better. The 4K disc offers an excellent presentation though for the effects-heavy film, especially with its HDR10 enhancements.

Film Rating: ★★ (out of 4)

Bonus Features (4K Ultra HD):

The 4K disc also includes a selection of bonus material, with over an hour of featurettes in total covering various aspects of the production. A code for a digital copy is also included in the package, which ships with a slipcover.

• Commentary by Director Adam Wingard, Visual Effects Supervisor Alessandro Ongaro, Production Designer Tom Hammock and Editor Josh Schaeffer

• GxK: Day of Reckoning (5 minutes, 58 seconds)

• Evolution of the Titans:

• Godzilla Evolved (5 minutes, 33 seconds)

• Kong’s Journey: From Lonely God to King (5 minutes, 44 seconds)

• Into the Hollow Earth:

• Visualizing Hollow Earth (5 minutes, 46 seconds)

• Monsters of Hollow Earth (5 minutes, 39 seconds)

• The Battles Royale:

• A Titanic Fight Among the Pyramids (5 minutes, 30 seconds)

• The Zero Gravity Battle (5 minutes, 3 seconds)

• The Titans Trash Rio (5 minutes, 22 seconds)

• The Intrepid Director: Adam Wingard:

• Big Kid (3 minutes, 43 seconds)

• Set Tour (3 minutes, 44 seconds)

• The Imagination Department (3 minutes, 47 seconds)

• The Monarch Island Base: Portal to Another World (5 minutes, 32 seconds)

• The Evolution of Jia: From Orphan to Warrior (5 minutes, 58 seconds)

• Bernie’s World: Behind the Triple Locked Door (3 minutes, 28 seconds)

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a Warner Bros. Home Entertainment release. It’s 115 minutes and rated PG.

Street Date: June 11th, 2024