Maybe a better title for this latest instalment in the so-called MonsterVerse would be ‘Life on Hollow Earth’, for returning director Adam Wingard takes great pride in bringing us a blockbuster nature documentary.
For great stretches of the film, we get to hang out with Kong, as the mighty ape navigates the trippy landscape that is Hollow Earth. We first see him chased by a rabid pack of beasts, who he soon leads to their doom. He’s still the king of this jungle.
With Kong now ensconced in this subterranean world – “untouched by mankind”, as Bernie puts it – this keeps him apart from his rival Titan Godzilla.
This uneasy truce keeps humans safe, with Godzilla guarding the planet from any other interloper. In a lovely moment, after an exhausting fight with a giant beastie in Rome, the giant reptilian curls up in the Colosseum as if it was his own personal sleepy basket.
Yet Godzilla is soon on the move when a distress call from Hollow Earth mobilises him into action, accruing power as he prepares for “World War 3”.
Nor is he the only one to sense this signal. So too does Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last remaining member of the Iwi civilisation who lived in Kong’s original home of Skull Island. This young deaf girl is now with her adoptive mother, returning Monarch scientist Dr Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall).
Andrews decides she must descend into Hollow Earth to investigate this distress call, reluctantly taking Jia with her. Also joining her is Bernie and Trapper (Dan Stevens), a daredevil veterinarian introduced in one of the film’s more amusing sequences, as he repels from a heavy-duty aerial vehicle and into a drugged Kong’s mouth to extract an infected tooth.
Trapper and Andrews knew each other at college, but Wingard and his screenwriters don’t make the mistake of letting romance get in the way.
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As you might expect, the Titans run the show here, and the humans are merely decoration. Kong encounters a small Simian, dubbed “mini Kong” by Bernie, who draws him towards an inner realm of enslaved apes ruled by the fearsome Skar King.
Impressively rendered, this vicious red-hued ape brandishes a whip made of a spinal cord from a vanquished foe as a way of subjugating his enemies. Titan fans will also rejoice in the arrival of Godzilla ally Mothra, while there are more surprises in store.
Of course, all this devastation can become a little repetitive, especially in the final act, although you sense adolescents will be in their element.
While the Andrews/Jia storyline, with the Iwi girl needing to find her place in the world, doesn’t quite have the desired emotional impact, the humans do provide fine comic relief.
Stevens, who worked with Wingard on thriller The Guest, is in fine form as the cocksure Trapper, while Brian Tyree Henry delights with every line he delivers (“Great Mulder and Scully,” he mutters at one point, nodding to the X-Files characters).
It may not eclipse Wingard’s earlier Godzilla vs Kong, but it’s still a bonkers ride.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is released in UK cinemas on Friday 29th March 2024. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on.
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