Following on the heels of 2021's Godzilla vs Kong, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire has teased even more kaiju-chaos on the big screen as the titular monsters are pitted against a new foe in the Scar King. It appears to be the case as the first set of reviews tease a mindless, monster-filled time in the theaters that could either leave audiences happy or disappointed.
The first wave of reviews and reactions for Godzilla x Kong began to appear online the day before the film's wide release, which is typically a bad sign for it. However, many of the first reviews have been fairly positive for the latest entry in Warner and Legendary's MonsterVerse, according to Rotten Tomatoes. It isn't without a fair share of naysayers, though, who left the theater feeling disappointed with Godzilla and Kong's modern team-up on the big screen.
A general consensus among the reviews is the plot is, largely, nonsensical and the human-side of things is largely forgettable despite a talented cast featuring Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall, and Brian Tyree Henry. While there was a shared sense of disappointment in the cast's forgettable roles, some praise was given to Kaylee Hottle for her performance as the now-teenage Jia who serves as the heart of the humans' story.
The real stars of the movie, though, are the monsters themselves, and it appeared this was a shared thought among many of the early reviews. Both Kong and Godzilla are reportedly given more screen time, most of which is spent smashing things even more than they had in previous MonsterVerse films.
On the whole, the first reviews for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire largely echo the feelings of critics and audiences for most of the films in Legendary's MonsterVerse franchise.
Reign of the monsters
The only notable outlier is 2014's Godzilla, which kicked off the shared universe, as director Gareth Edwards injected the film with a more mysterious and serious tone around the titular monster. It still featured Godzilla going toe-to-toe with other kaiju, in this case a pair of MUTOs, but most of the monster-fighting action was saved for the film's climax.
From there, the franchise began to take itself a little-less seriously starting with 2017's Kong: Skull Island. Legendary and Warner's monster films began to more closely resemble Toho's many Godzilla films from the 60s all the way to the early 2000s with multiple kaiju doing battle on screen, various cities and landscapes destroyed by these fights, and humans who seemed to be there just to move the plot forward.
The first reviews indicate that Godzilla x Kong may be the pinnacle of this approach to the MonsterVerse, an approach that may leave audiences either happy with their experience or just disappointed.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is in theaters.
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