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Let’s get real the main reason one would watch this movie is to see gigantic fictional monsters fight. With that being said, I bringeth goodeth newseth. There is an abundance of Kong Karnage with some quality gigantic reptilian fist o’cuffs too. As a bonus with the help of some A-1 CGI the aforementioned Kong Karnage and reptilian fist o’cuffs are all up in ya face. Some folks are balking at the heavy use of CGI, but hello… Kong… Godzilla… Hollow Earth… You won’t find those anywhere ‘round here. So yeah they used heavy CGI. The movie is 98% CGI if I had to venture a guess.
The movie gets hectic in places with a lot of “huh” or “wtf” moments. So do not go looking for any deep storyline, or well-developed characters. You will however see the return of some of the more fleshed-out characters from previous Godzilla joints like Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), and Jia (Kayless Hottel). One thing that did lightweight irritate me is how they tried to humanize Kong a bit too much. With all the cheeky and often ill-place human gestures, facial expressions, and humor. I do have a suggestion next time leave the humans out of it. I won’t spoil it by saying what I mean by that. But I am good with humans just being a footnote or collateral damage in future expansions of the MonsterVerse. Ok, ok… I know I stated the shining beacon in this film is the monster fights. But I would not be giving my readers the real if I didn’t mention how paper-thin the storyline is. I mean thin, as in frog hair thin. So if you are looking for a solid plot type of film with everything wrapped up in a pretty bow at the end, this one is not for you. Storyline aside this movie is entertaining and successfully achieves a simple mission. Which was to show big monsters fighting. So to hell with non-sensical items like a mid-movie Kong tooth extraction and replacement by a veterinarian. Yea, we won’t go there. Also, they seem to have done away with the whole kaiju angle and are just carving out a plausible world where we just live side by side with these gigantic Titans. Also living with the fact they will destroy half our world whenever they want to stretch their legs or run into an Opp.
A solid entry into the MonsterVerse, entertaining and lengthy fight sequences, and a plot that was paper thin earn Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire a 3.75 EBTs. It is teetering on a 4 but I just cannot forgive some of the wtf moments.