‘Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire’ review: titanic team-up goes crash, smash and bash

“You can’t have a titan with a toothache,” quips Dan Stevens’ Trapper in Adam Wingard’s latest – and wildest – entry in the MonsterVerse franchise. Indeed you can’t. But when Kong bites down on his latest prey and gets an infected tooth, there is only one solution. Drug the great ape up to the eyeballs and yank the offending molar out with the help of a giant heavy-duty aerial vehicle before replacing it with a falsie. Trapper, “the weirdest vet in the world”, is the man in charge, arriving in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire like a cross between Han Solo and Indiana Jones.

With the MonsterVerse now reaching its fifth film, you’d think you’d seen it all when it comes to Kong and his fellow Titan, the reptilian icon Godzilla. Which is why Wingard, back in the director’s hot seat after 2021’s much-loved Godzilla Vs. Kong, cuts loose here with a balmy storyline. Yep, one that includes a Titan tooth extraction, man-eating tree monsters and, later on, a gravity-free fight as beasts float in the ether bashing seven shades out of each other.

This latest instalment takes us deeper into Hollow Earth, the untouched world in the planet’s core where Kong now resides, keeping him apart from his rival Godzilla. But when an SOS comes from this subterranean landscape, Godzilla is put on high alert. Diving into the Arctic, he heads to the lair of Tiamat, a fellow Titan, to take him down and power up, all too aware that he’s about to face off with a new threat to his dominance and mankind’s safety.

Meanwhile, Monarch – the group monitoring Kong – intercepts the same signals. Last seen in Godzilla Vs. Kong, Dr Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) decides to investigate, heading down into Hollow Earth with her deaf adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last remaining member of the Iwi tribe that lived on Kong’s Skull Island. Joining them is Trapper, bullish Monarch military man Mikael (Chernobyl’s Alex Ferns) and Bernie Hayes (the excellent Brian Tyree Henry), another returnee who peddles his theories on the ‘Titan Truth’ podcast.

Wingard has a riot with Hollow Earth, or the “nightmare monster hellscape” as Bernie puts it, with a lost civilisation ruled by a serene queen (Fala Chen), crazy anti-gravity technology and a fiery inner lair ruled by a violent, whip-brandishing ape called the Skar King. Kong also meets a cheeky “mini-Kong”, who isn’t entirely trustworthy, while there are other beasts that will please those steeped in Titan lore. With all these creatures heading for a major smackdown, the humans become almost irrelevant – bar comic relief – once the fighting starts.

Undoubtedly, some will carp at the straightforward plot and thin characterisation. But Wingard does try out something different here, creating long dialogue-free sequences where it’s just the monsters going toe-to-toe. With Wingard relying on gestures, grunts and groans from his alpha-beasts, it’s like watching the most expensive silent movie ever made. Naturally, there’s also some next-level destruction as famous landmarks, including the Pyramids, get trashed. And while it won’t scratch an emotional itch, if it’s barnstorming building-bashing you want, then Godzilla X Kong delivers.

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