Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

King Kong and Godzilla are BUSY. King Kong is trying to trap and kill dog/monster things with a bad tooth. Godzilla’s stomping around the world trying to charge up like an electric car for some TBD fiery showdown. Life is hard for the big monsters. Good thing we have Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry to narrate the important points. “Kong is trying to reach the surface!” “Godzilla’s preparing for something…” It’s impossible to look at this with any kind of cinematic critical thinking. The director of Pop Skull has made a computer-generated nature documentary bereft of sophistication or subtext. It doesn’t seem to be an allegory for World War II anymore. It’s epic, but it’s coherent, believe it or not. The busy plot hampers the desired monster-movie playfulness, but there’s still a crescendo of roaring and city-smooshing to please my monkey brain.