Rating: 3/10

It’s time to put this franchise, if you can even call it that, out of its misery. 

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” was released on March 29 and has received a plethora of mixed reviews from critics. The Godzilla/Kong franchise has been dubbed the“MonsterVerse,” which I personally had never heard of before stepping into the theater to watch the next throwdown on the big screen. To me, this nickname feels like a self-proclaimed title to allow Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment to step into the ring with the big dogs, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DCU. Epic failure. 

Spoilers ahead for “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.”

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is the next movie in the series following “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” released in November 2023. There are seven movies in total within the franchise with plans to make more. I personally didn’t think you needed to see the previous films to understand what was happening, simply because the plot and dialogue were so bad that a monkey could understand it. 

Don’t expect an Oscar-winning movie. Instead, the audience was served a script that reeked of poorly developed plot lines, made up words that left me scratching my head and relatively cool ideas that just missed the mark. For example, Kong being equipped with a metal fist is a great idea in theory, but the fact that this tool was thrown into the story in under 10 minutes, there was no demonstration of how it was built in Hollow Earth and that it just happened to be equipped with “anti-frostbite serum” is beside me. After this scene I was left confused and ready to go home. 

It seems to me that this franchise is leaning more towards the side of Avengers than trying to create its own story lines. With a big metal hand that reminds me a bit — or a lot — of Iron Man or the Infinity Gauntlet in “Avengers: Endgame,” as well as a mystical parallel dimension only accessible by portals which mimics the one and only Doctor Strange, this feels like a class kindergarten case of “I had it first.” 

You definitely get to see more monster action than any of the other previous films, which I appreciated, but I also feel like this gave directors and writers a free pass to kick their feet up and let ChatGPT do the script writing for them. Overall, the film would have been awesome if the dialogue and entire story had been better developed. With a 6.6/10 on IMDb, it’s possible the cast and crew gave themselves those ratings to increase theater attendance. 

The movie does have impressive CGI and special effects, and some may enjoy the action accompanied by simple dialogue. It’s an easy and action-packed watch that “MonsterVerse” fans can enjoy. I personally am not one of those people and my enjoyment of this franchise died before it even had a chance to begin.