It's pointed out that this film comes a week after Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) another entry in a long-running franchise. Despite sharing the word "empire" in the title, both films have a scene where a supernatural being turns the water on a summer beach into ice. Having not seen the latest Ghostbusters film, I can't speak to the effectiveness there, but the trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire gives us more of that icy beach scene than this film does. The trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has close-ups of the people and immerses us into the ground-level danger. This film doesn't give us a sense of that danger. It's more akin to the kaiju fights in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993) where it's about watching giant creatures knock down tall buildings than it is about emotional connections to characters or caring about humanity.
This is a sequel, so a lot of the emotional connection to characters or caring about humanity is supposedly carried from the previous entries. A lot of viewers who come to a film about the characters of Godzilla or King Kong don't do so expecting or even wanting a story about the humans. They want to see the giant creatures doing action. As such, the best stuff in here involves King Kong separate from the humans. Arguably, the human stuff is a drag or an albatross to the story involving the huge gorilla, and this film in effect should have been simply that, ditching the human characters all together.
Brian Tyree Henry, the Oscar-nominee, reprises his role of Bernie Hayes from Godzilla vs. Kong (2021). Bernie is an Internet personality who runs his own blog and he's basically like the African American version of The Lone Gunmen characters from The X-Files (1993). Bernie even references The X-Files here. He's basically the comic relief in this film, bringing a nerdy, neurotic and anxious energy. His rapport and chemistry with Dan Stevens (Beauty and the Beast and The Guest) who plays Trapper, a veterinarian who helps King Kong, is very bromantic. The two of them display forms of physical affection either outright or implied that was refreshing for a mainstream blockbuster. Sadly, the film doesn't do much more with it than have them be passing references.
Rebecca Hall also reprises her role of Ilene Andrews from Godzilla vs. Kong, the scientist involved with studying and monitoring the Hollow Earth, the home to King Kong. She is also the adoptive mother to a girl named Jia, played by Kaylee Hottle, the last of the survivors of Skull Island, the former home of King Kong. The B-plot is all about Ilene and Jia's relationship. Jia is a Native American, deaf girl who is the last of the Iwi, a tribe that lived on Skull Island but was wiped out. As a result, Jia feels out of place and not truly at home, despite having a loving bond with Ilene. The emotional stakes are supposed to be this so-called mother-daughter dynamic and whether or not it will be or can be sustained. A lot of those stakes are likely carried over from the previous film, but, in the confines of this film, I didn't feel those stakes enough. It's adequate here, but not the tearjerker that the film tries to reinforce by the end. It was appreciated that this film leaned into sign language and non-verbal storytelling, largely thanks to Jia.
Finally, the film does a good job handling King Kong's story. It wasn't perfect, but it was probably the best thing here, despite Kong getting second-billed. Godzilla has gotten more attention in the media this past month because a couple of weeks ago a Godzilla film won an Oscar, that of Godzilla Minus One (2023) at the 96th Academy Awards, which is the first time any Godzilla film has done so. Sadly, this film is a step back for Godzilla fans. Godzilla is relegated to being a secondary or even tertiary character here. Godzilla is essentially an after-thought. King Kong gets a more thought-out story where a smaller, red-fur gorilla named Suko becomes Kong's side-kick. We become more attached to Suko than Godzilla who gets top-billing yet feels disposable in this narrative.
Rated PG-13 for creature violence and action.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 55 mins.
In theaters.