Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - The Type of Movie that Just Need to be Experienced on the Big Screen with Great Sound System

After finding out there would be another movie in this franchise, I was obviously excited to see it, especially when I saw its trailer. I wanted to experience this in a studio with Dolby Atmos system on the weekend to avoid the tired feeling after working on weekday. So my wife and I went to one of our favorite cinemas with such sound effect to see the film. OK, let's get into it now.

Brief Story Line

Few years after the events of Godzilla vs Kong, Kong was now living by himself in the Hollow Earth trying to search for possible others like him, while Godzilla remained on the surface to protect the humans against Titans. When a signal seemed to be coming from down below, Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall - Tales from the Loop TV series, Resurrection etc) the researcher in Monarch decided to investigate further. She was accompanied by the veterinarian Trapper (Dan Stevens - The Rental, Beauty and the Beast live version etc), security head Mikael (Alex Ferns - Eastenders TV series etc), podcaster Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry - Class of '09 mini series, Bullet Train etc) and her young daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle).

As the Monarch group went inside the Hollow Earth, they found something that attacked the outpost and realized there might be unidentified Titans threatening the life there, including Kong. Things also got complicated when Godzilla was acting strange and seemed to be gathering strength.

So what would happen to Kong and Godzilla and would the world be safe from the enormous threat from Hollow Earth? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

OMG! This is exactly the reason why my wife and I go to the cinema. We want to experience the kind of spectacular almost nonstop action that would make us feel ecstatic and entertained. For almost 2 hours we were shown various absolutely great fights between large monsters (titans) in many locations. The special effects were just perfect and the directing of the fights were so brilliantly done that we were strapped to our seats for such a long time. My wife was so much in awe that there were even tears in her eyes several times, especially when Godzilla and Kong showed their strength.

Compared to our experience watching the previous movie on TV, this was absolutely a lot better. The only small disappointment for me was the studio surprisingly did not have Dolby Atmos effect despite the app showed it had. Luckily the standard surround system was still adequate to give the wow effects during the fights. For a monster movie, this one was truly magnificent as we got to see them fight against something bigger, stronger and more deceitful. And the addition of the cunning & deceitful main Titan enemy (villain), plus the young Titan (you would know what I meant) was very smart as well since it gave more color to the movie. With the large and bright studio screen, it just added the element of fun. 

For me, the human side story here was slightly better too since it did not take a lot of screen time and make the story convoluted like before. I thought the director (Adam Wingard) made the right decision to focus the movie on Godzilla and Kong, while the humans were given smaller part. At least the characters were more fun to watch, like the newly added charming Trapper (whom my wife did not recognized as Dan Stevens before I told her the name) and the still talkative Bernie. There were only two more notable support cast here, i.e Rachel House (Moana, Cowboy Bebop TV series etc) as Monarch director Hampton and Fala Chen (Shang-chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings etc). In any case, humans were deemed to be unimportant anyway (you could see so many people were definitely killed in the destruction on the surface, but hey at least the main characters were safe).

Overall there was nothing much more to say except you should just see this in the theater. This movie was not the type to see in small screen as you would have much better experience seeing it in the cinema with great sound effects. Btw it has a duration of 115 minutes without any mid or post end credit scene. So if important plot or human interactions are important for you, then you probably would not enjoy it like some movie critics. But if you are like us who enjoy this kind of blockbuster entertainment where you could see enormous giant monsters fight against one another with so many exciting moments, then you definitely do not want to miss this. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars