Mikes Film Talk

Two minutes into the new Godzilla X King Kong: The New Empire and I go, “Uh, Oh. I’ve missed something here.”

And I had. An entire movie prefacing this one. Godzilla Vs King Kong (2021). I then did my due diligence and started streaming the first in this new “franchise?” I discovered that the on screen prompt said, “watch again.”

I could not remember watching it at all. After mumbling about mistakes and so forth, I hit the “play” button.

Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things, Enola Holmes and the “one step forward three steps back” Netflix flick Damsel.) appeared on the screen and I remembered. The first film was not bad, but, it featured the “new and improved” Brown. The all grown up one.

This will earn me the ire of Millie Bobby Brown fans the world over.

But.

I cannot stand the new grown up Brown. She was a cute kid. Her acting abilities were awesome, in Stranger Things, and she was amusing. Then she grew up. Suddenly she is all dragon lady nails and botox and lip fillers. Suddenly she looked too old too young.

She is 20 years old.

I am sorry to say that the bloom has gone off the rose. (Perhaps that was part of the problem with Enola Holmes. She plays too young in the first season and then I lost interest in the second.)

Back to Godzilla and King Kong

*I’ll just bet that you thought I got sidetracked.*

I suddenly remembered why I got so lost in this latest installment. I loathed the previous film. Godzilla Vs King Kong was annoying. (Mainly because of Brown.) The other stars of the film, excluding Kong and “Zilla,” were good.

Rebecca Hall is spot on as the scientist.

Kaylee Hottle is adorable as the deaf princess who has a connection with Kong.

*She is reprising her role in the new one The kid’s got chops.”*

Mike’s Film Talk favourite Brian Tyree Henry does what he does best.

Rachel House, another firm favourite (The Hunt for the Wilderpeople) also give us some good stuff here.

The Plot

Who knows?

Apparently watching the first film reveals why Kong and ‘Zilla are now class A titans? Sorry, I missed it. Either I dozed off or got interrupted. And who the heck is Red Scar??

Plus, how did Kong get so big? The hirsute chap was always big, he made The Mighty Joe Young look like Herve Villechaize, but now he is almost as big as Godzilla.

And his reactions to everything are very…human. His facial expressions, his use of traps (All very Predator if you ask me.) seem to be that of an Andy Serkis trainee.

The Verdict

It is all a lot of CGI and ,a merciful absence of Ms. Brown, a lot of confusing action. Perhaps I have outgrown these types of film. I can, however, give it a solid 3 stars. It was interesting but not engrossing. One could take a break and not hit the pause button.

Godzilla and King Kong have come a long way from those black and white Fay Wray (Kong) and Raymond Burr (Godzilla) days.

The film can be streamed on Max and rented/purchased on Amazon Prime and other streaming services.

The Trailer