Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Review

131min

Genre:      Action, Adventure, Disaster, Fantasy, Sci-fi

Director:   Michael Dougherty

Cast:        Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler…and more

Writers:    Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields, Max Borenstein… and more

-Synopsis-

When giant mythical monsters called ‘Titans’ begin to rise again and battle for supremacy on Earth, shadowy scientific organisation ‘Monarch’ leads the human response and turns to the mightiest of these creatures, revealing an extremist conspiracy at play while an indomitable three-headed alpha goliath threatens absolute global domination and destruction.

Five years after the legendary Japanese monster got a 21st century Hollywood makeover, and two years after ‘King Kong’ reboot ‘Kong: Skull Island’ cemented a monstrous new cinematic universe in the form of the Warner Bros. ‘MonsterVerse’, Michael Dougherty (Krampus, X-Men: Apocalypse) teams up with Legendary Pictures for an epic disaster movie and latest instalment of the classic Kaiju series reboot . . . with decidedly mixed results.

Millie Bobby Brown stars as teen ‘Madison Russell’, a ‘Godzilla’ rampage survivor and daughter of both former Monarch agent ‘Mark’ (Kyle Chandler), and the organisation’s current head scientist and Titan expert ‘Dr. Emma Russell’ (Vera Farmiga), now separated and on different paths. When sinister operative ‘Jonah Alan’ (Charles Dance) and his forces hijack Monarch’s work with catastrophic intentions, the Russells and the rest of the world are plunged into chaos when the gigantic monsters begin to wreak havoc on the world’s cities, led by fearsome winged hydra ‘King Ghidorah’. Enter balance-restorer and real king of the monsters Godzilla ,who will need the assistance of Monarch and their leader ‘Dr. Ishiro Serizawa’ (Ken Watanabe) to retain his crown, in his toughest fight yet.

Whereas Godzilla was originally a monstrous manifestation of Japanese fears over nuclear proliferation and the lingering effect of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings on their society, ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ is framed as Western manifestation of fear over what we’ve done to the planet . . . and the reckoning we must face for it, while of course featuring the pre-requisite parable about man playing god. As such Dougherty and his co-writers weave in a extreme environmentalist message about the balance of nature, introducing a callous, Thanos-like solution to Earth’s human problem, which drives the core of the narrative . . . or at least the human part.

Speaking of that narrative, much has been made (mostly by critics) about the film’s disappointing story and characters, which sounds like a curious complaint considering that neither have been a particular selling point for Kaiju films through the ages. Yet even for this kind of film, ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ is distinctly underwritten and undercooked. Often featuring story elements which feel lazy and poorly executed, and squandering a talented cast which includes the likes of Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance and Ken Watanabe, while trying and failing to inject some humanity and balance out the monster mayhem with a woeful little family drama.

Yet despite a narrative effort which leaves acres for improvement, it shouldn’t really be a shock and is hardly what these films are all about, and there’s just about enough epic monster-fighting goodness here to help the audience gloss over the humans . . . if not quite ignore them. And it’s not often we say this but given the paltry lip service paid to the characters and their story, this film would’ve actually been better served by a lack of narrative balance, and a greater skew towards spectacle and global carnage.

Indeed spectacle is something ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ delivers in spades, and this particular Kaiju battle royal is truly a sight to behold, because when the giant lizard s**t hits the fan, it begins to truly come into its own. The film features a lavish cornucopia of citywide destruction and monster-on-monster action, all captured by regular Todd Phillips cinematographer Lawrence Sher (The Hangover, War Dogs) as he completes his transition from comedy.

It also introduces a whole host of mighty new Titans to gawk at, with aesthetics which range from lizard and bird, to insect and mammal, all rendered nicely but with the bulk of the CGI budget going on Godzilla himself—who along with the film overall is given a bluish hue to complement his expanding powers. But if you’re looking for a glimpse of a certain great ape, and perhaps what’s to come in the MonsterVerse, you’re really out of luck here.

All-in-all ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ is too flawed and lazily written to be a well rounded, memorable tentpole blockbuster worthy of multiple viewings, but it makes up for much of its narrative shortcomings with action which keeps your butt on the edge of your seat, and spectacle that keeps a smile on your face—and if you can switch your brain off for a couple hours, we can think or worse ways to kill them.

After the promise of Gareth Edwards’ ‘Godzilla’ in 2014, Warner’s MonsterVerse has now delivered two epic and entertaining but underwhelming blockbusters which struggle to leave a mark, or rise above the standard CGI-heavy Hollywood event movie pack as they should. And yet the promise of the ultimate clash of the titans in 2020’s upcoming ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ stokes our expectations once again . . . and will have us coming back for more.

The Bottom Line…

While it may be monstrously flawed in terms of narrative, ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ still packs a wallop when it comes to rampaging giant creature mayhem, perhaps failing to leave an indelible mark, but epic enough for you to lose yourself in global destruction and monster mano-a-mano—delivering an extreme environmental message, and leaving us anticipating what happens when gargantuan nuclear lizard meets gigantic island ape next year.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Godzilla (2014)

When scientist awaken enormous and ancient creatures with disastrous consequences for the world, salvation for humanity may lie with the most formidable of these ‘Titans’, as director Gareth Edwards gives us his take on the original and most iconic of the Japanese ‘Kaiju’ monster movies.

Directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Olsen among others.

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