--Alan Jonah, Godzilla: King of the Monsters
King of the Monsters is certainly not as artistically impressive as 2014's Godzilla, but it does address the primary complaint many had about the first movie in this franchise: this time, there is no shortage of monster sightings or fights. While the human characters are often neglected for the sake of the Titans, the Titans define the movie's greatest successes. At its worst, it still towers above the largely horrid Kong: Skull Island and highlights the great potential of Legendary's MonsterVerse.
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| Photo credit: junaidrao on Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-ND |
Production Values
The reason many people have seen or will watch the film is the Titans themselves, and King of the Monsters tends to handle them very well. Their fights and rampages tend to be epic in the ways they need to be (the scale for some of them is massive), but there is no fight that quite matches the brilliance of the climax of Godzilla, partly because the 2014 film's biggest action scene was set up so carefully by the restraint of earlier scenes. Here, the action is much more plentiful, but it lacks the same build up.
However, many of the Titans are spectacular. Mothra in particular is depicted well on a visual level, as she stands out as a very colorful and majestic Titan. Rodan and Godzilla usually look great as well, though Ghidorah has several moments where his CGI seems somewhat off. As an aside, there are plenty of references to Skull Island (the island itself, not the movie), even though Kong himself never fights any other Titans, as that is reserved for next year's movie.
It is the human side of matters where the film falters the most. Vera Farmiga, Charles Dance, and Millie Bobby Brown, to name some of the key actors and actresses, all do a competent job within the confines of their roles, but they are definitely held back. Anyone who has seen Vera Farmiga in The Conjuring 2 should know that she is capable of so much more, just like anyone who has seen Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones should know that Charles Dance is capable of so much more.
The largest shortcoming of the characters isn't the acting used to portray them, but their superficial characterization. King of the Monsters suffers from the same general characterization problem as the 2014 Godzilla movie, and the issue is even more pronounced here. The characters simply aren't able to develop significantly, in this case, because the film is overcrowded with them. Had King of the Monsters left out or combined elements of even a character or two, the remaining characters could have benefited quite a bit.
Story
Spoilers!
Monarch, an organization dedicated to tracking, documenting, and containing Titans, suffers loss an environmental terrorist abducts a scientist named Emma Russel. She possesses a device called the Orca when kidnapped, which allows its user to create sounds that can communicate with and influence the Titans. Various other Titans break out of their own respective Monarch facilities, responding to the promotings of a massive extraterrestrial being called Ghidorah, Godzilla's most significant rival. As the Titans tread the earth again, it becomes clear that they pose a much greater threat to the environment than humanity itself.
Intellectual Content
As with Godzilla, King of the Monsters has themes about environmentalism and human vulnerability in the face of natural forces, but there are only a couple of scenes that actually start to develop them. Only one scene explores a character's belief that Titans should decide the fate of humankind, with the character in question regarding humans as a blight on the planet. The cinematic universe might eventually utilize its themes better as it goes deeper into its lore, but this needs to happen fairly soon. After all, the original films featuring Godzilla had definite messages. Going forward, the MonsterVerse needs to make its philosophical underpinnings more explicit, not less.
Conclusion
King of the Monsters is still one of the best action movies of the year despite its faults, and it does introduce enough lore to adequately prepare the MonsterVerse for next year's Godzilla vs. Kong. At the very least, the MonsterVerse is on fairly stable ground for the time being, though the areas needing improvement are obvious. If the next film can address these issues, the future of the franchise will be a bright one.
Content:
1. Violence: The Titan fights are never graphic, but the creatures fiercely pummel each other.
2. Profanity: "Shit" and "fucking" are used, though the latter is only used once, in accordance with curremt MPAA guidelines for PG-13 movies.
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