6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Three years after the events of Godzilla vs. Kong, Monarch heads into the Hollow Earth after receiving a mysterious signal. At the same time, Kong befriends a juvenile ape named Suko, who leads him to a secret empire of Great Apes and the imprisoned ice Titan Shimo, ruled by the ruthless ape Titan Skar King. Through the meditation of the revived Mothra, Godzilla and Kong join forces against the Skar King's army.
Starring: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex FernsAction | 100% |
Sci-Fi | 93% |
Adventure | 72% |
Fantasy | 67% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
I finally got to watch a really good monster movie just the other day, one that pairs relatable human characters with a solid story and copious amounts of beastly destruction. I'm talking, course, about Godzilla Minus One, the much talked-about import that casually made back ten times its modest ~$12M budget, walked away with an Oscar for Best Visual Effects back in March, and quietly debuted on Netflix just last weekend. What we got on this side of the pond instead was Adam Wingard's Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, a substantially different but still fairly enjoyable extension to Legendary Picture's ever-growing "Monsterverse". Flippant intros aside, there's room in the world for both.
Their separate journeys converge much, much later; after Kong travels back to Hollow Earth into uncharted territory, meets a few fellow apes including one later dubbed "Mini Kong", upgrades his right hand, and squares off against their dastardly leader Skar King, who's got an ancient ice-powered Titan named Shimo under his control. This all builds to a thrilling third-act battle far beneath the Earth -- both with and without the help of gravity -- and eventually spills over to the surface, when the mixed tag match ends up totaling three separate cities and most of their surrounding major landmarks. Case in point: if you're here for the monsters, Godzilla x Kong delivers in spades.
On the human front, however, GxK once again fails to deliver. Although it technically wouldn't be an American-made monster film without boring people to distract from the action, the returning characters are as uninteresting as ever. You probably won't care about Godzilla expert Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) and her new haircut, goofy podcaster Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry) and his subscribers, or extreme vet Trapper (Dan Stevens). And you definitely won't care about Jia (Kaylee Hottle), Dr. Andrews' daughter and maybe the last remaining member of the ancient Iwi tribe, who has a resting pout face and ends up being "the chosen one" or whatever. (Oh, and Mothra. You won't care about Mothra either, because she just barfs silk.) Sure, they intervene at a few crucial points, but these human characters once again mostly serve as deliverers of exposition, shocked expressions, and jokes that barely land.
It's all good, though, because the literal and figurative weight of its monster appearances keep GxK afloat during its running time which,
like the last installment, has the good sense to wrap things up well before the 120-minute mark. It might even be more entertaining than
the last couple of Monsterverse films for that very reason, as it seems to more comfortably embrace its goofy side while keeping the action tight
and hard-hitting. WB offers the film in separate Blu-ray and 4K editions, both of which offer good to great A/V merits and a host of lightweight extras.
As usual, see my review of the separate 4K edition for a general overview of the film's visual style, which is predictably stuffed to the gills with CGI and high-contrast colors to keep your eyes entertained (if not overloaded) every step of the way. There are, of course, a few stray compromises that must be made with Warner Bros.' 1080p/SDR transfer, which capably downscales its 4K/HDR10 (Dolby Vision compatible) source material but intermittently suffers from a few all but unavoidable compression artifacts along the way. They're kept under control a little more than expected, partially due to the film's shorter running time, but include sporadic moments of banding and posterization that creep into the busiest compositions and especially fight scenes. Overall, though, there are still plenty of "wow" moments here in tight close-ups and scenes of extreme destruction, and as a whole it features solid fine detail, deep blacks, and very good color representation. On small to mid-sized displays, this Blu-ray will get the job done well enough.
It almost goes without saying, but Godzilla x Kong's Dolby Atmos audio mix is an absolutely thunderous sonic effort that easily ranks among the best discs I've heard this year. Earth-shattering amounts of low and and strong discrete effects are present more often than not, the partially synth-driven score sounds great, while crystal clear audio ensures that you'll hear every human conversation that you probably wish was over already. (Except for Alex Ferns' character, he's cool.) It's an effective balance that, like most big-budget productions, make for a disc that you'll want to crank at high volume for full enjoyment, neighbors or housemates be damned. Highlights are numerous, but basically the entire third act is one fairly long action marathon so that'll get lots of replay value as a demo-worthy sequence.
Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during the film and all extras listed below.
This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with poster-themed cover art; a matching slipcover and Digital Copy slip are also included. Extras include a full-length commentary and just over an hour of behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Adam Wingard's Godzilla v Kong: The New Empire is mostly big, dumb fun that's predictably dragged down by its flavorless and exposition-dumping human characters. (What else is new in the Monsterverse?) For what it's worth, I've given earlier entries more or less the same star rating but this one feels like it has a bit more replay value... and while that doesn't necessarily make it the best film in the (probably ongoing) franchise, it might be the most entertaining. Warner Bros.' Blu-ray features great lossless audio and decent video quality, but the latter could've been improved by relegating the hour-plus of bonus features to a separate disc. Spring for the 4K edition if you're able.
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