Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Falling somewhere between the unashamed fun of 2017’s Kong: Skull Island and the gloomy seriousness of 2014’s Godzilla, the third film in the growing “MonsterVerse” franchise gives fans of the classic giant monster movies plenty to enjoy, even if it’s perhaps unlikely to convert the sceptics.

Premise:  Five years after the battle between Godzilla and the MUTOs that levelled San Francisco, Monarch scientist Dr Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) believe they have found a way to communicate with the so-called “Titans”.  But eco-terrorist Alan Jonah (Charles Dance) believes that drastic action is needed to restore “natural balance” to the world, forcing Emma’s estranged husband Mark (Kyle Chandler) to confront his own feelings about Godzilla.

Review:

Let me start by saying that I did enjoy 2014’s Godzilla, the film which started off this new version of the franchise – but it did have some pretty big flaws.  Probably the biggest was that there was a quite awkward disconnect between the storyline for human characters and the plot for the “Titans”, meaning that often the human characters were simply running around in the wake of the Titans’ actions, without having any real impact whatsoever on the main events of the film.  For the most part, the human characters were just witnesses to the events unfolding around them (to the extent that in the climax, the human characters were having to undo their own mess, as they had nothing to contribute to the main action by that stage).

In contrast, you can see that the writers of King of the Monsters have made a real effort to make the human characters central to the plot and the events of the film.  So whereas the main characters in the first film were “outsiders” who were caught up in events beyond their comprehension, in King of the Monsters, nearly all of the characters work for Monarch, the top secret science-based international organisation that’s been monitoring Titans for decades.  This not only allows the audience to view the events from within the “inner circle”, but it also means that those characters have the knowledge and ability to actually affect events rather than just witness them.

“…you can forgive a lot when the cast list is as good as this…”

King of the Monsters does a great job of building on the foundations set by the first film, so that when we join the action, the world in general is still questioning what should be done about the Titans (even though none have been seen publicly for five years).  Meanwhile, we reunite with Dr Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Dr Graham (Sally Hawkins) from the first film, and learn that Monarch has in fact set up dozens of secret installations across the globe to monitor, and in some cases contain, Titan activity.

In both Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island, we didn’t really get a clear idea of precisely what Monarch was or how it operated (although, in fairness, Kong: Skull Island was set over 40 years before King of the Monsters, so Monarch no doubt has evolved a lot in that time).  It’s now made clear that although it does work with the US military (including the returning David Strathairn as Admiral Stenz, and new characters played by Aisha Hinds and O'Shea Jackson Jr), Monarch is fundamentally a science-based organisation, and as such, is perhaps the strongest advocate against a blanket military retaliation against all Titans.

“…completely embraces its own ridiculousness…”

Although Monarch is once again portrayed as a multicultural and international organisation, with Zhang Ziyi joining the cast as a mythology expert, most of the new main characters are still (perhaps unsurprisingly) American.  But you can forgive that when the cast list is as good as this: Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler and Millie Bobby Brown play the family at the centre of events, with Thomas Middleditch and Bradley Whitford bringing some humour (which was sadly lacking in the first film) as Monarch’s Director of Technology and “crypto-sonographer” respectively.  There’s even a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by Joe Morton as the aged version of Corey Hawkins’ character from Kong: Skull Island.

The inclusion of Charles Dance as the eco-terrorist Alan Jonah is really what gives King of the Monsters its advantage, because this time (without getting into spoiler specifics) the human characters are not only the catalyst for events, but they also have a part to play once events are set in motion (which wasn’t something that you could always say in the first film).

“…the classic monsters are impressively rendered in a way that both updates & honours the original versions…”

The other principle difference between 2014’s Godzilla and King of the Monsters is that this sequel seems to have completely embraced its own ridiculousness.  Whereas the first film was attempting to be quite grounded and gritty for the most part (giant, city-destroying monsters notwithstanding), I felt that King of the Monsters decided to really lean into the absurdity – so we have secret underwater bases, super-sized stealth planes and a whole lot more besides, on top of the Titans themselves.

And speaking of the Titans, it’s no secret that King of the Monsters sees the return of the most famous giant monsters from the classic Toho films, namely Mothra, Rodan and “King” Ghidorah.  Just as 2014’s version of Godzilla intentionally restored the “man in a suit” proportions to the creature (rather than the more “dinosaur-like” proportions of the 1997 version), these versions of all three classic monsters are impressively rendered in a way that both updates and honours the original Toho versions.  Mothra (which, let’s face it, is just a giant moth!) is given a genuine grace and supernatural beauty, Rodan retains its Pteranodon-origins but now with more of a mythical volcanic effect, and Ghidorah’s three Eastern-dragon-influenced heads each have their own personality.  Each of the Titans is impressive individually, but when they clash, there’s a real hit of nostalgia for any fans of the original Japanese films.

“…I got a huge kick out of seeing these Titans of Toho clashing again on the big screen…”

At the end of the day, your enjoyment of King of the Monsters may be heavily affected by whether or not you have a nostalgic connection to those classic films.  I grew up watching them, and got a huge kick out of seeing these Titans of Toho clashing again on the big screen, in a series of impressively rendered CGI confrontations.  King of the Monsters is also an improvement on the 2014 film in terms of both characters and plot, even if some of the characters’ dialogue is really bad.  But on the other hand, if you don’t have that sense of affection for the monsters, then you might not be won over by rest of the film, especially given the fact that, when all’s said and done, everything else plays second fiddle to the giant monsters themselves.

If you do enjoy King of the Monsters, you won’t have to wait long for the next instalment in the MonsterVerse series, as Godzilla vs Kong is due for release next year in 2020, and the end credit images and brief post-credit scene at the end of this film set up where the next film may be heading...