Some of you may be starting to realize that cinematic universes aren’t just for superheroes anymore. While Warner Bros. has been busy trying to keep the DCEU alive over the past couple of years, they’ve also been working on other non-comic book universes. Of course, one of them comes from the financially rewarding Conjuring horror series while the other includes the likes of King Kong and Godzilla.
The third film in this so far successful universe featuring legendary monsters is Godzilla: King of the Monsters. We run into an organization named Monarch who happens to be on the hunt for creatures like as Godzilla. While on his trail, they discover the history of such monsters and come to understand that many continue to live on and could threaten the very existence of human beings.
Right away, I noticed that King of the Monsters doesn’t feel as epic as it should. I found that odd since there are so many monsters being introduced and they’ve gone global instead of being mostly relegated to one area like last time. There should have been this “larger than life” aura that you get whenever the monsters show up and take over the screen. That’s especially true when they’re interacting with humans, but it rarely feels that way.
Speaking of humans, one thing that was different from the 2014 film that introduced the “King of the Monsters” is that there’s more of an attempt to focus on the people surrounding him. This is something that works sometimes, but it may be deemed unnecessary for those who are only here to see these colossal behemoths do battle and destroy the land around them.
Even though it wasn’t a necessity, focusing on the human characters more was a good decision. I wanted them to be more than placeholders until we got to the action, so I’m happy we got that to some degree this time. This made the movie feel a bit more engaging than the previous one even if it isn’t as good. It also gives us something else to follow as we wait for the craziness to break out as we all know it will.
As we wait for the insanity, the story surrounding the humans isn’t always strong and is needlessly complicated. It doesn’t take away from the positives too much, but it does manage to get in the way as I was more interested in destruction and mayhem than I was anything else. Since it’s included, it would have been nice if they would have just simplified it though. No one is here for this and slimming it down could have only helped in making it more entertaining.
Although this doesn’t technically have anything to do with the movie itself, I have to mention that there’s a heavy Boston influence seen in this movie. A few of the characters are supposed to be from Boston. Usually, this would mean we’d hear some horrible accents based on the region. Luckily, no one in this movie butchered it this time around.
In this instance, that’s mainly because no one decided to try one. Moving forward, I think Hollywood should at least consider ditching the attempts at using the accent whenever possible. Doing so wouldn’t aggravate too many people. Besides, some of us (including myself) don’t even have the accent. If you can’t do it, it’s better to just leave it alone.
I didn’t love King of the Monsters, but the action and the destruction that’s being showcased is enough for me to recommend it to anyone who’s interested. If that’s you, you will at least feel like you got something positive out of the movie. I’m also sure some will take issue with the fact that it’s a little too dark during many of these scenes. Making it a bit brighter could have helped since I’m guessing you’ll want to see as much as possible.
Rating: PG-13
Director: Michael Dougherty
Cast:
Kyle Chandler
Vera Farmiga
Millie Bobby Brown
Bradley Whitford
Sally Hawkins
Charles Dance
Thomas Middleditch
Aisha Hinds
O’Shea Jackson Jr.
David Strathairn
Ken Watanabe
Ziyi Zhang
Film Length: 134 minutes
Release Date: May 31, 2019
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
