Godzilla: King of the Monsters. A Review

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS

I was not impressed with the 2014 Godzilla reboot. I was not the only one who noted that a major issue in Godzilla was the absence of Godzilla himself. The production crew of its sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, decided to course correct by heavily featuring our title character. That is a step in the right direction. Pity that everything else is a slog.

Still traumatized from the death of her son, Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) channels her grief through her work with the shadowy group known as Monarch. In Monarch's vast facilities, she manages to use her new device, ORCA, to calm down the newest creature birthed at the facility. It is called "Mothra". To everyone's shock, a group of ecoterrorists, headed by Alan Jonah (Charles Dance) storms the facility. They abduct Dr. Russell and her daughter, Madison (Millie Bobby Brown). 

Madison's father, Dr. Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) is desperate to find his ex-wife and only surviving child. Monarch scientists Drs. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) for their part want to find ORCA. Yes, they do want to also rescue Emma and Madison, but ORCA will help them with the other Titans, the various creatures now emerging throughout the world. Mark, Serizawa and Graham go to a secret Monarch base in Antartica, where a super-creature dubbed "Monster Zero" is being held. Unfortunately, Jonah got there first. More shocking is that Emma is helping Jonah and his group to release Monster Zero, unleashing a wave of worldwide destruction.

Is this a case of Stockholm syndrome? No, for Emma is firmly in cahoots with Jonah. She has decided that the only way to save the earth from ecological disaster is to purge the human population by letting the Titans run loose. Now it becomes an endless battle between Emma/Jonah and Mark/Monarch to see who will triumph. 

This will mean a literal Clash of the Titans. Monster Zero, revealed as King Ghidorah, takes its many heads to do battle against none other than Godzilla. Mothra and Rodan also join the battle. This battle royale will cost some of our characters' lives, but who will ultimately win: Ghidorah or Godzilla? Who will in the end be King of the Monsters?

If anything, I can give Godzilla: King of the Monsters credit for playing all of this so seriously. There was no winking to the camera. There was no real sense of fun save perhaps for Bradley Whitford's Dr. Rick Stanton. Godzilla: King of the Monsters was going to play all this straight. That perhaps was why it ended up being, well, a bit boring.

Granted, not as boring as its predecessor. However, its two-hour-plus runtime meant that it became a bit convoluted at times. Perhaps screenwriters Zach Shields and Michael Dougherty (the latter directing) would have done better to not give the audience a bit of a bait-and-switch with the kidnapping part. If Emma is working with Jonah to essentially wipe out much of humanity to start the world fresh, it might have been better to have her steal the ORCA from the get-go. 

King of the Monsters has a major handicap in that it expects the audience to have vast knowledge of the various monsters flapping about. I'm sure those well-versed in Godzilla lore were excited to see Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah battling it out. For most, I figure, we would be a bit perplexed.

The performances enhance the serious nature of King of the Monsters. Vera Farmiga is such an underused talent. It is almost a shame to see her in schlock like this. She does take all this seriously, her scene explaining the need to let the Titans run rampant as good an effort to play giant lizards on a rampage straightforward. However, it seemed to be a bit too serious to where it is dour.

Kyle Chandler, ever youthful, was so intensely angry as to veer close to parody. I honestly cannot remember Millie Bobby Brown in this. She was, I figure, meant to be her parents' conscience. I did not get the sense that she was anything. Watanabe kept to the serious tone King of the Monsters had. His sacrifice, I figure, was meant to be moving and tragic. I just figured this was a way to save him from more Godzilla movies. I thought that of every major character who met their doom. 

Godzilla: King of the Monsters was big. It was loud. It pushed to being spectacle and exciting. I will concede that it was a step better than the first film of this revived franchise. Amid all the destruction, I did not care about the humans. I do not think that is a good thing. It is not a terrible film. If it is on, it will serve as background noise. It just falls a bit short, which is something not often associated with Titans.

DECISION: C-