King of the Monsters remains in the larger King Kong/Godzilla cinematic
universe that Warner Brothers is building. It is a sequel to the 2014 movie but
none of the same characters return*. This time, the focus is on the Russell
family. After tragedy strikes them in San Francisco as a result of the climax
of the first movie, researchers Emma (Vera Farmiga) and Mark (Kyle Chandler)
split up. Mark goes off tracking wolves for some reason. Emma keeps their
daughter, Madison (Millie Bobby Brown), and gets involved as a lead person in
the Monarch program. I don't know if it's been established already, but Monarch
is the group the finds, locates, and studies the titans, such as Godzilla and
King Kong. A device that Emma finishes that controls the activities of the
titans is stolen by an eco-terrorist, Jonah Alan (Charles Dance), who also
takes Emma and Madison. Mark then teams up with a bunch of Monarch officials
played by Kan Wantanabe, Ziyi Zhang, Bradley Whitford, and Thomas Middleditch
to get his family back and stop Alan from destroying the world. Oh yeah, and
the monsters. This device wakes a bunch of monsters, who proceed to destroy a
bunch of cities. Godzilla sort of teams up with the humans to stop a
three-headed dragon monster that I'm sure was given a name that I've forgotten.
So, there are a lot of big monster fights, mostly at night and in the rain,
since that's the easiest way to make CGI look good.
*I don't know. Maybe side characters return, but I
had no memory of them.
Simply put, I really enjoyed this movie. I think the
human story was so fully insane that I didn't mind how messy it was. I remember
my big issue with the 2014 movie was that Aaron-Taylor Johnson's character just
kept magically showing up at all the locations across the globe where important
monster battles were happening. Well, this time, all the characters are
actively tracking the titans. I've already accepted that I'm watching a movie
where giant monsters exist. Telling me that some scientist has a magic device
that allows them to track the monsters or influence them isn't a logical
stretch. Having a person randomly stumble across key events across the globe by
chance isn't a logical jump that's explained away as easily. So, that's why I
don't mind King of the Monster's brand of lunacy as much. But, yeah, King
of the Monsters is a ludicrous movie, very much in the Roland Emmerich
mold. I thought more about Independence Day than his Godzilla
movie though when I watched this.
Chandler, Farmiga, Brown, and everyone else all have
good disaster movie characters. They are defined by a couple traits. They make
the occasional tension-cutting joke. They deliver silly lines with a straight
face. Everything you could want. The cast is overall better than the movie
needs, but I'm pretty sure everyone knew that going in.
This movie won't be for everyone. If Pacific Rim
bored you, this will too. If you can't find any enjoyment in a movie where The
Rock fights an earthquake or giant crocodiles, then this is also not a movie
you'll find joy in. This is missing a few touches that would've made this
top-tier popcorn fun for me. The darkness and rain did muddle what was actually
happening on screen a lot of the time. There a few too many supporting
characters who I'm supposed to care about, and none of them pop in a way where
I'd be disappointed if they didn't return in the next sequel. But, I don't want
to focus too long on those things. I thought this was a fun movie in every way
I could've hoped for.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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