‘Godzilla X Kong’ heavy on action, light on plot

The film is called “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.” It is not Hanks X Streep or De Niro X Mirren. That means you should not go into the theater expecting complicated character development, intricate plot twists and/or Award-winning performances.

It is what you expect.

This latest offering on the Godzilla and King Kong universe is an endless stream of action sequences stitched together by a thin script. The human part of the cast – that includes the very talented Rebecca Hall – is about as necessary as a flea collar on King Kong.

The new theatrical release is the follow up to “Godzilla vs. Kong.” Since their last battle, Godzilla has been stomping through major cities to defeat the Titans. These city-destroying tussles never seem to take place in a rural area where the worst disaster would be a silo destruction.

Godzilla actually has a plan. He is absorbing vast amounts of energy including the devastation of a nuclear plant near Paris that will have everyone’s croissants glowing. Occasionally, a worthless human will make some statement about how Godzilla must be planning something big. This year’s Oscar for Stating the Obvious goes to this film.

Meanwhile, Kong is living a lonely life in the world that exists at the core of Earth. His search for other great apes creates a problem that requires a few stereotypical humans to visit the land that is really down under.

Ilene Andrews (Hall) is a scientist/mom who is torn between work and her newfound daughter, Jia (Kaylee Hottle). There’s the local big animal vet in Trapper (Dan Stevens) who is a poor man’s Peter Quill. Rounding out the team is disrespected podcaster Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry).

Also in the group is the pilot but he might as well be wearing a red shirt from “Star Trek.” Fans of the show will know the fate of the character.

These characters are needed to try to keep the film going as the script by Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett and Jeremy Slater is never in a rush to get to the reason for the title. Godzilla’s tearing up cities above ground while Kong is facing a large shrewdness of apes who want to rule the world.

Big creature films like these never depend on logic or the laws of physics. But there is an endless string of moments that are either unintentionally funny or cheats with the story just to get to the next big reveal.

One of Kong’s new buddies is a miniature version of him. Early in the film, Kong uses the baby ape as a living bat to beat other apes. Such abuse would leave any ape either dead or endlessly confused.

Then there is the moment everyone realizes an injured Kong can’t win the day. As luck would have it, a prototype for a mechanical arm for Kong was in a storage closet at the facility in the underworld site monitoring Kong. It is difficult not to laugh at such insulting moments in the script.

The biggest gaff is the discovery of writings that predate humans on the surface. They tell of a great ape with a scar looking to rule the world. That ape is still alive. Are they immortal? Don’t ask the writers as they don’t know.

Director Adam Wingard – the man behind “Godzilla vs. Kong” – is not slowed by the lack of story. He loads the movie with huge fight sequences that are as fast paced as any “Transformer” movie but are far easier to follow. The work is solid enough that it makes the structure of having Kong and Godzilla not get together until the last 20 minutes all the sadder. The film is being sold as the teaming of these film titans and that should have been the focus of much of the movie.

King Kong has been terrorizing the world since 1933 while Godzilla has been a pain in the Tokyo for the Japanese since 1954. They are strong enough to be the masters of their own action film and making them part of a zoological buddy story doesn’t add anything.

It all comes down to your taste in movies. If all you want is action, the name says it all. For the record, in the name “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire” the X is silent according to the studio. Why? Again, don’t ask the writers.

Movie review

Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

Grade: B-

Cast: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Fala Chen, Alex Ferns.

Director: Adam Wingard

Rated: PG-13 for creature violence and action

Running time: 115 minutes.

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