The Reel Rejects - Just Watched GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE!! Instant Reaction & Review

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Starting point is 00:01:05 I guarantee you, mark my words right now, when you watch Ryan George's pitch beating, you are going to hear him say, super easy, barely an inconvenience. Which I'm very torn on because it's really funny to me, the way that that is handled, but it is the kind of thing you will see, and you will raise an eyebrow out wondering why they chose to do it like this. citizens of the reject nation we are here at iMacs hq once again just got out of godzilla multiplied by kong we're going to give you our full spoiler-free review right now but before we do that just want to say a big big thank you to iMacs for having us out movie of this scale featuring characters this gargantura and it is the premier way to see the movie they shot it with i max cameras too

Starting point is 00:01:50 oh did they i yeah see some of the expanded aspect ratio chain most of the monster It is larger than life, so do yourself in favor and go get that expanded picture and sound quality in your life. Godzilla X-com. What is it about and how is the movie? Well, we're picking up a little bit into the future past Godzilla versus Kong. There is outposts established in the hollow earth. There is kaiju activity, Titan activity on the surface, and a new threat is lurking from deep within some of the uncharted areas of hollow earth. And all that is about to become our problem. What you just think of the movie, Gene? Do you like it? I would say that there are definitely parts I either really liked or really loved. And there are parts of this movie that I also feel

Starting point is 00:02:35 very strong about that I really did not like stuff that surprised me about that I didn't like, especially after having loved the first movie. Now, right now, guys, there is a massive reception going on over there. The director is over there. Really nice guy. I got to ask him a few questions. You're staring at us right now. We're just over here because it's like, a lot quieter. Part of me is tempted to be like, oh, he's so nice. I should only, to say, only positive. It really makes you want to. And getting, you know, a clips into how these things are made. It does make you appreciate, you know, what is being done and achieved. However, you got to be honest about the film. And there are a lot of things that I really genuinely did

Starting point is 00:03:13 love about it. Obviously, you know, it goes without saying the action is great. It's bombastic. It allows his moments to get weirder. He loves his spinning, winding shots in this world. I'm really representative of the hollow earth. Our world being turned upside down. Oftentimes, I think, you know, some of the more fantastical camera movements in these kinds of movies can detract or can make things feel a little less scopic. However, in this case,

Starting point is 00:03:38 I really appreciated a lot of the more out-there camera choices they were making, especially in one particular sequence that involved unique gravity, I will say. Yeah, there are parts of this movie that kind of reminded me of things that James Gunn was going for, specifically regarding the Galaxy Volume 2 in terms of the tone, the music choices, and some of the specific visuals that actually happened in this movie as well. A lot of the things that it seemed like Adam Wingard was holding back on, and the first one showed some restraint, he kind of went all out on for certain sequences.

Starting point is 00:04:08 And the main element, like the question that I actually asked him, is there a party that's tempted to make one of these without any humans at all and just do it with the monsters? Because there are so many sequences in this film that are teasing the trailer, like with Kong and this little ape. called Succo, even sequences with the Scar King, the other apes that you see there. I really love the dedication to having scenes, even a couple of scenes with Godzilla, like the scene when Godzilla and Kong first encounter each other, there's a really funny moment there that doesn't feel out of place.

Starting point is 00:04:42 And it's within how the characters respond to each other that I love. Those scenes go on, they gestate for quite a significant period of time with no subtitles. just body language and behavior. You watch character growth happen. You watch emotional changes occur in the scenes. You watch relationships develop, intensity, tension. So much of the actual emotionality that you grasp on to in this film is in these scenes where there's literally no humans inside. It is strong and it's impressive.

Starting point is 00:05:14 It's like watching a silent film almost, but, you know, there's like cool sound design happening. Or like one of those old Ray Harry House kind of thing where it is just, Yeah, just the beauty of the animation and the creatures interacting with each other and feeling like, even though you're aware that this is a fantasy and it's movie magic, like you're peering in on some kind of sci-fi nature, not documentary, because obviously they're more characterized than that. But yeah, you feel like you're peering into a forgotten land of some kind that it's doing that. I mean, I love the character of Succo. Easily, the relationship there is essentially the heart of the movie. And while I ultimately didn't think in isolation, the Scar King was that great of a vision. villain. His first scene with Kong, though, is absolutely an excellent scene that I really do feel like a lot of people will be raving about and rightfully so. And I will say, too, there are surprises

Starting point is 00:06:04 that happen in this movie without saying a lot. There's a lot more monsters than the trailers would even have you believe. Like, it's kind of a lot. At times, it goes, maybe didn't eat this, maybe. But there are a significant amount more that allow for a a variety of different set pieces, locations of where to have your fight scenes go down, power sets and whatnot. It's pretty cool. The main thing you show up for when you want to see a monster movie and you get the monster mayhem action, it delivers.

Starting point is 00:06:33 It's like really cool. And there are some surprises as well, like I said, with certain monsters that do appear. And it looks really good all the way around. Like for as many of these, again, big CGI effects-driven movies as we see nowadays, I am the kind of viewer who oftentimes will see scenes on stuff. But for a lot of this, I felt like they realized it and they animated it because so much of it is kind of an animated movie. That stuff, I thought, came together. Because, yeah, there were a lot of great visuals where the color palette was exquisite to behold.

Starting point is 00:07:00 There were many moments, too, that kind of reminded me of a bunch of different sci-fi movies. I was even talking about beneath the planet of the apes at one point, moments that felt like sci-fi-b movies. It feels like Journey to the Center of the Earth, not to pun it up. But, like, Hollow Earth does have this really fun, fantastical science fiction kind of majesty about it that feels like one of those old Bencher movies. It's also a little Temple of Doom in here. Little Temple of Doom, a little bit of Peter Jackson's King Kong movie as well. Here are my stripes with this movie that sound like you're beating a dead horse at this point because you kind of hear this with all the movies at the Monster Verse.

Starting point is 00:07:31 The question with every Monster Verse movie is the same question. And each one comes out with a wildly different balance between the answer. Godzilla versus Kong, the first one, I really love that movie. The only thing I really don't like about it, the storyline with Brian Tyrant Henry and Millie Bobby Brown. Like, I really hate those characters in that movie in particular. I pretty much think it's a near perfect movie for what they're aiming to achieve. And there's a great buildup happening. And now enough has been revealed over like the many, many months in marketing that, ah, this is going to be like a team up movie with, that's why it's called Godzilla X-Kong. They're going to have

Starting point is 00:08:06 an enemy that, a common enemy that they have to fight. I really felt like the human storyline in this one was especially cumbersome. Okay, I get you, you're trying to infuse a little bit something here, like someone gave you a note to try to get more emotionality here with Rebecca Hall and Gaia, make it more of a mother-daughter relationship. Let's get Dan Stevens in here to give it a little more levity. And while everyone is technically, like, they're doing, they're showing up. It really just bored the hell. It takes up so much of the movie, and it can get so boring that it made the action less exciting, because you have two and a quarter of a plot that eventually converge. Whereas the last movie, well, there's a lot of human stuff in there,

Starting point is 00:08:49 it's intertwined in a more focused way with Godzilla and Kong throughout, whereas here it takes a while before it all coalesces. So a lot of the journey can kind of feel a little boring. The balance, I thought, was really off. I thought the first movie was more focused. Like, it's a solid buildup in that first film. And here, the main plot, that's teased in all the trailers that you maybe have already heard about, you know, with having to fight the Scar King. That comes in like so late into the, it feels like

Starting point is 00:09:22 past the halfway point. And then by the time you get to the team up part of it, it just feels like, I'm like, weird that I feel like they rushed a plot here. Well, it doesn't feel like they built to it. It doesn't feel like the movie is building toward that or is about that threat in particular until

Starting point is 00:09:38 kind of lay in the movie where it appears that, oh yes, this will be the kind of main big bad, we got a bench or whatever. Yeah, it just becomes like a little unnecessarily complex with a bunch of humanity and mythology that just falls so flat in its exposition. It seems to be working really hard to justify the existence of Godzilla and Kong teaming up for a few minutes. Godzilla, where he's definitely like not the main character in the last one, he's definitely the supporting character. His presence looms always. And here they cut to Godzilla randomly a lot just blowing shit.

Starting point is 00:10:14 up or two and something, but a Godzilla in this movie reminded me of Scrat in the Ice Age. He's a tough for a lot of it, because it does feel like you're watching, like, some animated movie where there's this like silent sea plot that you cut back to every once in a while to be like a comic strip to complement everything else.

Starting point is 00:10:30 But, yeah, it's kind of, you're taking aback by that fact where you're like, oh, yeah, we cut to Godzilla's like a minute, and then we cut away for 20. He essentially feels like an extended cameo in this movie. I don't feel like Godzilla's truly a supporting character in this movie. And by that standard, that part of it is certainly a letdown for being a Godzilla fan.

Starting point is 00:10:48 That part is a letdown. It does feel like we had to have Godzilla in here. But I really feel like from what we saw here, from what Adam Wingerers especially talked about, that his interests don't really lie with the human characters. I think it shows in both of these movies. Like they really dive deep into the mythology of the humans at Habit Hollow Earth. That's all it is. It's just a bunch of exposition and a very kind of mundane sort of way.

Starting point is 00:11:14 way. Like, I didn't find any of it really interesting. It amounts to something very familiar and the components that kind of flesh out that whole plot line are very much like, not to spoil anything, but yeah, it's very much like a chosen one special kind of, we need you to be the link between two societies. And it's something that is

Starting point is 00:11:30 played well by the actors, but isn't really that interesting and scripting. And while you're hearing this right now going, okay, but the things that you're saying are the things that are supposed to be like, what I'm showing up to this movie for, you're saying they're great and that's all it matters. Humans are always boring. The difference is the for me on this go-around the time dedicated to the humans just really felt

Starting point is 00:11:52 bogged down the movie's pacing and overall energy where it felt like unnecessarily convoluted what it's not really that complicated but it feels complicated it makes it yeah it's weird it's like there's a lot of stuff and nowadays especially i think you're apt to just kind of look past because sci-fi mumbo jumbo we all get it and yet there's something about the way this movie plays certain elements that do like cause you kind of to go wait a minute though how like in a way that you don't want to be thinking about because i think a lot of people want to look past that stuff in a movie like this because it can be they could go for the fun and the weirdness but then it could feel tonally in conflict with itself when it is just with our really boring human

Starting point is 00:12:36 storyline here i really feel like it lost sight of its main story it's like it's a simple main story at its core. Kong found a home, but he's lonely. He finds Suko and a bunch of other oppressed apes and he has to free them. But that comes in so late into the movie and ultimately, again, like I keep saying, loses his focus. That emotional connection to Kong throughout the first one is what helps ground that film. And here it loses sight of what it's aiming for its emotional center to be. And that little bit goes a long way to actually making the entire film like how the last one proved an enjoyable experience throughout and it makes the action

Starting point is 00:13:14 more engaging and rewarding as well and I loved all the things when it was just with the monsters it's just I want to looking back on the experience I was so annoyed by me I feel like you had the experience I had watching King of the Monster because that's the one for me

Starting point is 00:13:32 that aggravated me watching the human again I can absolutely see how you would feel that way here I thought all the actors did a good job but I think the characters don't bolster. It's like with GVK, they found a way to make it so that, like, it seems almost aware that, yeah, no one's here for the human, but they're able to bolster what's going on in an appropriate feeling way. Whereas here, it does feel like we're going to focus on these people

Starting point is 00:13:54 and their journey until a point where you realize, like, not really where this movie's heart in anyway. So it feels like they're kind of patched. And there are moments where you feel like, oh, you know, their discovery of Hollow Earth, maybe there's a way that these two stories can synthesize in a very satisfying way. And even the stuff with Gia and Kong, while still endearing here, you know, loses some of that because it's not as ingrained into the DNA of the story.

Starting point is 00:14:15 And that was the part that gave the last movie heart with the humans was the relationship with Kong and Gia. And like one thing I wish this movie really carried over was because I thought the last one really did have just enough heart and more importantly had a surprising dose of a sense of wonder. Where here they are clearly infusing some plot stuff attempting to replicate that feeling. but it's just not quite hitting and can at times feel more like a note because it's what the last movie did to hit rather than a genuine beat. They sort of supplement that with the storyline

Starting point is 00:14:50 with Kong and Succo, which has a lot of surprises in there. There's actually some really nice surprises of what they did. I was like, oh, this isn't playing out at all like how I thought I was going to play out. A cute merch character isn't just cute merch character. No, it was a nice surprise.

Starting point is 00:15:06 Like there's a real growth and trajectory with those two characters that I thought was excellent. You don't get Gia and Kong, you get Succo and Kong. Overall, I'm like, no, it's absolutely worth watching an IMAX because when you get the most visual pop and the sound, I'm like, wow, this is really great to look at. And if you can see it with like a crowded house that's Jack to be there, I have a feeling this will be really fun still.

Starting point is 00:15:26 Yeah, and the final battle and everything. Yeah, and sure, is the wow factor a little bit over because it's like when you watch Avengers the first time you watch Age of Ultron, and you're like, yeah, I've seen the events coming. We know it's possible. Yeah. Yeah. So Wow Factor is a little bit diminished.

Starting point is 00:15:39 Definitely prefer the first one, but the elements that they brought here with just the visual storytelling. I'm like, wow, I didn't realize I was going to have such a massive takeaway with how strong that stuff is really striking. And I do like Adam Wingard's overall take on this world, you know, even again, with the gripes that we do kind of share

Starting point is 00:15:59 over this movie to one degree or another. I still like his take and his vibe about how he chooses to color things and the needle drops that he chooses to whatever. and ways that certain things are characterized. I would love for him to do a third one and, like, do no humans, honestly. I think people would actually opt for that. Like, of course, you want to see more monsters, but at times it does become a little bombastic to the degree where we'd never got there,

Starting point is 00:16:21 but it was almost at a Transformers level for me, where it's like, all right, we're cutting a Godzilla and something fighting. I don't know what's going on here, but sure. And it is that thing, too, of like, your use now, the further we get into time and cinema, the more use you are to seeing, you know, big stuff smashing other big, big stuff. There were times when I was afraid I was going to slip into that for the

Starting point is 00:16:41 remainder and it would frequently pull me back with something. Exactly. That movie that's what I mean. I never, the movie, I never got to a point where I was like, you've lost me, I'm checked out. Like, it would be a back and forth I was having and that's where the dichotomy is happening for me. Yeah, and there's still stuff in here. I would love to see continue

Starting point is 00:16:57 or expand. Exactly. Exactly. I really do think the action again, great. Even if at times I'm like, okay, a little much. But. Brain is turning into liquid. Yeah. Well, I feel like my brain's getting smashed. But the visual storytelling, I thought was excellent. I'm done, John. I give it a 7 out 10. Seven out of 10. That's not bad. I think I might, I might agree with you. I'll go 7.28. What did you think of Godzilla X. Kong? Where

Starting point is 00:17:21 would you rank it among the legendary Warner's Monsterverse films? What mathematical symbol are you looking forward to Godzilla and Kong doing to each other next? Leave it all down in the comments. That might be 6.5. Uh-oh. We should... I'm hovering. We should do. check back in reviews. When I'm thinking about what I don't like, something like a 6.5. I feel very strong about what I really liked, and I feel very strong about what really bored me.

Starting point is 00:17:46 And that's the one emotion I really don't like feeling is bored. Yeah, that's the worst thing, especially in a movie like this. Anoid is second worst. Bored is top. So to me, I'm like, bored is the worst. So, yeah. And I was, I will say, I was bored at this. I thought, man, very much time.

Starting point is 00:18:04 I was like, man, I love this. Catch you next time, reject age. Thank you.

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The Reel Rejects - Just Watched GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE!! Instant Reaction & Review

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