Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Year: 2019
Rating: PG-13
Length: 132 minutes / 2.20 hours
Despite the cult following of the original Godzilla films, the special effects were definitely limited at the time. While the American version of Godzilla (1999) had too many flaws to be noteworthy, the recent reboot of Godzilla (2014) into its own cinematic universe with King Kong is something I look forward to, if for no other reason than huge monsters dueling it out on the big screen. I’d be over the moon if it ever combined with the Pacific Rim (2013) franchise, but that’s probably asking for too much. As it stands, though, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) is a great sequel that amps up the action.
When I go to see a Godzilla movie, one thing I want to see is large monsters. King of the Monsters has these in spades. Even if you have a passing knowledge of Godzilla monsters, you’ll likely recognize names like Rodan, Ghidorah, and Mothra. While the plot is a little lacking in why these monsters are fighting, the result is satisfying. The scale of these battles is entertaining, if for no other reason than to view the mayhem these titans create when they clash.
While I’d love nothing more than watching these monsters battle it out, I felt that this movie’s human aspect was a bit overdramatic. It’s almost cliché with the divorced parents trying to keep their child safe while skyscraper-high lizards destroy the entire world. Sure, it’s a vehicle for advancing the “Monarch” thread that links all these movies together, but it probably could have had a little more polish to focus on the monsters instead of the people who (for whatever reason) want to release them all at once. At the very least, I look forward to the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) that was heavily hinted at throughout.
Entertaining monster mayhem, I give Godzilla: King of the Monsters 4.0 stars out of 5.
