Directed by Adam Wingard — Screenplay by Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett, and Jeremy Slater.

Whether you call them kaiju, titans, or just plain old movie monsters, everyone knows King Kong and Godzilla. They’ve been projected onto the big screen for decades upon decades and yet it was only at the most recent Oscars ceremony that a Godzilla film was awarded with its first prestigious little golden statue. Now that franchise is only three Oscar statues behind Kong, who gained AMPAS recognition long before they finally gave Godzilla its own golden statuette. It was, however, a Japanese Toho production and not an American one, which this film is, that earned an Oscar. Nevertheless, the Oscar indicates that audiences, critics, and industry representatives alike all have an appetite for engrossing monster movies with something to say. At least, that’s what I’m told Godzilla: Minus One, which I have yet to see, is. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire — Minus One’s American cousin — is, however, pretty much just a silly monster movie (though I’m not sure it aspired to be anything else, so I don’t fully mean it is a pejorative). It has plenty of things going for it, but it also made me question what exactly we, or I, want from these kinds of films.