New Godzilla x Kong Trailer Thinks it’s 48 Hrs.
Deadpool and Wolverine have nothing on King Kong and Godzilla, or so Warner Bros. hopes. Today, the studio released a new trailer for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, the next installment of the Monsterverse that started with Godzilla in 2014. This time, Godzilla and King Kong must team up to fight a super-powerful ape monster that wants to do… some kind of bad guy stuff. Adam Wingard, who helmed Godzilla vs. Kong, returns to direct, with actors Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and Kaylee Hottle also back; they’re joined by Dan Stevens, Alex Ferns, Fala Chen, and Rachel House. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will hit theaters on March 29, 2024, and you can see the new trailer below:
I know these movies are silly to begin with, so it’s kind of mean to say how goofy this trailer looks, but good God. The sight of Godzilla and King Kong running into battle side by side still looks stupid, and no amount of CGI polishing is going to save it. That being said, the CGI does look more polished than in the last trailer; there are still moments where it isn’t quite right, like in the fight King Kong has with an enemy ape at the 1:41 mark. It’s not Marvel-bad, but it’s just a little off. But the rest of it looks good, with a shot of King Kong at 2:25 being particularly well-detailed and lifelike. But they’re really upping the stupid for this one. In a recent Empire interview, Adam Wingard compared Godzilla and King Kong’s vibe in this to a “buddy-cop dysfunctional relationship dynamic;” in the trailer, someone actually says, “They don’t have to like each other; they just have to work together.” I mean, there’s laying it on thick, and then there’s drowning the audience in the analogy. I also don’t like the idea of King Kong using human tech; I know this is probably a small thing, but I’d rather the monsters just use their own savagery than some kind of Iron Man gauntlet. But whatever; this movie is what it is, and I hope it’s at least fun enough to have a decent time without looking at my watch.
