Photosensitivity Warning: There are several sequences within the film (traveling to Hollow Earth; uses of breath abilities) that may prove triggering for photosensitive views. Take proper precautions before pressing play.

What a time to be alive. Despite the claims that there’s nothing to see at the box office, there’s a constant influx of stories being added to theaters, VOD, and streaming services each week. Even better, there’s a little something for everyone. Looking for an action/adventure tale? There’s a Godzilla story for you. Want some sci-fi? Godzilla again. Want some romance? Godzilla. Want just pure comic book mayhem? Gojira. In the last seven-month period alone, audiences have been gifted two distinct and equally entertaining versions of the King of the Monsters with Takashi Yamazaki’s Oscar-winning, emotionally resonant, WWII drama, Godzilla Minus One (2023), and Adam Wingard’s second Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures MonsterVerse outing, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024). While the former is currently only available on import physical media and Netflix U.S., Wingard’s The New Empire is available to own on physical and digital formats with over 90 minutes of behind the scenes materials that may just shift how you look at the Titan-sized beatdowns constructed for your entertainment.

Kong in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In the aftermath of Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), Godzilla oversees above ground and Kong lords over the Hollow Earth — a tenuous armistice, but one that holds as long as each King is content presiding over their kingdom. But their truce will be tested as a new threat from an old forgotten foe rises from the Hollow Earth, answering questions the members of Monarch have held for a long time, but whose reveal once more puts the entire existence of humanity on a slippery precipice.

As an initial review for The New Empire, what follows will try to preserve the surprises of the film as best as possible. If something will be mentioned about the home release that may dip into spoiler territory, that material will be marked so as to help those who’ve yet to see it be able to skip past and still be able to get all the enjoyment they can from this cinematic ride.

Director Adam Wingard on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Dan McFadden. © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The New Empire continues the narrative and style of GvK while growing both in interesting ways. The balance of human and Titan storylines once more syncs up so that we care as much about the entire cast as possible, grow to care as much about what happens to returning characters Dr. Andrews and Jia (Rebecca Hall and Kaylee Hottle, respectively), as we do new ones like Trapper (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga’s Dan Stevens stealing almost every scene he’s in and the glorious soundtrack which accompanies him). Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla (2014) focused on the humans almost too much, resulting in an uncomfortable edging for the audience, and King of the Monsters (2019) has almost too much humans in comparison to the excitement of the Titan clashes. In this reviewer’s view, Skull Island (2017), GvK, and The New Empire succeed by not only creating compelling characters, but by balancing everything to provide compelling holistic entertainment. Based on a story by Terry Rossio (Small Soldiers; Shrek), Simon Barrett (The Guest), and Wingard, and from a script by Rossio, Barrett, and Jeremy Slater (Death Note), The New Empire expands what we know about Hollow Earth, clarifies the connection between the Titans (every wonder how King Ghidorah ended up in ice in the first place?), and expands the lore without distracting too much from the immediate task at hand. The New Empire is as nearly much fun as GvK and its biggest issue is that Godzilla Minus One came out so recently that audiences are too likely to compare the two versions rather than see them as unique to different cultural visions and well within Toho’s own established Godzilla catalogue of films with their own varying tones and approaches. This film isn’t interested in exploring the emotional or psychological toll of living in a world with Titans, dissecting the human psyche, or exploring the bureaucratical nightmare that regular monster attacks would cause. Instead, The New Empire casually depicts horrific damage and casualties as it hypes up each beast on its way to a new beatdown.

Center: Godzilla in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The next, smallest, issue is how the film’s paced in such a way that things move along at a surprising clip, yet simultaneously tends to a drag, making one feel as if things are happening far slower than they really are. Put another way, the pieces take their time and then things fire off like a rocket as soon as they need to. This means that sequences we wish were longer are not and vice versa. Part of the fun of Skull Island and GvK are the extended fight sequences. It’s not that there’re fewer ones in The New Empire, it’s just that they are all scattered up until the last 20 minutes or so, and then it’s nothing but. On the bright side, the script wisely brings back Brian Tyree Henry’s (Bullet Train) Titan conspiracy theorist Bernie Hayes from GvK to act as the audience surrogate, while also uses him to connect dots only someone with his specific skills of gathering data can provide, thereby creating an easy excuse for exposition in several scenes where it might be otherwise clunky. Somehow, from Titans to humans, all the central characters get their moments to shine and the script lets them happen as naturally as possible, though some do require a bit more excusing than others.

L: Brian Tyree Henry on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Dan McFadden. © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Whether you’re a casual fan, a MonsterVerse professional, or a Toho connoisseur, the bonus features having something for everyone to enjoy. Don’t remember what went down in the previous four films?  The six-minute “GxK: Day of Reckoning” includes a montage of film footage, as well as commentary from cast members past and present (a little bit of reused bonus materials) to help set the stage for the new adventure. Want to learn about the fights? There’re three dedicated featurettes. Exploration of design and development of newly introduced characters? Check. Growth of previous characters and their growth in this new outing? Covered. Want to learn about the hijinks of shooting on-location in Australia’s Daintree National Park (watch out for tree leeches) and how the same site was reused in The New Empire from GvK? In detail. In lieu of a gag reel, there’s a fun behind-the-scenes featurette called “The Intrepid Director: Adam Wingard: Big Kid” that runs shy of four minutes in which we learn from the cast and crew about Wingard’s on-set process and general tone-setting. Though, if one remembers that he’s a massive fan of these characters, it’s going to be easy to understand his frequent silly behavior. Sure, movie making is a serious business, but it’s also fun under the right circumstances, and this suggests that Wingard wasn’t going to miss the opportunity. Running just over 90 minutes without the feature-length commentary (more on that in a moment), there’s literally no rock unturned for home viewing audiences to learn something about the movie-making process.

Whether you’re a cinephile interested in the making of a movie or not, I recommend taking the time to watch the film at least once with the commentary track on. Wingard specifically is a great listen for his energetic delivery and earnest discussion of the choices made in the film. It’s clear from the press around GvK that the filmmaker is a massive Toho fan, so hearing him talk about the characters within this film is like listening to an excited nerd share his toys with friends (the highest of compliments). His explanation for turning Godzilla pink is not only a result of narrative choices, but it’s because (a) audiences haven’t seen a pink Godzilla and (b) he likes the color. Does it mean that this will be how Godzilla looks moving forward in the MonsterVerse? Not likely; but it’s fun for now.

**spoiler warning**

Skar King in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Amid talking about details like the new color, how they set up or developed various shots (on-location versus digital or composite), we also learn about inspirations for moments in the film. Kong punching out the ape who gets in his face upon arriving in Skar King’s lair? Taken from Once upon a Time … in Hollywood (2019). Kong’s first on-screen interaction with Godzilla in the film? That’s the alley fight in John Carpenter’s They Live (1988). These are just some of the delectable details you can learn from the commentary track that are not only fun from an audience perspective, but highlight just how much of the film is intentional in its development of the final presentation.

Regarding the availability of the bonus features, the only way to get the full in-depth look at the film is through the digital edition. Missing from the 4K UHD review copy are three featurettes — “GxK: Journey Into the Unknown,” “Into the Hollow Earth: Suko — The Rise of Mini-Kong,“ and “Into the Hollow Earth: Skar King — The Anti-Kong.” It’s not so strange for new bonus materials to be added *after* an announcement (these three aren’t included on the formal press release), but they are also absent from the latest one. As such, keep this in mind when considering which version of the film you want and how best it fits within your collection.

L-R: Rebecca Hall and Kaylee Hottle on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Dan McFadden. © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

**end of spoiler section**

In terms of the on-disc presentation, WB Home Entertainment was kind enough to send a 4K UHD physical copy for review. Generally, it’s a solid picture with the vibrant colors (whites, purples, greens) standing out and on-location/stage sequences coming off as tangible. Cinematographer Ben Seresin (Godzilla vs. Kong) returns to convey a certain heighted experience that manages to make even the wildest of moments feel grounded, whether incorporating natural colors or the unpredictability of the Hollow Earth. The sound, played in 5.1 surround via my Yamaha stereo, is enveloping and immersive with great balance between dialogue, scoring, and ambient noise. If you’ve got an at-home Atmos setup, this is likely going to be an even wilder ride. That said, as mentioned in the Dune: Part Two (2024) home release review, when the scenes are dark, they are dark dark and become more difficult to discern details. This may be a by-product of the 4K UHD with HDR allowing for more natural lighting and greater range of color, resulting in darker blacks. While this is likely, one suspects that this is also a result of WB Home Entertainment opting to forgo combo releases and placing the film and the bonus features on the same disc. This truly restricts the amount of available data space on the 4K UHD disc for the film; space which could be saved by placing the bonus features on either a separate features-only disc or by including the film on Blu-ray with the bonus features. As a result, depending on the scene, The New Empire shifts from the occasional 70 Mbps display register to a lower 30 Mbps, when checking the bitrate via my Panasonic 4K UHD player. A 4K UHD should maintain around 70 Mbps, so the fact that it keeps dropping could potentially be addressed by freeing up space on the disc.

L-R: Godzilla and Kong in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Be advised that when Warner Bros. Pictures announced the home release for The New Empire, they also announced an upcoming five-film collection gathering each of the MonsterVerse films — Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs. Kong, and The New Empire — into one set. All we know for sure is that it will be a six-disc set of 4K UHD editions commemorating the 10^th anniversary of the MonsterVerse, but no other details beyond that. So, if you’re missing any of the films, are interested in saving space, or are otherwise hesitant to pick up The New Empire, keep this in the back of your mind as you decide what to do.

L-R: Director Adam Wingard, Dan Stevens, and Rebecca Hall on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Dan McFadden. © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

With The New Empire, the MonsterVerse is officially five films deep and showing no signs of slowing down. As with all films, the viewer will determine how exciting or terrifying this is, but, thus far, each film builds smartly upon the lore of the previously-released tale without significant retconning (save for the continued absence of the eco-terrorist group led by Charles Dance’s Alan Jonah who still has that pesky King Ghidorah head). This results in an adventure that mostly just dives in from the start and becomes a rollercoaster on rails with plenty of jumps, jolts, and reveals to keep audiences excited. Reportedly, Wingard is not returning for the next MonsterVerse film, which, on the surface, for this reviewer, is not a bad thing. It allows for a different perspective to come in and shake things up again. This and GvK possess a straight-forward neon rock’n’roll vibe that suits the kind of rock’m sock’m energy of Titans coming to blows, but even the Toho films included varying energies and presentations, so something new might help maintain the excitement that seems to be carrying audiences back into the dangerous world of Titans. As long as Kong is involved, this reviewer will be there.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Special Features:

• Commentary by Director Adam Wingard, Visual Effects Supervisor Alessandro Ongaro, Production Designer Tom Hammock and Editor Josh Schaeffer (1:54:39)
• GxK: Day of Reckoning (6:00)
• Evolution of the Titans: Godzilla Evolved (5:34)
• Evolution of the Titans: Kong’s Journey – From Lonely God to King (5:46)
• Into the Hollow Earth: Visualizing Hollow Earth (5:48)
• Into the Hollow Earth: Monsters of Hollow Earth (5:41)
• The Battles Royale: A Titanic Fight Among the Pyramids (5:31)
• The Battles Royale: The Zero Gravity Battle (5:05)
• The Battles Royale: The Titans Trash Rio (5:24)
• The Intrepid Director: Adam Wingard: Big Kid (3:45)
• The Intrepid Director: Adam Wingard: Set Tour (3:46)
• The Imagination Department (3:48)
• The Monarch Island Base: Portal to Another World (5:35)
• The Evolution of Jia: From Orphan to Warrior (5:59)
• Bernie’s World: Behind the Triple Locked Door (3:30)

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Digital-Only Special Features:

• GxK: Journey Into the Unknown (9:39)
• Into the Hollow Earth: Suko – The Rise of Mini-Kong (5:45)
• Into the Hollow Earth: Skar King – The Anti-Kong (5:54)

Available on digital May 14^th, 2024.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD June 11^th, 2024.

For more information, head to the official Legendary Pictures MonsterVerse webpage.

Final Score: 4 out of 5.

Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming

Tags: 4K UHD, action, Adam Wingard, adventure, Alex Ferns, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Fala Chen, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, home release, home video, Jeremy Slater, Kaylee Hottle, Legendary Pictures, MonsterVerse, Rachel House, Rebecca Hall, science fiction, Simon Barrett, Terry Rossio, Toho Co. LTD, Warner Bros. Pictures