'Godzilla x Kong' Mini Movie Review; Book Projects

Credit: Wikipedia/Warner Bros.

You're probably wondering why I haven't been posting in the last three weeks. First of all, I was recovering from minor surgery. It was an in-and-out thing, but the recovery at home took a couple of weeks. I resumed my regular writing routine only last Monday. That Saturday before, I was well enough to get around on my own but was still trying to take it easy and didn't want to put too much demand on my writing. So, that’s the other reason I haven’t posted until now. I took that Saturday off, a day when I normally prepare that following Monday’s blog post, and saw "Godzilla x Kong" which I have a mini review of for you. I also have updates on my latest book projects: my upcoming short story collection, “Bad Apps”, and a one-short story book. 

Mini Movie Review: 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire'

The problem with many of today's popcorn movies, or movies that are made simply for fun entertainment, is that they often get very edgy. What I mean by that is that they like going to the extreme simply to shock or disgust audiences regardless of how many people like having that done to them, which I really believe is too many. The shocking or disgusting scenes are ones where a main character does something that would be inappropriate in real-life society. That was the problem with the opening to "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire". However, once you get past that, the movie becomes really good. 

“Godzilla x Kong” picks up with several of the scientists of the previous film, "Godzilla Vs. Kong", who get a distress signal from Hollow Earth, a sanctuary where King Kong and other giant monsters (or kaiju) dwell. When they find the source of the signal, they try to get Godzilla to team up with Kong in order to stop a subterranean enemy from invading the earth's surface. The problem is that the two kaiju are mortal enemies to each other. 

The shock and disgust of the film’s opening are a couple of excessive gore shots of monsters striking each other. The gore is exaggerated and doesn't match up to the realism in similar monster fight scenes of the later parts of the movie. This shows us that the opening scene goes to an implausible extreme probably for the purpose of keeping more people in their seats to watch the movie all the way through. 

What makes the movie more watchable all the way through for people like myself who like integrity in a story is that, unlike in the opening scene of the previous movie of the Godzilla/Kong series, neither titular character does something as disgusting as scratching one's ass. I can live with an extreme gore shot or two; I don't go for the main character doing something that sensible people would avoid someone doing on the street in real life, never mind that Kong and Godzilla aren't people. 

There are a few other problems throughout the rest of the film. One is a close shot of Kong eating a piece of his prey, a shot that didn't do anything for the whole of the movie. Other problems are old tropes such as stale humour and a retro pop song track. Aside from these, the movie is really good. It focuses on the issue with the two titular monsters while keeping to a minimum subplots that involve the human characters’ interactions yet making them sufficient and integral to the overall story. The special visual and sound effects are engulfing and so you’d be missing out on the true experience of the movie if you pass up seeing it on the big screen. 

If you can get past the opening scene of "Godzilla x Kong", a scene that seems to be made to make the worshippers of the American cult of shock and disgust stay for the whole film, the movie unfolds really good. If you're one of those members of that cult, well then you have nothing to worry about except maybe for everything that comes after the opening. 

The Latest on My Fiction Projects

I'm getting ready to do the grammar and mechanics revision of one short story and working on the rewrite of another, both of which are for my upcoming book of short fiction "Bad Apps". I'm also getting ready a short story (not to be part of "Bad Apps") to send to a manuscript formatter so I can release it in book form. Titled “The Trespassers”, I’m hoping to release it within the next couple of weeks. For more detailed updates about both books and for a possible discount on “The Trespassers”, subscribe to my free author's newsletter, "Night Creatures' Call".  I've been working on the latest edition of the newsletter which will release in about another week. 

Be here Wednesday for another Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop! Have you seen "Godzilla x Kong"? 

Until next time . . .