The Lizard King

The third film in WB/Legendary Entertainment’s cinematic “Monsterverse” (a shared film franchise between Japan’s giant lizard and King Kong) is ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters,’ the not-so-highly anticipated follow-up to 2014’s pretty good ‘Godzilla’ and 2017’s excellent ‘Kong: Skull Island.’  As if the other 33 Japanese and American-made Godzilla movies are afterthoughts.  Okay, maybe some were, like the ill-conceived 1998 Godzilla reboot starring Ferris Bueller in which the giant lizzie was given a raptor-like makeover a la’ ‘Jurassic Park.’

 

Before the big epic title fight between Ali and Frazier, I mean Godzilla and “King” Kong, Godzilla must first prove himself worthy by establishing without a doubt that he is also “King” of his own domain by defeating all comers, in this case the three-headed dragon kaiju Ghidorah, a well-known nemesis in the Godzilla canon.  As if two kaiju aren’t enough, we also have sidekicks in the guise of Mothra on Godzilla’s side saving humanity and Rodan on the other wreaking havoc with Ghidorah.  Like the geek from ‘Silicon Valley’ (Thomas Middleditch) testified before a congressional committee in the movie’s trailer, some of these titans are here to protect us while others are here to threaten us (we just don’t know which).  But what is the story, you ask?  Well, there isn’t really much of one to speak of, as the film’s paper-thin plot (including the much discussed “twist”) is messy throughout and utterly preposterous.  At the end of the movie, I literally laughed when the other kaiju bowed to Godzilla after he vanquished Ghidorah – as if there’s any doubt - like underlings to a liege.

 

Seriously, G:KOTM is so bad that it makes its 2014 predecessor look like a masterpiece.  I wasn’t expecting much from this movie, yet it still somehow managed to disappoint.  This is what happens when a film’s only raison d’être is to serve as shameless filler and set him up with some big hairy ape in the next main event.  YMMV.

Grade: C-