Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Picture: Warner Bros.
Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters is the noisiest film I’ve seen and I left the cinema with a giant headache.
The action is relentless from beginning to end and the host of cardboard characters are mere ciphers in this computer-generated imagery-driven world where mythical monsters are brought back to life in the name of senseless entertainment.
Vera Farmiga plays Dr Emma Russell, member of a crypto-zoological agency called Monarch. Her job is to locate the army of gargantuan monsters, hidden beneath the earth in various countries, and trigger them to life.
This will help save the planet from humankind who’re intent on destroying everything around them through wars, pollution and many other manifestations.
Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Picture: Warner Bros.
Dr Russell is aided by Jonah Alan (Charles Dance), a like-minded, eco-crazy, army-type who lends firepower to her project. Russell’s scheme involves scientific mumbo-jumbo about tuning into the wave lengths of these monsters and being able to communicate with them, thanks to a complex technological device she has developed.
Her plan unfolds over two hours of sheer agony as a variety of creatures, including the mighty Godzilla, collide. Also heavily involved in this eco-war are a bunch of mythical super-species such as Mothra (a giant moth goddess), Rodan (a Japanese daikaiju monster), and his ultimate nemesis, the ferocious three-headed King Ghidorah.
Thrown into the audacious mix is Emma’s feisty daughter, Madison (Millie Bobby Brown). She is an aggressively determined young woman who overcomes dangerous obstacles to help her mother save these beasts.
Her father Mark (Kyle Chandler), happily divorced from her mother, is fighting his own battle, which is to destroy these creatures.
From left: Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah.
Agony is etched into the faces of all the characters. I seriously wondered at stages whether they had had second thoughts about appearing in this catastrophe.
The story (written by three people) is a mess. It becomes more absurd and convoluted the longer the production proceeds.
I cannot tell how many times I looked at my watch, waiting hopefully for these endless monster fight sequences to end and the noise to abate.
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga, Kyle, Chandler, Zhang Ziyi, Charles Dance.
Director: Michael Dougherty.
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