Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Movie Review | Should Catholics Watch?

Many have already joked about it online, but watching buildings being flung around in this movie makes one wonder, how does anything get done in this world? “Hey Greg, can you get those sales reports to me by Tuesday?” “Well, I could have if Kong didn’t just obliterate my office. My computer was in there.” “What? No, I didn’t back it up because I thought the building would still be there on Friday.” “Oh, I think I left our concert tickets in there. My wife is going to kill me.”

Hi, I’m Matteo Rivera, the Cinematic Catholic, and today I’m reviewing “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the new epic. If you’ve seen any of the previous Monsterverse films, then you kind of already know what to expect at this point: a half-big story with some awesome monster action. One thing I will say right off the bat is that I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. Five movies in, and they have found their groove, riding that line between campy and kind of awesome.

Catholic Review Of Godzilla x Kong

The people in this movie take a step back, which I think is a good thing because, for once, the monsters in the Monsterverse movies are the main characters. This movie predominantly follows Kong as Godzilla is in hibernation for the majority of it, and that was totally fine with me because I am a huge King Kong fan. If you didn’t know, I was very excited for all the monkey business that goes down in this movie.

Where this film picks up, Kong has been living in Hollow Earth while Godzilla takes care of the surface world. Kong is still in search of his family, who he believed to all be dead, but in the last film, we got a glimpse of their history and a sign that they may still be out there. Apparently, if you’re a human or a giant ape, sometimes family can be a pain. Kong finds himself among his kind, but they are all worlded by the scar King, a Jungle Book King Lou-looking dude who has been playing way too much Mortal Kombat. Now, Kong must defeat Scar King before he reaches the surface and takes over humanity or something like that. The story kind of falls off near the end, to be honest.

Now, with a movie like this, I think it’s really good to manage expectations. I had a really fun time with this, but I knew what I was going in for. This is what I would call a “turn your brain off” movie. It’s popcorn fun, and some people may say, “My movie must have Shakespearean anguish for me to be entertained,” but honestly, I think that there is a time and a place for a movie like this. It’s okay to have fun every once in a while.

I will say, as a sign of caution, if you have any younger kids, while the action and violence are not necessarily gory, it can be gross at times. Kong in this film will tear an animal in half and eat it, so you see a lot of green blood and guts. Maybe this is a big deal for you, and maybe it isn’t. I know that my wife is very hypersensitive to this stuff, and so anytime it was on screen, she would kind of freak out a bit, but it never really bothered me that much. But I did just want to mention that and put it out there so that nobody is surprised or disturbed by those scenes. I think there are only like two in the whole film.

But that would be my only caution against this film. Yeah, I’m sorry, this review is a little bit lighter, but there’s not really a whole lot of story to chew on or anything like that. I guess if I really wanted to come off as a theologian, I could draw on the parallels between good and evil and the battle for spiritual warfare and how the Titans represent the evil in the world around us, but we have our guardians as well. It’s just not that deep. Big monkey fights dinosaur. It’s a good time.

Catholic Score 7/10

So, for my score, I’m going to give this a seven out of ten. Like I said, this is a fun time at the movies. If your kids are just too old for Kung Fu Panda, then go and have a blast with this one. And for my Catholic score, I’m going to give this a two out of ten, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Good versus evil and all that, but there isn’t a lot of spiritual growth to be had with this movie. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and that’s okay too, because sometimes entertainment can just be entertainment, and there isn’t anything in this movie that would lead you away from Christ. So, I figure it’s fine. If you’re looking for a moral, you’re out of luck. If you’re looking for a story, maybe curb your expectations. If you’re looking for dumb monster fun, congratulations, you are in the right place.

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