Geekscape Reviews ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ In 4DX

America has struggled for years to get Godzilla right. From cartoons to movies, adapting Japan’s most famous giant monster has consistently been a challenge, with 2014’s reboot managing to be non-offensive, if not a bit dull. Serving as the launching point of a new cinematic universe, (which I hear are all the rage these days), Godzilla: King of the Monsters looks to build on the framework set by its predecessor and Kong: Skull Island by pitting the titular lizard against some of its biggest foes. Unfortunately, for the roughly 60% of the two hours that Godzilla and pals aren’t on screen, we’re forced to plod through one of the most horribly written stories I’ve seen this year. Even the thrilling and immersive 4DX experience couldn’t save the human storyline, serving as a much needed distraction from how actively bad it is.

Now that the monsters are known worldwide after the events of 2014’s Godzilla and the 2017 Kong movie, governments struggle with how to deal with the presumed threat. One family in particular, made up of a husband and wife who worked for Monarch, (the organization tasked with tracking the monsters), is torn apart after Godzilla’s initial attack led to the death of their son. Five years later, Mark and Emma, (played passably by Kyle Chandler and Vera Farmiga), are divorced and dealing with the trauma through their work as their surviving daughter Madison, (Millie Bobby Brown in the only good performance of the film), is caught in the middle. After Emma develops technology that makes it possible to quell the monsters, her and Madison are taken hostage by an eco-terrorist group to help them awaken the recently discovered Ghidorah. Monarch then tracks down Mark to help find their whereabouts, all while trying to find Godzilla to protect them from the incoming threat.

Look, I get it. Almost everyone who’s buying a ticket to this film is there to see giant monsters fight, backed by 2019 special effects that will surely blow you away. If that’s all you want from your time watching Godzilla, then know that it delivers in spades. Every scene that the monsters occupy is a marvel, especially when they’re fighting. Ghidorah’s awakening, Rodan’s debut, Mothra’s birth and arrival on the battlefield and every time Godzilla is going toe-to-toe with its nemesis are pure, 100% escapism in the best way possible. Every blast, blow and step feels as powerful as it should, and the tense feeling around how they would interact with the world around them helped captivate for every moment they were in-focus. In that regard, King of the Monsters is everything it should be and then some.

Seeing it in 4DX only amplified these qualities, serving as a near-perfect movie to showcase the evolving theater technology. For those unfamiliar, 4DX is a premium immersive experience, with flashing lights, water effects, mist, fog and moving seats matching up with the big screen action. Think Star Tours, Transformers: The Ride, or any other motion simulated theme park ride where the seats move to alongside a film projection. For King of the Monsters, the effect was turned up to the maximum and used only when appropriate. The seats made jump scares more powerful, the fights feel like they were happening around you and the collateral damage around the human characters feel like it was surrounding the audience too. At a few points, I felt like I was going to fly out of my seat with how strong the effect was. And you know what? It was awesome!

Sadly, the entire film couldn’t be monsters fighting. We need a story to justify these characters meeting up and throwing down. Sadly, if the monster scenes are almost as good as they can get, then the plot goes in the opposite direction. The biggest consistent complaint about the 2014 film was that the humans were boring and that there was too much of them. It’s not ideal, but if the human plot can’t be good, the least it can do is get out of the way of the rest of the film and serve as exposition to get us from fight to fight. Instead what we get in King of the Monsters is a human plot so actively bad that I found myself getting actively frustrated with how slowly their stories progressed, how nonsensical their decision making was and how unlikable nearly every character was. At best, most of the cast served a singular function, whether it was to constantly sympathize with Godzilla for reasons unexplained, to rattle off horribly unfunny one-liners or to be the target of unearned aggression. At worst, these are bad, unsympathetic people that are impossible to care about. Some scenes dragged for so long that I wanted to yell out to the screen to hurry it up. Thankfully, the groans during monologues, laughter in the middle of serious scenes and silence greeting the comic relief reassured me that I was not the only one feeling this way during the screening.

The characters and story are done no favors by the script, which went as far as to cause second-hand embarrassment at points. We’ve all heard the “God… Zilla” line from the trailers that comes off just as bad as one would think, but wait until Bradley Whitford’s Dr. Rick Stanton mistakes Ghidorah for gonorrhea. In fact, the entire film would be better off without Whitford’s quips, who took the share of bad lines in a script full of them.

As we build towards an epic showdown between two iconic movie monsters, Godzilla: King of the Monsters should have been a visual, action packed ride that would leave viewers wanting more. In many ways, it succeeds, with unforgettable visual effects that are matched by some of the best giant monster fights you’ll see on the big screen. Amplified by the 4DX effect, the level of immersion was unbelievable, making it feel like these monsters were surrounding the theater at points. Sadly, what’s even more memorable is how awful the plot around the action is, with writing, characters and motivations that will actively annoy viewers in-between visual spectacle. If the human plot in a movie like this can’t be good, than the least it can do is get out of the way. Instead, it blocks the enjoyment every chance it gets, which drags down the film considerably.

If only the run time could have been cut down by 30 minutes, Godzilla: King of the Monsters would be seen much more favorably. Instead, we have so much wasted time with such unsavory characters that they’re impossible to ignore. Let’s hope next year’s showdown with Kong takes a more basic approach.

Final Score: 2.5/5