Happy Thursday everyone! It’s time for the Geeky Brummie film roundup, bringing you the best of the next week’s new cinema releases to help you decide what you want to see. This week: apes fighting lizards, bears fighting lizards, and mums fighting mums…
Usual disclaimer: unless otherwise stated, I haven’t seen these films. All of my opinions are based on trailers, early reviews and other rumours and buzz.
Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire
The biggest release of this week, in every sense of the word, is Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire. After a few solo films, the two giants clashed in 2021’s Godzilla vs Kong before uniting against a common enemy. Since then, the Apple TV+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has expanded their universe, and this Godzilla’s Japanese cousin won an Oscar for its visual effects. The New Empire has some titanic shoes to fill.
One of the big criticisms of the first (in this series) Godzilla film was that it focused too heavily on the human characters and not enough on the monsters that the audiences had come to see. The successive films have gradually rectified that, introducing more and more titans for the cover stars to rumble with. It looks like The New Empire takes that one step further, with a whole army of giant gorillas, swarms of flying kaiju and at least one new big scaly guy. The official synopsis says that Godzilla and Kong will “clash in an epic battle”, but the trailer hints at more of a team-up against the new threats. Basically, there will be plenty of big apes punching big lizards.
I am thoroughly looking forward to this, but my one slight concern is that they might have taken it too far in the opposite direction. The first Godzilla film might have been lacking many shots of Godzilla, but when he did appear and you (almost exclusively) saw him from the perspective of the humans, he felt like a cataclysmic force of nature who was too massive and powerful to peacefully exist in a human environment – in places it was more of a disaster movie than an action movie. The brilliant Godzilla Minus One took a similar approach – there was a real sense of weight and physicality every time he moved. But by adding more kaiju and moving their battles to an other-worldly environment where they have plenty of space to move around without demolishing buildings, you lose that sense of epic scale. The moment near the end of the trailer where Godzilla and Kong are running towards the camera looks almost comical because creatures that big shouldn’t be able to move that fast. They feel less like an imposing god-like presence and more like a bunch of incredibly well-rendered pixels.
But I may be worrying about nothing, because there is a lot of fun stuff here too. The baby Kong is cute. Godzilla has switched his mood-lighting to pink. And let’s face it, this is not the sort of film that will ever benefit from overthinking it. Find the biggest screen you can, switch your brain off, and you’re bound to have a good time with this.
- Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire on IMDB
- Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire on Rotten Tomatoes
Kung Fu Panda 4
If you prefer your fights between monochromatic mammals and powerful lizards on a smaller scale, our next film this week is Kung Fu Panda 4. Jack Black’s Po, having become the Dragon Warrior, achieved inner peace and found his family, is now looking to become the spiritual leader of his valley. But before he can do that, he has to face off against the Chameleon (Viola Davis) – a sinister magician and shapeshifter who can steal the kung fu abilities of Po’s former foes, including his old enemy Tai Lung (Ian McShane). In order to defeat her he’ll need the help of the criminal fox Zhen (Awkwafina).
I’ve always enjoyed the Kung Fu Panda movies. The animation style lends itself well to a martial arts movie – they always feel like watching a feature length Saturday morning cartoon (which I absolutely mean as a good thing, as anyone nostalgically lapping up X-Men ’97 on Disney+ at the moment will attest). Every fight scene is full of the kind of graceful flowing movements and carefully choreographed set pieces that would make Jet Li jealous. But these aren’t just about the action – there have been some genuinely touching moments throughout the series, especially between Po and his adoptive father Mr Ping (James Hong, who also returns for this entry).
Most of the Furious Five are absent in part 4, so there is no Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu or David Cross, but even without them the cast is still stacked. As well as the aforementioned Black, Davis, McShane, Awkwafina and Hong, there are returning roles for Dustin Hoffman, Bryan Cranston and Seth Rogen, plus new parts for comedian Ronnie Chieng and the legend that is Ke Huy Quan.
If you have children who need entertaining during the Easter holidays then this is an absolute must-see. If you don’t, I’d recommend giving it a go anyway.
- Kung Fu Panda 4 on IMDB
- Kung Fu Panda 4 on Rotten Tomatoes
Mothers’ Instinct
Finally this week (although it actually came out on Wednesday), we have Mothers’ Instinct. Two mothers, played by Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain, live an idyllic suburban life with their husbands and sons. But their happiness is shattered by a tragic accident, resulting in suspicion and guilt that gradually breaks down their seemingly perfect friendship.
Aside from the annoying song in the trailer getting stuck in my head every time I see it, I think this looks quite intriguing. Hathaway and Chastain are both excellent actresses, and they both get some creepy moments to play with here. The stakes are much more relatable than the other releases this week – the idea of any mother being responsible for the death of a child is horrific, so leaning into the paranoia around that possibility should make for a very compelling film. Aside from that concept, the set-up of a quiet suburban life with a rotten core under the surface is not the most original idea ever committed to film, but it’s normally an effective one. If you want a film that doesn’t involve punching lizards, this could be the one for you.
- Mothers’ Instinct on IMDB
- Mothers’ Instinct on Rotten Tomatoes
If you only see one film this week…
After all the intellectual artistry of awards season, I’m quite ready to watch some big ugly monsters knocking seven bells out of each other. My film of the week this week is Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.
Still in cinemas and worth a watch
- Dune: Part Two (for a full discussion of this, see the latest episode of the podcast)
- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
- Late Night With The Devil
That’s it for this week – let us know in the comments or on social media which of these films you’re most looking forward to, or what you thought of them if you’ve seen them already.
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