BLOCKBUSTERS aren’t what they used to be!
There’s a new one out every other week and the over saturation of big budget cinematic doozies can be absolutely exhausting. If I am honest, mostly, they just leave me jaded. The prospect of sitting through two-hours of bellowing and hollering during the Easter holidays didn’t exactly fill me with enthusiasm, but a dad’s got to do, what a dad’s got to do.
My 11-year-old is a big Monsterverse fan, so I couldn’t disappoint. Thankfully, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire caught me off guard as we set off on our adventures to Hollow Earth. It was not near as excruciating as I had anticipated. In matter of fact, it was a lot of fun, a real rollercoaster ride from the very fast-paced opening scene right to the end credits.
My biggest gripe with most modern blockbusters is the fixation on dialogue over action. Marvel, Star Wars, and every other major movie franchise has drifted into Merchant Ivory territory of late, which is fine, if afternoon tea and picnics by the lake are what you are after.
Me, I like my blockbusters like I like my punk rock — short, sharp shocks with no messing around, and not a prog rock oboe solo within a star system of my humble man-cave.
Director Adam Wingard is clearly a man after my own heart. The latest Godzilla x Kong film is a loud, dumb-ass spectacle with the jibber jabber and back story down to a bare minimum. Instead this is a Jurassic Park-styled romp filled with epic battles, gnashing of teeth and more hideous monsters than you could throw a Fine Gael Ard Fheis at.
Godzilla x Kong is a good old-fashioned blockbuster — a film that you can completely switch off and enjoy while grinning at the big screen like a butcher’s dog.
(4/5)
