lasthavenmedia

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I am all for "Mindless fun" but there is a keyword in there missing from "GodzillaXKong: The New Empire," and that's the fun. This film is just a poorly CGI mess with terribly written characters, an uninteresting story, and way too much focus on Kong, who is basically the least interesting of the two monsters. I'm not sure what happened to Adam Wingard. "You're Next" and "The Guest" are two great thrillers, but everything since then hasn't just been mid, it's been terrible, and I get even less excited seeing his name attached to a film. The only segment I actually enjoyed from the film was the Egypt fight as it was well choreographed and a good showcase for both monsters, and some of the final fight, but those were probably the only two standout moments. A good key about how my whole family felt about this film. Usually, once we leave the theater, we spend the car ride home talking about the movie, and by the halfway point, we had already wrung out anything worth talking about by the time we got home. My dad also came out of the theater, and the first thing he said was that didn't need to be 3 hours, and I was like, "Oh pops, that wasn't even 2." Unfortunately, the monsterverse keeps making money, so these films are gonna keep being pumped out on the assembly line.

Western isn't my go-to genre, but when Nicolas Cage steps into one, I at least pay attention. The setup here is nothing out of the ordinary: Nicolas Cage's wife is killed, and he and his daughter go on a revenge quest. What sells the story is the relationship between Cage and his daughter; they are both odd and unemotional. While Cage is fine in the role, the real standout is his daughter, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who brings both humor and fear to her performance and has great banter with Cage. She was also in the recent "Carrie" film, so hopefully, this film is a sign of her making better career choices. While Cage is fine, this doesn't seem like the best role for his skill set. If you have Nicolas Cage, why stick him in the role of an unemotional stoic? You gotta let him go full Cage. Ninety minutes works for a film like this, never overstaying its welcome. While I wished the film had taken more risks with its story—being a revenge film, you can pretty much guess the plot trajectory—I did like the ending, which was a pretty satisfying conclusion, wrapping up everyone's arc. I haven't mentioned much about the villains of the story that Cage is after, and that's because there isn't much to them. They're bad guys, and that's about it. Even when they try to add character to them, I don't think it works the way the director wants, and they stay pretty one-dimensional throughout. While I think the film works as a one-time watch thanks to the relationship at the center of the film, it doesn't bring anything new to the table. It probably won't go into my Nicolas Cage replay pile.