Latest '' installment makes {or good summer fun t's been a bit since moviegoers had the 'GODZILLA: KING OF THE , chance to catch up with Godzilla - five years in fact, which in cinematic fran- MONSTERS' chise time feels like at least a few decades. A scene ~ alit of four from In other words,it's understandable if you Rating: PG-13 forsequentes of mon- "Godzilla: go into "Godzilla: King ster action violence and destruction, of the Monsters" a little Kingofthe and language. rusty on just what went Monsters." Cast: Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, down in Tokyo and San WARNER Francisco back in 2014. BROs. , Millie Bobby Brown, But "Godzilla: King of PICTURES Kyle Chandler and Charles Dance. V1AAP the Monsters " is a sequel Director: Michael Dougherty. in the loosest possible Warner Bros. sense, requiring minimal Released by: FILM REVIEW recall from the audience, Running time: 131 minutes. titans, like Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and and Madison (and the Orca) are kidnapped LINDSEY which is likely a good Now playing: At area theaters; Dr. Graham (gany fiawkins), who are being by some militant eco-terrorists led by Jonah thing fOfThose wnose showtimes can be found on Page 12. BAHR brains have been over- accused of hiding Godzilla from world gov- Alan (Charles Dance). loaded with "Game of Thrones," "Avengers" ernments who'd rather just destroy them all. This group wants to use the titans, of ing reins this time, from. Gareth Edwards, and "Star Wars" minutiae and mythology. As far as the newcomers go, Dr. Emma which there are now" 17 and counting" and has done a fine job of capturing the Worry not; Godzilla is here to provide Russell (Vera Farmiga) also works for including a pretty dazzling Mothra and grandness of the titans, keeping the action some old-fashioned summer spectacle, no Monarch and has developed a machine a less-enchanting three-headed "Monster coherent and balancing the human ele- CliffsNotes required. called the Orca, which simulates the sounds Zero," to help reset the planet and reverse ment thanks to a terrific cast that also It's a low bar, sure, but at least Godzilla is of the various titans. She believes this can be climate change and overpopulation. There's includes O'Shea Jackson Jr. and Thomas comfortable with its place in the blockbust- used to help manage them. Emma lives with some convenient explanation of why the Middleditch. His script is also pleasingly er ecosystem. her 14-year-old daughter, Madison (Millie radiation from the titans actually helps light and often funny, although Bradley The filmmakers have even helpfully shifted Bobby Brown of "Stranger Things" fame, revitalize vegetation, which, like many of Whitford's Dr. Stanton goes a little over- the focus to another family entirely for this in her first major film role), who is preco- the silly plot devices in this movie, you board trying to be the comic relief installment, from the inert Brodys (Aaron ciously enchanted by her mother's work and kind of just let slide. That said, anyone But even that is easy to dismiss. Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen) to the admires the primordial creatures. currently watching "Chernobyl" on HBO "GodziJla: King of the Monsters" is turn- Russells, a now-broken family of scientists Madison's father Mark Russell (Kyle will likely be very stressed out about the your-brain-off summer fun, and it doesn't who lived in San Francisco during the 2014 Chandler, whose intensity is at level 10 amount of radiation all the humans are need to be anything more than that. attack. There are a few holdovers though, for most of the movie) is not really in the likely absorbing just by being in proximity picture, having left after the San Francisco to all these creatures. mostly employees of Monarch, the secret o Bahr writes for the Associated Press. multinational organization that studies the incident, but is drawn back in when Emma Michael Dougherty has taken the direct-

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