Mixed reviews for 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters'

The reviews for Godzilla: King of the Monsters are in and they’re a pretty mixed bag.

The sequel to 2014’s Godzilla follows members of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as they face off against the title monster as well as a slew of ferocious beasts called Mothra, Rodan, and the three-headed King Ghidorah.

The battle between these myth-like Titans, for supremacy over the Earth, threatens the existence of humanity and certain members of the human race are not helping things.

The review embargo for the film - in cinemas today - lifted overnight, which is never usually a good sign for a big summer blockbuster like this. It’s currently sitting on a 55% “rotten” rating on reviews aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes from 52 published notices.

In a somewhat negative review, Katie Rife of The AV Club says that though the monsters are ‘meticulously detailed’ and the fight scenes makes you “fist-pump a little...you can’t just have two hours of kaiju slapping each other around like a gargantuan WWE highlights reel.”

“This sequel packs more assorted monster-on-monster action than a mega monster-sized bag of Monster Munch,” Larushka Ivan-zadeh writes in her Metro review. “That aside, though, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters is a dull, cliché-riddled mess.”

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Kate Erbland of IndieWire called the film “dark, wet and inept.”

In a more positive review, Josh Rothkopf of Time Out says: “If you go to these things to see cities flambéed and flattened, you won't leave disappointed.

“At the same time -- almost impressively -- director and co-screenwriter Michael Dougherty is savvy enough to make the human drama monster-shaped.”

Courtney Howard shares this enthusiasm for the sequel, writing in her Fresh Fiction review: “Despite taking a few cues from the 2014 regenerated jump-off, it delivers satisfying thrills & terrific spectacle when it comes to what fans expect from these kinds of films.”

Owen Gleiberman of Variety says, “you won't feel cheated; at stray moments, you'll feel the wonder. But for every high point, there's a moment when the thrill threatens to leak away.”

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Godzilla: King of the Monsters stars Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O'Shea Jackson Jr., David Strathairn, Ken Watanabe, and Zhang Ziyi.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is in cinemas now