Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Warner Bros. | Release Date: May 31, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 47 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
24
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
CineVueChristopher MachellMay 30, 2019
Whether one can get on board with such nonsense determines the subjective success or failure of King of the Monsters. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 30, 2019
You come to a Godzilla movie for the epic fights, and on that front, Dougherty delivers. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoMay 30, 2019
Godzilla: King Of The Monsters lays many a colossal Kaiju smackdown, but human arcs crumble under the heavy weights of those 'Zilla-sized behemoths they're forced to shoulder. Read full review
60
Total FilmRob JamesMay 29, 2019
Godzilla: King Of The Monsters improves on its predecessor in terms of the kaiju carnage, but still can’t quite make you care about the humans underfoot. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMay 28, 2019
Connoisseurs will thrill to hints of composer Akira Ifukube’s original orchestra motifs or the passing mention of an “oxygen destroyer,” but mourn the lack of political stakes. It’s big dumb fun (a sequel with King Kong is on the horizon), and maybe that’s what these sequels always were. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanMay 28, 2019
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. Read full review
58
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonMay 29, 2019
In the end, King of the Monsters is too philosophical to be a good dumb movie, and too dumb to be that much fun. Read full review
50
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenMar 28, 2024
There are moments when Godzilla: King of the Monsters resembles a fantasy version of a National Geographic documentary—except those tend to deliver far more stunning visuals without any special effects whatsoever. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJun 3, 2019
Dougherty isn’t quite sure whether to wow us with the hulking immensity of the action scenes or to wag his finger at us for the environmental hubris of our species. Read full review
50
ObserverOliver JonesMay 31, 2019
Godzilla: King of Monsters is a film that seems to paint with sound — sometimes Pop Art, but more often large canvas Jackson Pollock splatter. Read full review
50
Original-CinJim SlotekMay 30, 2019
I accept the onscreen explanation that this Godzilla is simply on atomic steroids. It’s the movie that’s fat. Read full review
50
Washington PostHau ChuMay 29, 2019
The movie does not roar, but rather emits only a serviceable yelp. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenMay 29, 2019
Curiously though, director Michael Dougherty and his filmmaking team obscure the battle footage in darkness, smoke and downpours, making murky much of the imagery. Read full review
50
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMay 29, 2019
This movie is often pretty slack in matters of story construction and direction. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 28, 2019
What little pleasures the movie offers are small and intermittent. Kyle Chandler gets to unleash his inner Shatner by acting intense every moment that he’s on screen. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeMay 28, 2019
You can’t just have two hours of kaiju slapping each other around like a gargantuan WWE highlights reel. Read full review
50
CNNBrian LowryMay 28, 2019
The net effect is more numbing than stirring, with only a few monster-on-monster tussles that come close to being worth the price of admission. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiMay 28, 2019
The whole movie is indistinguishable rubble. Read full review
42
The PlaylistCharles BarfieldMay 29, 2019
Sure, Godzilla: King of the Monsters fulfills its promise of Titans and destruction, but at the cost of the plot, characters, and emotional investment. You know, the things that actually make a film good. Read full review
42
IndieWireKate ErblandMay 28, 2019
Godzilla’s interest in saving humanity never made much sense, but it’s this CGI creation with no dialogue that gives the film the continuity and character it lacks elsewhere. When Godzilla lights up his nuke-powered tail and lets loose his interminable scream, for just a moment, the MonsterVerse has something to offer. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMay 28, 2019
Before anyone reading this starts complaining that I just don’t get what movies like Godzilla: King of the Monsters are all about, that I’m the sort of killjoy who should just relax, let me say that it would be a lot easier to take it less seriously if the people who made the movie cared enough to take it more seriously. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshMay 30, 2019
Amazingly, somehow, an overstuffed Godzilla movie feels scant. Read full review
40
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 29, 2019
The chance to see giant monsters go apeshit — a few more are added near the end — is almost worth the price of admission. Seeing, however, is part of the problem. Godzilla: King of the Monsters is often so lost in the shadows of digital muck that it makes the squinting chaos of the Battle of Winterfell in "Game of Thrones" look like a lightshow. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeMay 28, 2019
It’s a film with too much yet somehow so very little. Read full review
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