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Critic Reviews
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Even with Apple’s sizable investment, it too often feels like a gigantic donut with a Godzilla-shaped hole in the middle.
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Not quite the MonsterVerse’s high point, but far from its low point either, with some satisfying longform worldbuilding — and a hugely enjoyable dual performance from Kurt and Wyatt Russell.
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In a 10-episode series such as this, it is important that the human characters are given as much attention as the kaiju. Spending hours upon hours with them is a big ask, so it’s essential that they’re properly fleshed-out, and that their presence is engaging. And, on the topic of balance, the show’s script certainly achieves this - in that one half of its storytelling is fun and adventurous, and the other half is very much not.
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"Monarch: Legacy of the Monsters" keeps your attention with its brisk pacing and time-jumping story, but I couldn't shake the feeling that that story wasn't adding up to much.
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Across 10 hours of a story this convoluted, filled with characters who never fully connect, it’s easy to feel our own insignificance — but it would still be nice to see a great big Godzilla-sized spectacle to distract us.
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Let’s hope the remaining episodes of the season cut to the chase but quick — as is, it feels like a leg of the MonsterVerse that chooses to place its focus too heavily on the human half of the equation. There’s still little sense of what Monarch is or does even five episodes in, and whether they’re meant to be a threat or boon to humanity.
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The thrills are genuine when the monsters show up in Monarch. .... But these moments tend to come at the end of an episode, five minutes of awe after 40 minutes of yawn. [27 Nov - 17 Dec 2023, p.7]
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Every human aspect of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” is underdeveloped, as if the writers never came up with enough plot to get from episode to episode, leading to drawn-out dialogue scenes that are virtually impossible to care about. Yes, Kurt Russell’s charm is a monster of its own, and I think his son is one of the more intriguing actors of his generation, a guy I always want to see in better parts. Ultimately, that’s what’s so shocking about my shrugging response to this show.
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The 10-episode series, developed by Chris Black and Matt Fraction, has a polished big screen look and is often engrossing. But it’s also occasionally exhausting as it takes a more human-focused lens than the U.S. film franchise that recaptured audiences’ attention in 2014.
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Light on destructive colossuses and heavy on dull dual-timeline drama, it’s a footnote affair that fills in trivial narrative gaps and focuses on its least compelling participants—and, in doing the latter, manages to largely squander both Wyatt Russell and his father Kurt.