Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters tells the human-driven story the MonsterVerse has always needed.

Even if you’re not necessarily a fan of Godzilla and his smash-fueled mania, the adventure-seeking and numerous twists and turns will likely satisfy the most novice MonsterVerse explorer.

Enjoyably cheesy romp.

Where the big-screen American films can be a noisy, dark slog, the dramatic equivalent of a giant lumbering dinosaur, “Monarch” stays fleet, and fun.

Surprisingly engrossing and impressively mounted, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters makes a stronger case for character-driven storytelling in Legendary’s MonsterVerse than any of its big-screen outings—especially thanks to the series’ ambitious, mystery-laden structure and the ingenious double casting of Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell, charismatically embodying the same enigmatic character across decades.

There’s something to be said for a series that nails the sweet spot between fleet and flimsy — that takes itself seriously enough to project earnestness, but not so seriously it forgets we’re here for fun.

That’s a lot of names and narratives to keep track of, but the story lines intertwine nicely, even if you might need a list of the characters to reference. No matter. If you’re a kaijū fan and prefer jigsaw-puzzle-like storytelling, not to mention great action sequences, this one — or at least the eight episodes released for review — crushes it.

Monarch’s story does get a little dense at times with lots of scientific lingo being thrown around, leaving us lost in the weeds. Plus, I have to admit my eyes glazed over with all the talk about the shadowy corporation called Monarch that secretly monitors the beasts. But Russell’s natural charm and sly sense of humor go a long way towards cutting through all that and making the whole thing work.

There are some clunky narrative hiccups here and there, though Monarch: Legacy of Monsters never lets that hold it back for too long. What its own legacy will turn out to be is still a mystery, but it's one worth exploring along with the characters.

Monarch offers plenty of encouraging signs at this halfway point. When Kurt Russell shows up as the older Lee Shaw (now in his nineties but mysteriously well preserved), it gives the show a jolt of energy and suggests the momentum will continue to mount in the season's back half. In the meantime, Monarch works quite well as a slick, TV-shaped blockbuster movie anchored by a charismatic cast.

If you don’t care about the MonsterVerse movies, this show probably won’t change your mind. However, if you’re into Godzilla, Kong, or the various Titans who square off against them, Monarch is a lot of fun.

Through most of “Monarch,” those contradictions are not balanced in a way that makes consistently satisfying narrative and emotional sense, perhaps because of the demands of maintaining suspense across 10 episodes. You can put the gnawing questions aside, however, when Yamamoto, Holm and Wyatt Russell are making classic movie-matinee moves in the flashbacks, and whenever the truly impressive monsters rear their scaly heads in any time frame.

When the series clicks, as it frequently does in the eight of ten episodes provided for review, it feels like a mid-century choose-your-own-adventure novel, the kind of pulp that immersed us in a world that felt like our own, right up until it didn’t.

Early episodes are one fetch quest after another with copious flashbacks to develop character backstories. Episode four, set largely in Alaska, is most like the action-adventure movies “Monarch” spins off from. But the back half of the season devolves into convoluted, continent-hopping efforts to rescue a presumably kidnapped May before coming full circle in episode eight