---
title: "Godzilla: King of the Monsters"
year: 2019
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters"
fi1m_id: "godzilla-king-of-the-monsters"
imdb_id: "tt3741700"
tmdb_id: 373571
wikidata_id: "Q17501972"
fi1m_score: 48
critics_score: 49
critics_reviews: 27
published: "2026-09-28T21:22:33.033990+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-28T21:22:33.189379+00:00"
region: "IS"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Directed by Michael Dougherty · 2h 12m · Science Fiction, Action

## Identity

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** godzilla-king-of-the-monsters
- **IMDb ID:** tt3741700
- **TMDB ID:** 373571
- **Wikidata ID:** Q17501972
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3741700/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/373571, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17501972

**Fi1m score: 48** · Critics 49 from 27 reviews

*In a sentence:* The three-headed dragon has a clearer motive than any of the scientists explaining it

> Michael Dougherty gives the monsters their entrances, and Mothra’s is worth the ticket. Everything in between is people in bunkers reading the plot to each other, and there is a great deal of in between.

## Synopsis

Five years after Godzilla flattened San Francisco, the monster-hunting agency Monarch has found sixteen more: creatures it calls Titans, sleeping in outposts around the world. Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) works at one of them, in China, with her daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) and a device called the Orca that can speak to the creatures. A giant larva hatches; Emma calms it; and Alan Jonah (Charles Dance), a former soldier with a private militia, storms the base and takes Emma, Madison and the Orca. Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Dr. Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) go to Colorado to fetch Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler), Emma’s estranged husband, who wants nothing more to do with monsters. The trail leads to Antarctica, and to something frozen under the ice.

## Review

Michael Dougherty’s film is a sequel to Gareth Edwards’s [*Godzilla*](https://film.one/film/godzilla) of 2014, and it sets out to correct that film’s one famous complaint: that you hardly saw the monster. Here you see him inside the first half hour, and Mothra, Rodan and the three-headed Ghidorah besides, most of them at night and in weather. The correction is real and the film is in trouble anyway, because the people it puts between the monsters are the dullest set of experts a blockbuster has assembled in some time. At 132 minutes, that is a lot of experts.

The moments that work belong to the creatures. Mothra breaks out of her cocoon under a waterfall and unfolds wings that glow blue and white through the spray, and Lawrence Sher lights her from inside so she reads as a stained-glass window with a pulse. We sat up. Rodan comes out of a volcano and takes a squadron of jets out of the sky with a single roll, and for a minute the film is the boyish thing it wants to be. Bear McCreary brings back the old Toho march for Godzilla and the Mothra hymn for Mothra, and both land, partly because he plays them straight and does not apologise for them.

The trouble is that Dougherty wants to hide the monsters and show them at the same time. Sher shoots nearly every battle at night, in rain or snow or volcanic ash, lit in orange and blue, and while a single frame is often handsome, a fight in this weather is a series of silhouettes. Bob Ducsay, Richard Pearson and Roger Barton cut away from the creatures to a room of people watching screens so often that we started to feel we were also watching screens, which we were. By the time Godzilla and Ghidorah meet properly, we could tell who was winning only because a scientist said so.

The scientists are the problem. Kyle Chandler’s Mark Russell walks into Monarch’s bunker and is angry at everyone for the next two hours, which is the whole of the character. Vera Farmiga is handed a speech about the planet’s fever that Dougherty and Zach Shields’s script plainly believes is a position and is in fact a plot summary. Bradley Whitford and Thomas Middleditch are there to say the thing an audience member might say, a job that should have been given to nobody. Charles Dance arrives with a beard and a plan and the film forgets him for long stretches. Sally Hawkins and Ken Watanabe, who were quiet and good in 2014, are quiet again; Watanabe is given one scene later on with some weight to it, and we will not describe it.

Millie Bobby Brown does the most with the least. Madison is written as a child who understands the monsters better than the adults, which is old, but Brown plays her listening rather than talking, and the best human shot in the film is her face, streaming wet, as something enormous walks towards her and she decides not to be frightened. We were bored through the middle hour, the one spent in Alan Hook and Scott Chambliss’s flying command centre, a grey aircraft with a bridge window and a war table, and then cross about being bored, because a film with a moth the size of a cathedral in it has no business being boring.

Against the genre’s own standard this is middling. Ishirō Honda’s *Godzilla* of 1954 was about a country that had been bombed and it showed you the burned city the morning after. Dougherty gestures at that, with talk of the Titans healing the earth, but he does not show anyone living in the rubble, only people in bunkers talking about it. Edwards kept the creature away from us and was accused of coldness; Dougherty throws it at us and is warm about nothing. Most critics landed in the middle and so have we.

See it if the shot of Mothra in the rain did something to you in the trailer; there are five or six more like it, and a cinema screen is where they belong. The 12A is honest: buildings fall and nobody inside them is shown. At home you will be tempted to skip the briefings, and you should give in.

*Fi1m score 48, published 28 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics arrive at the same place: the monsters are the point, and the people are in the way. The reviews lean mixed to negative, but even the harsher ones set aside a line for the creature work. Mothra’s glowing, translucent rebirth and Rodan’s destructive flight are singled out repeatedly, and the sheer scale of Godzilla and Ghidorah’s clashes is credited with delivering the shock the title promises. Almost nobody has a kind word for the human story, which is described as thin, overlong and clumsily written.

Where they part is on whether the fights themselves can be followed. The Wrap finds the battles clearly staged and excitingly edited; Vulture and The Guardian say the night-time action is so murky it is often impossible to tell who is winning. The spread is wide, from a near-rave at The Wrap to Empire calling it catastrophically dull, and the British press is noticeably colder than the American trade titles.

## Straight answers

**Is Godzilla: King of the Monsters worth watching?**

*Godzilla: King of the Monsters* is worth watching only for its monsters, and we scored it 48. Mothra breaking from her cocoon under a waterfall and Rodan rolling out of a volcano earn a cinema screen; the two hours of scientists in bunkers reading the plot to each other do not. See it if the trailer's Mothra shot did something to you, and skip the briefings at home.

**How long is Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and what is it rated?**

*Godzilla: King of the Monsters* runs 2h 12m. It is a science fiction and action film.

**Where can I watch Godzilla: King of the Monsters in Iceland?**

*Godzilla: King of the Monsters* is not on any streaming or rental service in Iceland at the moment. It is available in 51 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and is it suitable for children?**

*Godzilla: King of the Monsters* is a 12A, and the certificate is honest: buildings fall and nobody inside them is shown. The fights happen at night in rain, snow and ash, so much of the destruction is silhouettes rather than anything graphic. Older children who can sit through 132 minutes should be fine; younger ones may find the scale and noise more wearing than frightening.

**How does Godzilla: King of the Monsters compare to Godzilla?**

*Godzilla: King of the Monsters* is the louder and emptier film, and Ishirō Honda's [*Godzilla*](https://film.one/film/godzilla-2014) is the one we would send a stranger to. The 1954 original is black and white, about a country that had been burned, and shows you the ruined city the morning after; Dougherty's sequel talks about the earth healing but never shows anyone living in the rubble. Choose the new one for spectacle, the old one for a monster film that hurts.

**What should I watch after Godzilla: King of the Monsters?**

After *Godzilla: King of the Monsters*, try [*Godzilla*](https://film.one/film/godzilla) (1954, Fi1m 88): The original, black and white, and about a real country that had been burned. Then [*Shin Godzilla*](https://film.one/film/shin-godzilla) (2016, Fi1m 74): Committee meetings as horror; the bureaucrats are the point and the monster keeps changing; and [*Pacific Rim*](https://film.one/film/pacific-rim) (2013, Fi1m 70): Del Toro’s robots and sea beasts, shot so you can see who is hitting whom.

**What order should I watch the Godzilla films in?**

Release order is the safe choice for Godzilla, and it is the order [our collection page](https://film.one/collections/godzilla) lists them in. *Godzilla: King of the Monsters* is number 2 of the 4 Godzilla titles on Fi1m; before it comes [*Godzilla*](https://film.one/film/godzilla-2014) and after it [*Godzilla vs. Kong*](https://film.one/film/godzilla-vs-kong). [The full order.](https://film.one/collections/godzilla.md)

### Reviews we read (27)

- **The Hollywood Reporter**, John DeFore (75/100, inferred): DeFore finds the film a satisfying step up for the MonsterVerse, despite thin character work and dialogue. He praises the beautifully designed CGI monster action and the film’s effective balance with its family story. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/godzilla-king-monsters-review-1213953/)
- **Screen Daily**, Kim Newman (65/100, inferred): The accessible page labels this a review but hides the critic’s assessment behind a registration wall. Its standfirst says the Monsterverse returns forcefully, but provides no specific praise or complaint. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review/5139955.article)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The URL identifies a review of the specified film, but the page content is inaccessible. Its verdict and any specific praise or complaint cannot be verified. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/28/movies/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review.html)
- **Slant Magazine**, Jake Cole (2.5/4): Cole finds the film frustrating because its bleak ideas give way to conventional human perseverance. He praises the overwhelming, nightmarish spectacle of Godzilla and Ghidorah’s battles. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review/)
- **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (3/5): O’Sullivan finds the film patchy, with its human story and soundtrack falling short while the spectacle delivers. She particularly praises the monsters’ scale, vivid visuals, and thrilling clashes. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review-patchy-but-this-supersized-blockbuster-delivers-a4156001.html)
- **Little White Lies**, Anton Bitel (3/3/3): Bitel finds the film entertaining but ultimately overblown, with its spectacle risking an abstract clash of titans. He praises the city-destroying monster battles for delivering shock and awe. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters)
- **The i Paper**, Nick Hasted (★★★): Hasted finds the film often great fun, though its narrative sense falters amid the monster battles. He praises the spectacle and adventure-romance of the creature scenes, while faulting the script’s clunky dialogue. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review-rating-296332)
- **Time Out**, Joshua Rothkopf (3/5): The critic says the film delivers on destruction but advises lowering expectations. Its destructive spectacle is singled out as satisfying, while the overall experience falls short. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters)
- **Total Film**, Rob James (3/5): James finds the film an enjoyable, exhausting monster spectacle, though the human story remains hard to care about. He praises the creature introductions and Dougherty’s energetic set-pieces. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review-as-the-scale-of-the-carnage-becomes-bigger-and-bigger-the-humans-feel-less-relevant/)
- **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (50/100, inferred): Gleiberman finds the monster clashes entertaining but says the sequel lacks the original’s balance of schlock and awe. He praises the kaiju spectacle, while criticizing muddy nighttime battles and an overlong, muddled human storyline. [Read](https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review-1203224659/)
- **Radio Times**, Jamie Healy (2/5): Jamie Healy finds the film a lumbering mess that fails to deliver on its promise. The review faults its failure to make good on the spectacle of its monster battles. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-djq0sd/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters/)
- **Sight and Sound**, Kim Newman (40/100, inferred): Newman finds the human drama and dialogue dull, repeatedly interrupting the monster action. He praises the moments of monster magic, especially Rodan’s destructive flight and Mothra’s rebirth. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/godzilla-king-monsters-review-ho-hum-humans-hobble-magical-beasts)
- **The Guardian**, Benjamin Lee (2/5): Lee pans the sequel as a hollow, badly written and chaotic blockbuster. He singles out occasional impressive imagery, but says the monster fights are confusingly choreographed and the visuals cannot redeem the film. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/may/28/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-film-review)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (35/100, inferred): Lane finds the film earnest but unsure of its purpose, with its human characters given little to do. He singles out Millie Bobby Brown’s knowing smile at Godzilla’s approach as the film’s standout moment. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/06/10/rocketman-and-the-art-of-the-acceptably-outrageous)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh (30/100, inferred): Walsh finds the film emotionally flat and overloaded with human drama, leaving too little room for the monster battles. She singles out the generic dialogue and indistinct locations as weaknesses, while noting that the monsters’ drama is more compelling. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review-20190530-story.html)
- **The Telegraph**, Tim Robey (1/5): Robey finds the film dull. He singles out its rampaging three-headed lizards as a source of that dullness. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/kong-skull-island/)
- **Empire**, Ben Travis (10/100, inferred): Travis finds the sequel catastrophically dull, overloaded, and dramatically lifeless. He singles out Mothra as a rare source of beauty amid incoherent monster battles and poor human storytelling. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/godzilla-king-monsters-review/)
- **Vulture**, David Edelstein (10/100, inferred): Edelstein condemns the film as an incoherent visual mess. He particularly faults the murky monster action, saying it is often impossible to tell who is fighting or winning. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2019/05/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-2019-review.html)
- **The Wrap**, Alonso Duralde (85/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a sensational, highly entertaining monster movie. They single out the clear, excitingly edited creature battles and the committed performances that give the family story heart. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-film-review-2019-millie-bobby-brown/)
- **Den of Geek**, Lou Thomas (3 out of 5): Thomas finds the film an entertaining, silly diversion despite its weak human characters and overlong runtime. He praises the spectacular monster fights and destruction. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review-fantastic-beasts-ridiculous-plot/)
- **Paste**, Dom Sinacola (6.9/10): Sinacola finds the film narratively muddled and weighed down by boring human characters, but ultimately a pretty good Godzilla movie. He praises the monster fights for their grandeur, gorgeousness, and overwhelming scale. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/article/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters)
- **/Film**, Chris Evangelista (6.5/10): The review finds the film visually impressive but dull, with lifeless human characters and monster fights that lack excitement. It praises the striking, painterly imagery of the Titans’ destruction. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/566688/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review/)
- **HeyUGuys** (65/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a captivating, smile-inducing spectacle despite its garbled storytelling. The grand monster battles and visuals are its main strengths, while the human elements feel neglected. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review/)
- **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (C-): Goldberg finds the film bloated and weighed down by its human characters, despite its modest success as a monster spectacle. He praises the wide-shot kaiju battles and the creatures’ blockbuster renderings, while faulting the pacing and choreography. [Read](https://collider.com/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review/)
- **Consequence**, Clint Worthington (35/100, inferred): Worthington finds the film caught between philosophical ambition and dumb monster-movie fun, making it less effective as either. He praises the chaotic kaiju fights and Toho-inspired reverence, but faults the thin human characters and uneven pacing. [Read](https://consequence.net/2019/05/film-review-godzilla-king-of-the-monsters/)
- **The Ringer**, Adam Nayman (30/100, inferred): Nayman finds the sequel overloaded, exhausting, and visually uninspired. He praises the occasional striking creature image, especially the glowing, translucent Mothra, but faults the muddled action and pushy human drama. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2019/05/31/movies/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-review)
- **Eye for Film**, Angus Wolfe Murray (15/100, inferred): The critic finds the film confusing and its plot incoherent. They single out its muddled storytelling and dark visual palette as disappointments. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-2019-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray)

## Details

- **Director:** Michael Dougherty
- **Director:** Michael Dougherty
- **Screenplay:** Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields
- **Story:** Zach Shields, Michael Dougherty, Max Borenstein
- **Cinematography:** Lawrence Sher
- **Editor:** Roger Barton, Richard Pearson, Bob Ducsay
- **Music:** Bear McCreary
- **Production design:** Scott Chambliss, Alan Hook
- **Producer:** Brian Rogers, Jon Jashni, Thomas Tull
- **Cast:** Kyle Chandler as Mark Russell; Vera Farmiga as Emma Russell; Millie Bobby Brown as Madison Russell; Ken Watanabe as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa; Zhang Ziyi as Dr. Ilene Chen / Dr. Ling; Bradley Whitford as Dr. Rick Stanton; Sally Hawkins as Dr. Vivienne Graham; Charles Dance as Alan Jonah
- **Runtime:** 2h 12m
- **First release (Belgium):** 29 May 2019
- **Genres:** Science Fiction, Action
- **Part of:** [Godzilla](https://film.one/collections/godzilla.md) · 2 of 4
- **Budget:** $170 million
- **Box office:** $387 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFxN2oDKk0E

## Where to watch in Iceland

Not streaming, renting or buying in Iceland at the last check.

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Godzilla* (1954), Fi1m 88: The original, black and white, and about a real country that had been burned — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/godzilla.md)
- *Shin Godzilla* (2016), Fi1m 74: Committee meetings as horror; the bureaucrats are the point and the monster keeps changing — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/shin-godzilla.md)
- *Pacific Rim* (2013), Fi1m 70: Del Toro’s robots and sea beasts, shot so you can see who is hitting whom — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/pacific-rim.md)
- *The Host* (2006): Bong Joon-ho’s river monster with a family who are funny and worth saving
- *Colossal* (2016): A hungover Anne Hathaway discovers she is a kaiju; small, odd and sharp

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters