Sometimes a TV series, movies, or album looks better in the advertisement because the powers that be realized they had something mediocre on its hands and trying to pump it up for the public. That’s the case with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, a 10-episode series on AppleTV+ that feels like fanfiction of the MonsterVerse rather than an actual installment.
One good thing people could’ve said about it was how Legendary Pictures was initially going to have a few movies leading up to Godzilla vs. Kong. The first Godzilla, released in 2014, wasn’t the best. But it set the path for Kong: Skull Island, which may not have been the best, but it was a big monster movie. And at least we got to see the titular character more than just a few glimpses before the climax like its predecessor.
Initially, Godzilla vs. Kong was supposed to be the endgame. But Hollywood is now more interested in making money than they are making movies and TV shows. Godzilla x Kong is scheduled to be released at the end of March. And in between, the production company made Monarch, which is set one year after the events in Godzilla in 2015. Despite touting Kurt Russell and his son, Wyatt, on the promotions, they are merely supporting characters in this muddled series.
No, the main characters are Cate Randa (Anna Sawai) and her half-brother, Kentaro (Ren Watabe), who are the grandchildren of Bill Randa (a cameo by John Goodman in the opening and Anders Holm in flashbacks). Apparently, the production decided to retcon the Bill Randa character and some elements from Kong: Skull Island that make his character more relevant as it seems the movie built him up for the first half just to have him function as a background extra in the second half. You see, Cate is a school teacher from San Francisco suffering from post-traumatic stress as she witnessed several of her students die as the school bus they were in plunged into the waters during the Golden Gate Bridge attack by Godzilla in the movie.
One thing I will commend the series for is how it looks at the effects of destruction of landmark buildings in these types of movies. Unfortunately, Cate isn’t much of an interesting character. Much to her surprise, she has gone to Tokyo to settle the affairs of her supposed late father, Hiroshi (Takehiro Hira) who is believed to have also been killed by an attack by Godzilla. However, when she arrives at Hiroshi’s apartment, she discovers Kentaro living there with his mother, Emiko (Qyoko Kudo). Apparently, Hiroshi had two families, one in San Francisco and one in Tokyo.
So for the first half of the series, there’s a lot of fighting between Cate and Kentaro. Don’t expect much footage of monsters or Titans as they’re called. The fourth episode functions mostly as a filler. And there’s many interior scenes and scenes of them out in the wilderness where it’s obvious they’re not far from a civilized area. And then there are the “WarGames scenes.” I call them that because there’s a lot of footage of people sitting in a room with computers with big screens as they walk around talking about the things they’re seeing on the screens. It worked in WarGames because there was good tension there. But it’s become a lazy tactic whenever budgets are limited.
Monarch was filmed in Canada and it has the look and feel of those series from the 1990s and 2000s that were film in the Great White North to take advantage of their tax incentives. When Kurt Russell’s Lee Shaw does finally show you in the second episodes, he doesn’t add much at first. I think more screen time is given to the younger Lee (played by Wyatt Russell) who comes off too misogynistic at first he’s mostly unlikeable. But it was the 1950s and 1960s so it’s understandable that several people would know that Dr. Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamoto) is a scientist and can speak English fluently.
I will say I like Keiko’s character and Yamamoto’s performance but felt the Bill Randa character is undeveloped. There’s sexual tension between Keiko, Bill and Lee and how Hiroshi becomes involved as a child is a nice development. However, this series focuses too much on the characters and not enough on the Titans who mostly appear as afterthoughts. The family drama between Cate and Kentaro could’ve been handled differently but it feels like they couldn’t think of anything for the two characters to do for 10 episodes. There’s also May Olowe-Hewitt (Kiersey Clemons) who used to be Kentaro’s girlfriend but also is connected in a way to Monarch because of course she is.
When the monsters are on the screen, the series has some action and tension that works. Kurt Russell manages to show that he’s still got it and aging like fine wine. And Wyatt, who took a lot of criticism for being cast as the replacement Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, handles the role of a military officer from the era perfectly even giving the character some charm.
Yet, the series seems to be bogged down by too many characters we really don’t want to watch. And the back and forth between the 1950s-1960s and the 2010s gives it a poor pacing. This can be handled the right way but it just seems to go back and forth without much real structure. The way the series is set up shows me that the Legendary and Apple didn’t have much faith in it and every expense was spared. There is a set-up for a second season but seeing as it’s set as somewhat a prequel, we already know what’s going to happen.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 