Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

The people are actually fun to follow in Apple TV+’s MonsterVerse spin-off Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters, which premieres November 17. And Godzilla is in the show! You get to see Godzilla every few episodes! And other monsters!

Enjoyably cheesy romp.

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.

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.

Even with Apple’s sizable investment, it too often feels like a gigantic donut with a Godzilla-shaped hole in the middle.

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.

The storytelling here is no less rickety than that of the goofiest old monster movie, the difference being that the series insists on showing its work. The MonsterVerse films may lack a memorable human through line, but Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is a dire overcorrection.

A spectacular addition to the ever expanding lore of the monsterverse, it manages to create an actually compelling human drama and balances it with decent monster action.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has some great moments when it leans into the larger mythology and the presence of the Titans, but the show is seriously weighed down by its younger cast. There’s something off about the casting and overall presentation of those characters that never quite clicks. Their look, demeanor, and performances feel oddly disconnected from the tone of the world around them, almost like they belong in a different show entirely. While the story and the older timeline have real intrigue, every time the focus shifts back to the younger characters it pulls you out of the experience and makes the series feel less grounded than it should.

A half-decent expansion of the Kaiju multiverse that should keep fans busy until the next major installment, but with some arduously slow plotting, and macguffins that don't have much of a payoff.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Only 10 episodes and the show is mostly filler. Side characters that don't matter portrayed by actors with no talent or appeal. The constant flash forwards and backwards bog the show down. Scenes that should be impactful are hampered by swapping between subtitles and dialogue. Its baffling that a show with so many people involved didn't fix these glaring problems. And of course there are very few actual Titans, only getting a few minutes of screen time.