Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is a series set in the 'Monsterverse'. Yet this series is more about the people than the monsters. Nevertheless, is it worth it? The Monsterverse is a franchise that revolves around Godzilla, King Kong and other monsters (titans). This franchise consists (at the time of writing) of the films Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of Monsters, Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and the Skull Island series.
In Kong: Skull Island we were introduced to Bill Randa (played in the film by John Goodman, The Conners). In this series we are taken back to the 1950s, where we see young Bill Randa (Anders Holm, Inventing Anna) investigating the titans together with Keiko (Mari Yamamoto, Pachinko). They are accompanied by Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell, Marvel's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), who has been assigned by the army to protect Randa and Keiko.
But what we actually see is the birth of the Monarch organization, with Randa, Keiko and Shaw as initiators and with the aim of finding out as much as possible about these titans. The part of the series that takes place in the 1950s plays like a smooth adventure story, but with the necessary (love) drama. Because while Shaw's love for Keiko is oozing, Keiko only has eyes for Randa.
The series offers the opportunity to offer a bit of depth that is less apparent in the films and makes good use of it.
In addition to the 1950s, we are also taken to 2015, a year after Godzilla decimated San Francisco. Cate Randa (Anna Sawai, Shõgun), Bill's granddaughter, lived in San Francisco at the time of this disaster and after this disaster her father Hiroshi Randa (Takehiro Hira, Shõgun) disappeared. In her search for him, she discovers that he was involved with Monarch and that she has a half-brother, Kentaro Randa (Ren Watabe). Together with his ex-girlfriend May (Kiersey Clemons, Praise Petey) they search for her father and the role of Monarch in the whole.
This part of the series is more of a post-apocalyptic drama. We see what the characters have experienced through the mutual struggle of the titans, but also how the world deals with this. Interesting to see and it certainly provides the necessary depth compared to the films, but initially very little happens and the pace is a bit on the slow side. This changes when Cate, Kentaro and May enlist the help of Lee Shaw. The 2015 version of Shaw is played by Kurt Russell (Marvel's What If…?) and not only is it a nice detail that the old and young version of Shaw are played by father and son (Kurt and Wyatt) but Kurt Russell also plays the roll with gusto. Where the story occasionally threatens to sink in 2015, he adds the necessary momentum.
I have said very little about the titans so far. And that is not without reason, because they are only part of this series. Where they emerge, it looks beautiful and impressive. But the series itself is clearly less about the titans, and more about Monarch and the way the world deals with the existence of these titans.
To be honest, if you start this series with the expectation that it will be a monster movie in the form of a series, then I can imagine that it will be disappointing. I had less of that myself. The series offers the opportunity to offer a bit of depth that is less apparent in the films and makes good use of it. The story is well put together with the necessary references to the various films. I also really enjoyed Kurt Russell in his role as Shaw. I am therefore very curious about the second season.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
