Godzilla: King of the Monsters

For more than six decades, almost every Godzilla film has ended pretty much the same way. But at least the original Japanese efforts conveyed a campy rudimentary charm that made them distinct.

The latest incarnation of the franchise, which began five years ago and continues with GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS, is merely a derivative example of spectacle trumping substance, filling the screen with incoherent mayhem while taking itself way too seriously.

In the story, people take a backseat to the massive monsters, headed by Godzilla, who emerged as an ally for humanity in the prior film. He fills the same role here, thanks to the hubris of a collection of scientists known as Monarch, an organization tasked with keeping Earth safe from Titans.

Among them are a paleobiologist (Vera Farmiga) and her preteen daughter (Millie Bobby Brown), whose efforts to spawn a new Titan larva named Mothra are interrupted by an eco-terrorist (Charles Dance) with sinister plans.

Soon afterward, ancient predatory beasts are awakened from the ocean floor, including the three-headed fire-breathing adversary Ghidorah, leading to failed military efforts to contain them. As the hapless humans flail away by land, sea, and air with weaponry large and small, Godzilla emerges as the only hope for restoring peace.

As you’d expect, KING OF THE MONSTERS contains some impressive action set pieces and some imaginative creature renderings. However, like its predecessor, this Godzilla movie needs a rooting interest, either in the resilient humans or in the beasts trying to wreak havoc.

Instead, the screenplay by Zach Shields and director Michael Dougherty (Krampus) offers little incentive for emotional engagement, opting instead to repeatedly flaunt its technical prowess and big-budget effects — masking its lack of narrative integrity and scientific logic with constant chaos.

Only a few of the actors from the first film’s multicultural ensemble are back on the payroll here, with the understanding that humankind’s collective brains and brawn is feeble as the oversized reptiles unleash their obligatory pattern of destruction with the future of the planet in the balance.

Of course, there’s little creative justification for this follow-up, which hardly advances the Godzilla mythology in any meaningful way. Aside from box-office aspirations, the intent is to set the stage for the next pre-planned franchise tentpole in two years, during which our amphibious hero will again prove indestructible.

Rated PG-13, 131 minutes.