I grew up loving Godzilla and I think that the MonsterVerse thing we have going on right now is awesome. Godzilla X Kong is one of my most anticipated movies of the year! So I was very excited to check out Monarch: Legacy of Monsters which is an Apple TV series that as I write this has not yet fully completed its run so please keep that in mind.
How to Download Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
The series was released on November 17, 2023. You can download or stream the film from Apple TV. Click on the Download button at the end of this review
The TV Series Review: Delving into the Creation of Monarch
I knew going into this that we were not going to be seeing a whole lot of monsters and it was more about the people and the creation of Monarch. Hey, that sounded great to me and I love some world-building so even though I knew that there were not going to be a whole lot of monster fights (despite the trailer showing them!) I was shocked at how slow-paced this show was!
It starts off taking place after the events of the first Godzilla movie, well the first one in the MonsterVerse. Cate is a schoolteacher who lives in the USA but is heading back to Japan to deal with her father’s estate. Cate is a rather deep character who is suffering from PTSD after what happened in the Godzilla movie.
Exploring Characters and Plot Development in Monarch
Cate finds out that her father had another family and that she has a half-brother in Kentaro. Cate and Kentaro find out that their father was involved with Monarch and set about trying to find out what happened to him and what his involvement in Monarch is. They call in a hacker, May who used to date Kentaro to help out.
The first episode was good and had me in suspense to find more stuff out about Monarch and the potential to see some monsters of course was great. However, I have to say that Monarch: Legacy of Monsters never feels like it gets out of first gear. It has some great ideas for sure and the way the story flips between time periods is great and all, but this is a show I have to try really hard to sit through.
Time Periods and the Pace of the Show
Some things are cool such as Kurt and his son Wyatt Russel playing the same character in different time periods. The allure of finding out more about the Titans and Monarch’s involvement was enough to keep me watching and the nods to Godzilla and Kong were certainly cool, especially stuff like John Goodman reprising his role here! However, I always felt like I was waiting for something to happen.
While I like the different time periods that the show takes place in and it starts out in the modern day, I found myself preferring the stuff that was happening in the 50s. I will give them credit for not having things get too confusing despite the time jumps, but at the end of the day, what is happening is just not all that exciting.
Final Thoughts on Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
The idea of having a show to flesh out the MonsterVerse lore is solid, but the execution is not great. Also, add to this the fact that the show is on Apple TV, hardly the most subscribed streaming service and you do wonder just how much this is going to tie into the MonsterVerse going forward. Hey, it is not bad, but I could not see myself sitting through this to watch it again.
