 What's going on guys welcome back to the channel critical overload here So this will be a review for Monarch legacy of monsters, which is premiering on Apple plus I think in November, but this is just gonna be for the first Five episodes because that's all they shared with us This series was created by Chris black and Matt Fraction It starts Kurt Russell Wyatt Russell and a Swai Cursey Clemens and several others now following the epic battle between Godzilla and the Muto's at level San Francisco So this is taking place like a year after the first entry in the monster verse taking place after The battle between Godzilla and the Muto's that leveled San Francisco and the shocking revelation that monsters are real Two siblings following in their father's footsteps uncover their family's connections to the secretive organization known as Monarch Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to army officer Lee Shaw Taking place in the 1950s and half a century later where Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows the dramatic saga spanning three generations Reveals buried secrets and the ways that epic earth shattering events can reverberate through our lives Now I will say while not a complete homerun just yet Monarch legacy of monsters isn't engaging fast-paced character-driven and highly entertaining new addition to legendary's Rowing monster verse, which again began back in 2014. It's attempts to deliver a human drama Worth Investing in is exceeding so far, but not without some hiccups along the way I've had a problem with the monster verse not giving us characters to really get behind Which is why the consensus has been that the Titans and their brawls are what people really come to see and screw the human Characters because we just can't seem to get it right here in the West But if human characters are going to be carrying your narrative, then you have to work on them Thankfully Monarch sort of understands that I say sort of because there's an over focus on this Romantic relationship fallout between two characters that does help us understand them better But it's the least interesting component to a story mostly revolving around a search for answers and a possible rescue The show starts by introducing us to G-day survivor. They call it G-day in the universe Kate a Former schoolteacher suffering from PTSD Thanks to her brief encounter with Godzilla on the bridge during G-day Kate's return home to Japan after her father Hiroshi's death Leads to her discovering a secret brother named Kanteru Who seemingly has no direction in life until he embarks on a journey with his new sister to discover what happened to their father? And what are their family's ties to Monarch? This journey leads them to me an ex-girlfriend of Kanteru who helps them decrypt files related to Monarch and sets a target on the Simply's back before they can expose Monarch's secrets So Monarch legacy of monsters effectively sets up a crop of characters to get behind Thus making their encounters with the Titans more suspenseful since I kind of care who lives or dies possibly although The constant jumping from 1950s to 2015 can become a bit muddled at times And I'm not seeing the real reason why both stories needed to be told together Just yet besides the fact that it highlights a lot of familial connections showing Monarch's beginnings and adding further context to events We've already known about in this universe It creates a little bit of a focus issue for the series Granted one massive benefit of the time-hopping is capturing the duality of Lee Shaw Who was brilliantly portrayed by both Kurt and white Russell still I'm just not fully convinced that both past and present stories Needed to be told together That's not to say that both timelines aren't equally engaging because they are Don't expect a lot of Titan action to take or to really carry these first two episodes Sure this show needed to make its characters worth latching on to and it does it succeeds at that far more than the Monsterverse films, but where are the Titans now? You're seeing an imbalance there where you're having too much human drama not enough Titans I'm certain I'll appreciate the balance if they begin appearing more often During episodes 6 through 10 because one through five is all human based and focus on piling up on the mysteries of Monarch With each passing episode with very little answers I would argue Godzilla probably has one minute worth of screen time during the first five episodes But there's time to change that during the later episodes that are gonna be in my inbox at some point The pacing of these first five episodes is undoubtedly going to keep you glued the way it did for me because of the constant Quick cuts and time jumps that effectively amplify amplify the mystery while also keeping the suspense present and intact Although some of the editing choices are a bit much and not very coherent early on But that last comment is mostly me thinking about this brief King Kong or Kong skull island connection that starts the show Every performance is impressive with Kurt Russell being the standout But I do want to commend Anna Sui who does a great job capturing Kate's trauma in regret over Gday The visual effects when the Titans appear are okay, and I do mean okay But I will say that Godzilla's appearance are or Godzilla's a brief appearance is an adequate recreation of his 2014 appearance now The show in and of itself again overall, it's what I said it was at the very beginning It's a very entertaining. It has a lot of strong performances, and it's getting something that the monster verse films right Or getting something that the monster verse films didn't get right and that's giving you a human drama worth investing in and giving You some characters that have something underneath them making them worthwhile to actually stick stick to in this story Thus their encounters with the Titans creates a lot more suspense and I care about whether or not they will make it out of these Situations alive or not. However So far we don't have that Adequate balance between humans and Titan action sure we know that this story is going to be focused on Monarch and Uncovering Monarch or Monarch's origins. However Do we really need to keep on seeing so much mystery if we're not going to get answers? I'm again, I'm gonna have to wait for the second half of this of the series Maybe these answers are gonna come in the second half of the series because right now they're just piling on mystery Which is making me a little bit frustrated because I'm like, okay while it's engaging You're just piling on to the mystery and you're missing Titans. Come on now Come on, but I'm gonna go so far ahead and give this show a 6.5 out of 10 I'm liking it for the most part gonna see where it goes from there Let me know what you guys think about this down the comment section below if you haven't already of course Make sure you subscribe turn on post notification that you never miss a video in the description I'll have links on the social media accounts. I am on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram You can message me there Of course limit as any movies news or reviews like me to cover in the future and with all that in mind guys I will see you in the next video