Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters (2023) Review

Episode 5, The Way Out

We rejoin our gang of four: Shaw, Kurt Russell, (“Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood”, “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2”), Cate, Anna Sawai (“Pachinko (TV)”, “Girl/Haji (TV)”), Kentaro, Ren Watabe (“461 Lunch Boxes”), and Kentaro’s on/off girlfriend/friend May, Kiersey Clemons (“Dope”, “The Flash”).

They are being held captive by the gang from Monarch including Natalia Verdugo, Mirelly Taylor (“Lost (TV)”, “SEAL Team (TV)”), who Shaw says is ‘nearly’ in charge, Tim, Joe Tippett (“Mare Of Easttown (TV)”, “The Morning Show (TV)”), the seeming desk-jockey and Duvall, Elisa Lasowski (“Hyena”, “Versailles (TV)”), the muscle.

Duvall is attempting to see what the trio know and, perhaps, what they’re capable of. She determines they know little, or at least, nothing Monarch doesn’t already know. She hasn’t got in to see Shaw though, she can’t understand how he isn’t older, he should be about 90.

Tim simply says ‘there are rumours’ but goes no further. They decide on letting the trio go, sending them packing to Tokyo. Shaw though, is kept, interviewed by Verdugo who runs hot and cold.

Our trio aren’t satisfied with being told to head home though, they still want to know what happened to Cate and Kentaro’s father, they still believe he’s out there. Cate decides they should go to the US and look at his office there, given what they found in his Tokyo office, it seems a sensible approach.

We are now exactly half-way through Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and I’m still not really feeling the love for it. It’s slow, there’s a distinct lack of actual Monsters, they’re even in the title, and I’m struggling to actually care what happens to anyone who we’ve met so far.

This is a shame as it had potential, but then I guess we’ve been saying that about Godzilla movies for years and they haven’t exactly set the world on fire, well they have, but you know what I mean.

Let’s hope things speed up a little and the excitement arrives soon. It can’t come soon enough.