Before the titan-sized title of “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” even flashes across the screen, director Adam Wingard has already delivered two impressively goopy moments courtesy of our lead characters: Kong rips a hyena-thing in half, green entrails spilling everywhere, while Godzilla squishes a bug in Rome, releasing great vats of yellow goo over the ancient city. It’s an indication of the colorfully excessive ethos that Wingard brings to this loaded monster jam, which is overflowing with titans, creatures and kaiju. Considering that much of the action takes place in the underworld known as Hollow Earth, you might even call this picture “stuffed crust.”

Wingard, who directed the neon-synth fever dream that was “Godzilla vs. Kong” in 2021, comes from the world of horror films, and he brings that same approach to his blockbusters, with a penchant for gleeful experimentation and over-the-top style. He drives this vehicle like he stole it, and with co-writers Simon Barrett and Terry Rossio, seems to throw every idea he’s ever had for a monster movie at the script. It’s a lot. It’s fun, but it’s a lot.

On the plus side, Wingard has arguably three of the best working actors in the game in this picture. Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry reprise their roles from “Godzilla vs. Kong,” and Wingard brings along the star of his 2014 thriller “The Guest,” Dan Stevens, who possesses a kind of radioactive charisma that’s almost too much to take in. With these three, you truly cannot go wrong, and Henry and Stevens, playing a blogger/podcaster and a wacky wild animal veterinarian, respectively, prove to be the most valuable players of the movie, after the title characters, of course.

To quickly get us caught up to speed, after the events of the last film, Kong now lives in the verdant paradise of Hollow Earth, which is nice but lonely, while Godzilla remains on the surface, very cutely napping in the Colosseum in between bouts of titan fighting. These two need to be kept apart, lest they rip each other to shreds, reducing major cities to rubble. However, when a distress signal emerges from Hollow Earth, Dr. Andrews (Hall), her Iwi daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle), her on-call vet Trapper (Stevens), and the fanboy blogger Bernie (Henry), along with a stern Scottish pilot Mikael (Alex Ferns), set out to find the origin of the call, and realize that maybe Godzilla and Kong need to find a way to come together to fight off other nefarious creatures.

When you multiply Godzilla by Kong, what do you get? When Wingard’s doing the math, it’s an earnest, wacky, hectic ride that often feels like being thrashed about in an IMAX seat. There’s a decidedly 1980s-inspired vibe to the tone and style, from the hot pinks and greens and synth-y score by Antonio Di Iorio and Tom Holkenborg, to the narrative that follows a journey into a fantastical underworld. There’s also a heavy emphasis on crystals as both plot device and aesthetic that offers this film a retro feel.

But about halfway through, one does get the nagging sensation that this has jumped the kaiju shark, as Wingard slams the gas and doesn’t let up. There are too many monsters, and as more and more are introduced, character falls away. It makes you long for the restrained elegance of “Godzilla Minus One,” but this is a different beast entirely.

There’s a bit of a harried energy to “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” which is fun until it becomes instantly tiresome and deafening. Perhaps multiplication was too much — here’s hoping subtraction is next in the kaiju mathematical equation.

‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’

2.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG-13 (for creature violence and action)

Running time: 1:55

How to watch: In theaters Friday

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SIOUX FALLS S.D. — Boston University has used its speed and skill as a defining feature all season, and on Saturday night, it sent the Terriers into the national semifinals.

Macklin Celebrini notched a game-high three points on three assists, and the No. 2 overall seed Terriers punched their ticket to the Frozen Four with a 6-3 victory over Minnesota in the championship game of the Sioux Falls Regional at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

The win wraps up the Gophers’ season at 23-11-5, while Bryce Brodzinski led the way with a goal and an assist.

Celebrini was one of three BU players to finish with multiple points, with Jack Harvey and Shane Lachance each tallying a goal and an assist for the Terriers.

The Gophers took a 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to goals from Jaxon Nelson and Bryce Brodzinski.

At 7:19, Nelson got the scoring started when he fired a shot from the right circle into the upper-right corner of the net, as Brodzinski and Sam Rinzel were each credited with an assist. Then, with 2:13 remaining in the first, Brodzinski retrieved a pass from Rhett Pitlick and used his defender as a screen, beating BU goalie Mathieu Caron’s glove to give the Gophers a two-goal lead.

However, it only took the Terriers 14 seconds to respond.

Quinn Hutson got Boston on the board with 1:59 to go in the period when he stole the puck along the boards and powered his way to the net, sliding it past Minnesota goaltender Justen Close to cut the Terriers’ deficit to 2-1.

In the opening minutes of the second period, BU added two more tallies, both of which were set up by Celebrini.

Lachance provided the equalizer at the 1:17 mark of the period on an assist from Celebrini and Harvey, and then at 5:25, Harvey scored from the right circle, giving BU a 3-2 lead. Lachance was credited with a secondary helper on the goal.

Minnesota tied the game at 3-3 midway through the period. Luke Mittelstadt centered a puck from along the boards to a knifing Brody Lamb, whose point-blank shot was stopped by Caron. However, the rebound stayed in the crease, where Aaron Huglen buried it into the open net.

A goal by Lane Hutson, assisted by Dylan Peterson and Nick Zabaneh, moved Boston back ahead 4-3 with just 4:24 remaining in the second.
With 1:45 remaining, Boston captain Case McCarthy ricocheted the puck off the boards and sent it 200 feet down the ice for an empty-net goal before alternate captain Sam Stevens added one more for good measure, sealing the final score with 32 seconds to go in the game.

Brodzinski missed the net on a two-on-one breakaway late in the third, and the Terriers recorded eight of their 18 blocked shots in the final period alone. Cade Webber led BU with six blocks.

Caron stopped 25 shots to earn his 28th victory of the season between the pipes. Meanwhile, Close made 32 saves in a losing effort.
The Terriers finished the game with a 38-28 advantage in shots on goal, including 15-9 in the third period.

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The Saints opened the season under sunny skies on Saturday before an announced crowd of 4,052 at CHS Field, but an 8-1 win over the Columbus Clippers was clouded by the absence of a handful of regulars due to injury.

Four players began the season on the seven-day injured list, including No. 1 prospect Brooks Lee. The 23-year-old shortstop is sidelined due to lower back pain.

Outfielder Trevor Larnach (turf toe), right-handed reliever Austin Schulfer (forearm strain) and  right-handed pitcher Matt Canterino (rotator cuff strain) also will miss at least the first week of the season.

Right-handed reliever Jovani Moran recently underwent Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire season.

“Coming out of spring training there were a lot of guys in the last week or so who went down,” Saints manager Toby Gardenhire said. “It’s just something you deal with.”

In some instances, the amount of time out of the lineup will be longer than seven days.

“They said a couple weeks for Brooks,” Gardenhire said. “We’re not sure on Larnach yet; we have to wait for a diagnosis. It’s definitely going to take a little time.”

Meanwhile, infielder Jose Miranda, on the rebound from injury, had a big game, collecting a double and a home run. Miranda, who was limited to 40 games with the Twins last season due to a right shoulder injury that eventually led to surgery, hit .320 in spring training (8 for 28).

“It feels pretty good,” Miranda said, “especially to be back on the field doing the things I love the most — playing baseball and hitting. So it’s fun to be back.”

Miranda, who played first base on Saturday, declared himself 100 percent physically, and said he’s ready to play third base without his shoulder being an issue. With Twins third baseman Royce Lewis sidelined for at least a month, Miranda could be back in a Twins uniform sooner than later, especially if his bat stays hot.

“We know what Jose can do,” Gardenhire said. “We’ve seen it. We’ve just got to keep him rolling like that, and he should be back up there helping the big-league team soon. That was a great swing he had up there tonight.

“And he just missed a couple of other ones. I thought he was on the ball all night, just like he was all spring.”

The Saints got three-run home runs from a pair of outfielders making their Saints debut, Alex Isola in the second inning and Yoyner Fajardo in the fourth.

The 25-year-old Isola, a 29th-round pick in the 2019 draft out of TCU, hit 29 home runs with 58 runs batted in last season for Wichita. Fajardo, 24, hit nine home runs and drove in 53 for Wichita in 2023.

“Fajardo had a great year last year,” Gardenhire said. “He put up good numbers in Double-A, and Isola did the same thing. You never know what they’re going to do once they get out there, but they both had great games,

“It’s always fun when the new guys contribute like that.”

Right-hander David Festa got the start for the Saints and pitched three shutout innings, allowing one hit, before giving way to Randy Dobnak, who pitched four innings to earn the win.

The 24-year-old Festa, the No. 5 prospect in the Twins organization, according to MLB Pipeline, spent the majority of last season at Double-A Wichita, where he went 3-3 in 19 starts, with an earned-run average of 4.39. He was 1-1 in three starts for the Saints last season.

Briefly

Left-hander Brent Headrick will start for the Saints on Sunday in the final game of the abbreviated series with Columbus. The Saints begin a six-game series in Nashville on Tuesday.

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