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King Kong vs Godzilla

10/10/2022

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MONSTER MONDAY

Not to be confused with 2021's 'Godzilla vs Kong', I believe that this is the original "monster vs monster" movie, and films like 'Freddy vs Jason' and 'Alien vs Predator' owe a debt to this film for paving the way. Directed by the legendary Ishirō Honda (one could probably consider him the King of Kaiju), it actually marks the third film in each franchise, following 'Godzilla', 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters', 'King Kong' and 'Son of Kong'. It also marks the first time either of these monsters were ever seen in colour and widescreen, which today might be something like seeing a franchise do 3D, or D-Box for the first time (still waiting for that no-glasses 3D though - I'm looking at you, James Cameron!)

In doing a bit of homework though, I enjoyed reading about how this project came to be. Willis O'Brien, a stop motion animator for the original 'King Kong' outlined a story in which Kong goes up against a giant Frankenstein monster. But honestly, I'd probably watch that if it ever came to light. But when the outline was handed to producer John Beck, Beck gave the project to the Toho company, which produces 'Godzilla' films, and the film became this instead. It's probably for the best, considering what this ended up being, but you gotta feel bad for O'Brien in this scenario. Either way, 'King Kong vs Godzilla' is, to this day, the single-most attended 'Godzilla' film in Japan, and that's probably saying a lot considering there are about 36 of them.

Pacific Pharmaceuticals head, Mr. Tako (Ichirô Arishima) believes that the TV shows his company are producing are becoming dull and boring, and he needs some kind of publicity stunt in an attempt to boost ratings. This is when he's told about a giant monster (Kong) who resides on the remote Faro Island. Tako immediately sends two men, Osamu Sakurai (Tadao Takashima) and Kinsaburo Furue (Yû Fujiki), to the island to essentially go get the monster for him. Their journey here is actually quite entertaining as they meet the island's locals, right down to giving a kid a couple of cigarettes. This is where you get the idea that the film doesn't take itself too seriously, and knows you're here for a good time.

Meanwhile, as an American nuclear sub called the Seahawk attempts to navigate a field of icebergs, they just so happen to find the one that has contained Godzilla since 1955. This is probably where I should mention that I don't pretend to understand how continuity works with these films, and I believe they are meant to be a little more like stand-alone "what-if?" stories... but I sincerely have no idea. All I know is from anything I read about 'King of the Monsters' ending, the big lizard shouldn't be trapped in an iceberg. But I digress. Godzilla is unleashed and heads toward a Japanese military base, leaving devastation in his wake.

Skipping ahead, of course, Kong is eventually captured and brought back to Japan where the two monsters eventually meet and have their ultimate battle; Kong is used as a defence, and somewhat assisted by the humans. And I've gotta hand it to them, they do a pretty good job at delivering a good fight between them... okay, so maybe not a "good" fight, but they do deliver what we came here to see. With that, I should probably mention what may be obvious to some. This is the kind of movie where you know it's low-budget, using guys fighting in suits (Shoichi Hirose as King Kong and Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla) and scale models, and you can't help but have fun with it.


In closing, I should mention that these kaiju films have always been one of those things I think are casually cool. I'm never usually hyped for anything like this, but if I do watch it, I'll usually have quite a bit of fun with it. But I'd be hard-pressed to find one I've had more fun with, and that includes more recent films! Cheesy and silly as the film may be, it does deliver what the title promises, and it kind of brings you back to the days of watching cartoons and playing with action figures. This is by no means a masterpiece, and could even be seen as "bad", but it's also not meant to be taken seriously and that much is evident with a lot of comedy. It may sound weird, but I might very well prefer this old hunk of cheese over 2021's film of the same concept, if only because this didn't try to be anything deep or have any meaning behind it. I came to watch these two titans clash, and dammit, that's what I got!

4/5

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