King Kong vs. Godzilla

It's time for our first proper versus movie! It's even in the title. While I don't always do this, let's talk about the background of this one. It was originally supposed to be an American movie about King Kong fighting Frankenstein (or Prometheus as he was going to be called) but no one wanted to make it in the US. Those producers are all fools. But eventually it became what it is now: the most famous Japanese kaiju against the most famous American kaiju. Directed by Ishirō Honda with Godzilla primarily played by Haruo Nakajima and King Kong played by Shoichi Hirose, that pedigree of director and cast definitely tells us that this is as much a Toho production as anything else we've seen thus far.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- The human element of the story centers around a pharmaceutical company run by a buffoon, hoping to use the "Demon God" of (fictional) Faro Island to advertise.

- In the meantime, Godzilla wakes up from his burial under snow and ice and is attacked immediately by the military.

- A giant squidlike creature attacks the native people of Faro Island and King Kong saves them. They sing his praises and he goes back to sleep before he can turn his attention to the humans.

- News of King Kong is published and it's a big deal for our pharmaceutical company. Immediately, talk begins of whether King Kong or Godzilla is stronger.

- The eventually meet and Godzilla appears to win the first match after setting Kong on fire, both simply walking away. It's a pretty dreadful showdown consisting of a couple of Atomic Breath volleys and King Kong throwing (and missing) with a few rocks.

- Attempting to kill Godzilla twice fails despite the G-Man falling for both traps. He's just darn tough.

- In an allusion to the original King Kong, Kong kidnaps a woman and climbs to the top of the Diet Building in Tokyo.

- Using gas from Faro Island and the music which lulls him to sleep, King Kong is knocked unconscious and captured once more by humans.

- Hoping the two will kill each other, King Kong is airdropped to fight Godzilla on Mount Fuji.

- After falling underwater and continuing/finishing their fight, Kong is the only one to surface and swims off, heading back home.

Kaiju Notes

- For the first time so far in this journey, I had a companion watching along with me. When Godzilla first emerges she said it "looks like Godzilla is coming back from McDonald's, holding ice creams." BRUH THEY WERE HIS CLAWS

- Godzila's first appearance in color: his atomic breath still makes his spines glow but this time it's blue. As discussed in Gojira, I love this effect. The blue is a cool choice, but the Atomic Breath itself is a bit underwhelming, it still lacks substance.

- Godzilla retains a lot of the mobility from Raids Again, but the suit seems to be different. A different (less threatening) face/head at the least. The tail is also incredibly mobile now.

- The King Kong suit is hilarious because it sucks. Gorilla costumes have been being made for generations and somehow the best Gorilla suit that existed for this movie made Kong look awful. The face looks like it's made of wood.

- Both Kaiju do a lot of taunting and less fighting than I would like. It's like they have to gesture before they attack each other and it's distracting.

- King Kong is apparently empowered by electricity (the opposite of Godzilla) and in the final sequence gains electric hands and it's hilarious.

This movie actually brings up a question for me which I've pondered before: Gojira is considered the first kaiju movie but King Kong probably belongs on the list too, so should I have started there? Gojira is considered the first "kaiju" movie, but did kaiju movies begin to exist when there was a name for them or can we retroactively place movies into the kaiju category? I'm unsure. While this blog is largely focused on Godzilla movies (as the most famous kaiju and an excellent excuse to watch them all), it's also about the history of kaiju flicks. Either way, this is Kong's first crossing into the Godzilla series so let's talk about it on it's own terms before making any determinations on the future of this project.

One quick note on the music: the opening song of the movie reminds me of the classic One Winged Angel. Which is to say it's fucking awesome.

King Kong vs. Godzilla is the first movie we've seen so far which is explicitly funny. It actually seems to have very little going on for it besides being a spectacle with a humorous underlining. The jokes don't really land for me, but this is not uncommon when it comes to Japanese style humor: it often isn't for me. There is one joke of note that I enjoyed when the explorers were trying to get in good with the natives of Faro Island: giving a child a cigarette to get in good with him before his mom snatches it away and keeps it for herself.

When Godzilla awakens in this movie he is immediately attacked. Taking place in the same timeline as all of the other movies we've seen so far, the Japanese military is becoming more proactive than they initially were with giant monsters. Plans are made to kill Godzilla in a damn gas chamber, and when that fails they go for deterrence using 1 millions volts of electricity. The downside of this plan, which initially works, is that Kong grows stronger as he is shocked, which only makes the fighting more dangerous for everyone involved and nearby. There could be a message in here about the consequences of being too focused on a singular problem and creating an equal one instead, but it's not a strong theme of this script. The electrical powers of King Kong eventually grow to the point where a thunderstorm near the end of the movie gives him electric fists which he uses to finally equalize the fight between him and G.

Quite honestly, this movie has very little going on besides good old fashioned giant monsters fighting. Kong shoves a tree down Godzilla's throat at one point and Godzilla does a jump kick. This is more professional wrestling than allegory of the horrors of war or whatever, and sometimes isn't that just what you need? There are, however, a few things to note in conclusion. When the the monsters fall into the water King Kong is the only one seen swimming away, heavily implying he was the victor after losing two previous battle (before having electric hands). This makes it, to my knowledge so far, the only time Godzilla has truly lost a battle in any movie, but especially one with his name in it. Obviously many of the movies revolve around him losing initial skirmishes but rallying and taking down his foe, but this works almost exactly the opposite: Godzilla soundly defeats King Kong on two separate occasions before Kong is aided by a lightning strike. Worse still, Godzilla seems to lose this battle after being taken underwater. While not really expanded upon until later, Godzilla should have an advantage in the water. He's amphibious and takes refuge in the ocean, so taking a fight with Godzilla underwater usually means you get your ass kicked. But this is an early movie in the series so the rules haven't been established quite yet.

Ultimately, King Kong vs. Godzilla is dumb as hell and I like it a lot because it knows what it is and embraces it fully. While I might prefer my kaiju movies with a little more heart, sometimes you just want to see big leezard fite big monkee and the final third of this one gives you exactly that.

Next: Mothra vs. Godzilla!