Godzilla vs. Kong

The MonsterVerse continues, its most recent entry as of publishing. The previous films in the series have all built up to this point, having established both Godzilla and Kong in their own separate but connected films. Now it's time for the showdown, Godzilla vs. Kong. It's not the most creative name, but it follows the pattern of many of the Toho films so who can really blame them. This one is directed by Adam Wingard, and Millie Bobby Brown returns to her major role from the previous films in the series. Alongside her, we've got starring roles for Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall, and Brian Tyree Henry

There's really nothing to write about as far as production or behind the scenes stuff goes: the movie was planned out in advance and was produced. It's about a giant lizard creature fighting a giant monkey creature. Let's check it out.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- We see Kong waking up in his jungle paradise. He seems peaceful and happy, and a small girl named Jua comes to him with an offering: a cute little Kong doll. He greets her before launching a tree into the barrier surrounding him, revealing the idyllic setting to be an illusion.

- Dr. Ilene Andrews reveals that Kong is being kept here against his will to keep him safe from Godzilla, as both are Alpha Titans and There Can Be Only One. Sorry, wrong series. That'll be the next blog.

- In Florida, Godzilla attacks the headquarters of the company Apex Cybernetics. This is strange considering that Godzilla's whole deal seems to be living in relative harmony with humankind.

- Conspiracy podcaster Bernie Hayes is tracked down by Madison from the previous film as someone who clearly has some insight into what's making Godzilla so pissed off at Apex. He works there (as a mole, essentially), so has some reach.

- A scientist convinces Ilene to let him use Kong to prove his Hollow Earth theory correct once and for all, shipping him to Antarctica to use a wormhole into the Hollow Earth with Kong as a key/guide/protector.

- On the journey, Ilene is proven correct when Godzilla attacks Kong and there's an awesome fight sequence that ends in a stalemate when depth charges are dropped on them while they fight in the ocean.

- After arriving in Antarctica, the Hollow Earth theory is proven right for the 2nd time in this series and Kong and his human friends journey to the center of the Earth where they are attacked by horrible creatures. Kong does, in fact, protect them and does battle with many strange beasts.

- Inside Apex Cybernetics, Madison and Bernie discover the secret Apex is hiding: a giant robot modeled after Godzilla: a MechaGodzilla designed to kill Godzilla (and potentially Kong and any other Titans).

- Kong finds an ancient axe weapon apparently used by his species in their battles, and the Apex executive on the mission to the Hollow Earth takes a sample of the energy as a much needed power source for their MechaGodzilla project. She threatens Kong's friend in the process and makes an enemy of Kong just as more creatures invade.

- As the humans try to escape the situation, Godzilla launches his Atomic Breath into the portal where Kong is located as a challenge. The Apex executive orders her people to shoot at Kong to try to escape. This goes exceptionally poorly, as Kong simply crushes them inside their vehicle before heading to Hong Kong to fight Godzilla with his newfound axe.

- The battle in Hong Kong has two primary rounds, the first ending with a Kong victory before Godzilla rallies and nearly kills Kong. MechaGodzilla appears before Godzilla can finish Kong off for good, now powered by the power source found in the Hollow Earth which is sufficient to bring it to 100% for the first time in its existence.

- With Godzilla being beaten badly by MechaGodzilla, Kong's human allies decide to help him (and Godzilla, and themselves) by reviving him. The plan ultimately works, allowing Kong to join the fight against MechaGodzilla.

- With Kong and Godzilla teaming up, MechaGodzilla is eventually defeated. The two remaining Alphas make peace, Kong going to rule the Hollow Earth while Godzilla remains on the surface world. End film.

Kaiju Notes 

- Kong is bigger than he was in his previous appearance, apparently being sized up to match size with Godzilla. THIS IS STUPID AND UNNECESSARY. It's too late now, but Kong being smaller than Godzilla just makes his scrappy underdog-ness more appealing. We all knew he wasn't really going to win anyway, so it would be more impressive if he got the small victories he did while remaining much smaller than his opponent. It's so lame to try to make them the same size when Kong's unique advantage should be intelligence and ingenuity, not bigger muscles. They do utilize some of the same elements I would in making Kong able to stand against Godzilla: the ability to make/use weapons and opposable thumbs, for instance, but making him the same size as Godzilla makes his ultimate defeat more disappointing because he was never fighting from a point of any real disadvantage,

- Kong's characterization is kind of funny as hell. He is very loyal and friendly to his friends. He does not give a fuck about anyone else. When he kills the Apex woman, he looks inside the vehicle for his friends and upon finding none of them just crushes the entire thing like he was throwing away rotten fruit. It's brutal, but effective. Godzilla doesn't have much human interaction in this film, but comparing his King of the Monsters personality to Kong's in this film makes Godzilla seem like a fluffy bunny who loves snuggling by contrast. And he is definitively not friendly.

- MechaGodzilla is... mecha. It's a design that is very 21st century, making the robot a lattice-work of mechanical parts rather than the sleek but boxy designs of robots in the mid-20th century. It's not a bad design and likely more accurate to what a real life MechaGodzilla would look like, but it lacks the character of the older MechaG designs and looks a bit overdone. MechaGodzilla's characterization, however, helps set the tone. MechaGodzilla is a monster among monsters, being almost completely brutal and lacking the boastfulness of either of the organic kaiju. It focuses on murder first and foremost and is a delight to watch (even if you want it to lose).  MechaGodzilla acts almost exactly how some audiences want every fighter in fiction to: completely focused on the win and wasting minimal time with anything other than doing bigger and more damage. Exactly how a robot should fight, I think.

Okay, so full disclosure: I spent a long time trying to figure out what to say about this one. I just... couldn't think of much. Unlike the previous and absolutely awesome Godzilla: King of the Monsters, this one lacks any real metaphor or ideas behind it besides the clash of titans. This isn't an inherently bad thing, but I can  only say that so many times before I run out of ways to say it.

The fights are pretty badass in this one. The first confrontation between Godzilla and Kong, on the battleship in the middle of ocean, is my personal favorite because it's the perfect combination of spectacular and spectacle. It also does a fine job in beginning to establish the two creatures' strengths and weaknesses: Godzilla's advantage at the sea but Kong's resourcefulness. As a setup to a longer confrontation later in the movie, it's an excellent start. The bad news is: as touched on above, the movie doesn't really deliver on that. Besides their first battle, every other match between the two ultimately narrows down to who hits harder or can take a larger beating. The battles are still entertaining, but they don't really deliver on the potential of either the two kaiju involved or the promise of the first encounter.

One last thing I do want to touch on is a similar point to the one made in the most recent post: Godzilla is actually kind of a cuddly bunny. Kong gives absolutely no fucks about anyone who's not explicitly his friend and murders several people (and creatures) with zero hesitation. MechaGodzilla does as well, though it is at least an unfeeling robot whereas Kong is shown to have very deep emotions. Godzilla, on the other hand, kills nothing at all in this entire movie. He does attack Kong first, this can't be denied, and it's not as though he doesn't try to drown him in their first conflict, but he genuinely seems way more chill and passive outside of wanting Kong and everyone else to stay of his way as the Alpha Titan. Though Kong does nearly die/is left dying in their final battle, Godzilla still doesn't finish him off when he easily could. He asserts dominance and then walks away. It's just extremely funny to me that the most inhuman of all the kaiju (Kong is an ape and MechaGodzilla was made by humans) seems to be the most human, if genteelness and mercy are considered human traits.

Godzilla vs. Kong is an entertaining time, but lacks meat on the its bones. It has a lot to show, but very little to say. If you are looking for a show, you could certainly do a lot worse than this one. The fights are entertaining, Kong is an endearing main character, and Godzilla stays looking like a boss. But if you need a film with something on its mind besides seeing big monkee and big leezard, this isn't the one. It does, however, deliver exactly what it says on the tin: Godzilla fights Kong.

Next (and final): Monster Hunter!

Also, as a bonus Christmas spirit addition: check out this shirt that I really received as a pre-Christmas gift!

Kong: Skull Island

Because this blog is in mostly chronological order, we're now only covering American films through the rest of the year. To start this new streak, we're talking about Kong: Skull Island, the 2nd in the MonsterVerse films. A follow-up (but not sequel) to 2014's Godzilla, we're reimagining what I would argue is the original kaiju: Kong. The titular Kong is portrayed by Terry Notary and Toby Kebbell, with the human cast being rounded out by Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John C. Reilly, Brie Larson, and Toby Kebbell. That's a big cast, but that's my honest attempt at shortening it as much as possible to just the important players. I guess when you're bringing King freaking Kong back to the big screen you can sign on lots of big names, because most of that cast couldn't have come cheap at all.

The writer seemed to have a little tension with the studio. Initially wanting a film that took place during the Vietnam War era and then jumping forward, that was rejected and the Vogt-Roberts wanted a story that took place before the original 1930's based story which was also rejected. Despite all of this back and forth, eventually the director Jordan Vogt-Roberts was hired and they ultimately settled on an immediate post-Vietnam War setting. Skull Island is, like Godzilla before it, a reboot. No other Kong or Godzilla movies have taken place not within this continuity, so everything is "brand new" despite being a retread of old concepts. That's enough background, now let's investigate whether this reboot was as solid as the first MonsterVerse film.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- To open our film, 2 pilots in WWII era planes crash/land and attempt to kill each other using guns, fists, and swords. When coming to a conclusion, they are interrupted by the arrival of the giant ape (King) Kong.

- Cut to the 1970s and Monarch representatives go to Washington DC to try to save their funding with a mission to Skull Island to find something mysterious. They get approval, but this is the last favor they are getting before Monarch is completely shut down.

- A crew of scientists, specialists, and soldiers is assembled to go on this expedition to Skull Island. This includes tracker Conrad, journalist Weaver, and US Army Lieutenant Colonel Packard.

- After arriving on the island through a hurricane, bombs are dropped on the island in an attempt to prove the Hollow Earth theory of the lead geologist. While this initially goes well, a tree is launched at one of the helicopters and Kong is revealed to be the culprit.

-After being attacked by the soldiers, Kong kills almost every soldier and does destroy every helicopter.

- The survivors are split into two groups, a small contingent comprised primarily of soldiers with Packard leading them and Conrad leading the others to join the soldiers and make it to the extraction point.

- Packard's group is on a quest for revenge against Kong and comes across one of the horrors of the island in the form of a giant spider. Conrad's team is taken in by the native people of the island, where one of the surviving pilots from the first scene helps explain things.

- Conrad's group is warned that Kong is the king/god of this island who just wants to live in peace and to be wary of underground-dwelling lizard creatures called skull-crawlers which are incredibly dangerous. They are also told that if something were to happen to Kong the "big one" would appear next, as he keeps the skull-crawlers in check.

- Successfully meeting with Packard's squad, everyone heads to find the one missing soldier who we the audience already know to be dead. They are attacked the skull-crawler that killed that man and barely survive. 

- A schism forms between the two groups as Packard insists upon retrieving the weapons this last soldiers was guarding and killing Kong. Conrad's group heads in their own direction since that is a terrible plan.

- Packard's soldiers take Kong down, weakening him before planning to kill with with explosions.

- Conrad's group decides to actually interfere with Packard's, defending Kong from their plan to kill him. If for no other reason than to keep the skull-crawlers from being able to take over the island. 

- With Kong weakened and down, the "big" skull-crawler arrives to take advantage. Everyone except Packard flees to have a chance to make it off Skull Island, Packard remaining to try to kill Kong but being smashed by him before he gets a chance.

- While all the humans try to escape, the big skull-crawler and Kong have their epic duel to the death. Getting tangled in chains from a shipwreck, the skull-crawler nearly wins but is interrupted by the humans firing at it with a gatling gun. It doesn't do any significant damage but manages to distract it long enough for Kong to extract himself from the chains.

- The chains having been attached to the propeller of the ship, Kong now actually has a weapon which he uses to take down the skull-crawler once and for all.

- The humans manage to be rescued minus the last few casualties, and an after credits scene hints at what comes next.

Kaiju Notes 

- Kong looks very cool and good, but there's only so much description that can go into "big monkee." Kong is a big ape. Like most primates, he's got very expressive eyes!

- Most of the creatures of the island are similar to Kong: giant version of regular ass animals. We see a giant spider, giant buffalo, and giant insects. There are, of course, regular sized animals as well.

- Skullcrawlers, however, are effectively horrific. Lizard-like but appearing as though they're wearing the skulls of their enemies, they have strangely limber, narrow bodies that they use to swarm and move unpredictably. They have freaky long tails and freaky long tongues and are just horrible.

- Kong is played with a deep sense of both compassion and rage. He's quick to violence and incredibly powerful, but when given the chance is very relaxed and even relatively friendly. Not once does he attack without provocation, clearly wanting to just be left alone. When Weaver falls into the sea during the final battle as a result of helping him out, Kong works to save her rather than just leave her to drown as collateral damage. Kong is as human as kaiju come, and a decent one at that.

Skull Island is a movie about entertainment, first and foremost. And on that front it very much succeeds, bringing us a version of Kong which never falls into some weird love story between a woman and a giant ape. But that's not to imply that it doesn't have other things on its mind, the most obvious of which being the folly of vengeance. Packard is this movie's Ahab, hunting Kong at the cost of everything else. While he does initially force his people to accompany him on his quest, he is ultimately left to face his beast alone and dies as a result. Fortunately for most of the characters, unlike Ahab Packard only gets himself killed in the end. But his thirst for revenge is the driving human motivation of the film, causing most of the problems that Kong is left to clean up.

Important to point out, as I mentioned above, Kong never once starts a fight. He finishes them brutally and quickly when he can, but there are zero incidents of Kong being the aggressor at any point. The closest one could get would be destroying the helicopters as they bomb the island, but as they point out in the dialogue, I think it'd be hard to argue that blowing up parts of someone's home are not an act of aggression. As soon as he's able, Kong always returns back to a life of relative peace and quiet: killing skull-crawlers when they appear but otherwise being a pretty chill ape who just likes looking out into the sea. This is relevant when it comes to Packard in particular, as his obsession begins largely as a consequence of his own actions.

Packard is not the only one, however, as Monarch bears a large amount of culpability in everything that happens including Packard's obsession. While no one would believe them if the officials admitted they were here to test their Hollow Earth theory and also find a giant monster, not telling the various people coming to Skull Island with them that this is a possibility is an absolute betrayal. It makes Monarch seem particularly wicked in this film, counter to how they seemed largely systemically, dispassionately goal-oriented in the previous film. While it's easy to understand why no one was told about Kong, the deaths of almost every person as they entered the island ultimately lies on the shoulders of Monarch. Packard's rage would really be more useful pointed in their direction, and near the end of the movie he does mention this but still seems fixated on Kong.

Kong is, for the most part, reactive in this film in a way that the various kaiju rarely are. Even in this MonsterVerse, for instance, Godzilla is actively territorial, attacks other kaiju, and feeds off of nuclear power. Kong, however, pretty much just chills out until someone comes for him. It's counter to pretty much every other kaiju we've seen to date, even the older versions of Kong. Even the most reactive prominent kaiju I can think of, Gamera, often spends time or effort hunting his enemies once he knows they exist, flying toward creatures even if they aren't actively being a danger to humankind. If it's not happening in Kong's immediate vicinity, he largely doesn't seem to notice or care. It's not a necessarily negative character trait, but it's certainly unique and makes Kong a little bit harder to get a read on.

In the end, Kong: Skull Island is a pretty enjoyable ride. It's a very solid start to the story of Kong in this relatively new MonsterVerse and manages to make him interesting but mysterious. While he lacks much agency, he's an effective example of a kaiju/Titan being a true force of nature: difficult to kill and dangerous to cross while seemingly oblivious to you if you're not bothering him. It's solid characterization and we stan this big monkee. And this movie!

Next: Rampage!

King Kong (1933)

It simply didn't feel right to make an entire blog (and year) devoted to giant monster movies without including a King Kong movie. And rather than slog through the 3 hour epic that is Peter Jackson's rendition, which I've seen before and didn't care about at all, I figured why not start with the first. Having never seen it before, it's completing yet another piece of the "movie history" puzzle while allowing me to indulge in the true spirit of 2022: Kaiju.

If You Haven't Seen it Before

- Director Carl Denham needs a leading lady for his new, mysterious film. Finding young Ann Darrow, he casts her and they head off to his shooting location on a boat across the world.

- Eventually revealed to be headed toward Skull Island, the home of the legend Kong, nobody truly understands what awaits them there.

- Upon arrival, the crew finds the natives of the island conducting a ritual to deliver one of the women as the bride of Kong. This is interrupted by the leader wishing to trade several of the island's women for the "golden" Ann.

- Upon being refused, the native people of Skull Island kidnap Ann from the ship and allow Kong to take her as his apparent bride.

- Hoping to recover Ann, the entire crew of the ship outside of Carl and her love interest Jack die while being attacked by the giant creatures of Skull Island.

- Beating several more creatures which want Ann for themselves, Kong protects Ann until Jack manages to finally abscond with her.

- Carl decides to capture Kong with a gas bomb, taking him to exhibit in New York City.

- You know this story. It goes very poorly.

Kaiju Notes

- King Kong is an interesting example of a kaiju looking both really good and really bad. He is, clearly, an effect of some kind. But it's actually a pretty good, expressive effect. Significantly better than Toho's King Kong, and 25 years before they used their suit in one of their own movies.

- The other beasts of Skull Island, including badass dinosaurs, giant arachnids, and angry lizard creatures, suffer from the same problem as Kong. They look pretty good in some shots while being terrible in others, but it's also 1933 so I'm not sure what one can expect. The deaths of several men while in the grasp of horrible creatures is good enough for me to confirm the effects work is not 21st century standard but hella good nonetheless.

- Kong absolutely destroys the jaw of a T-Rex when it attacks Ann. While a bit less mobile than suitmation, the fight is pretty brutal and effective, really showing off the pretty advanced effects at play here.

Kong is perhaps the most explicitly ferocious beast we've yet come across on this journey. Besides literally smashing the jaw of a dinosaur and other kills, Kong also specifically targets humans when they get in his way. After Ann escapes, he rampages through the Skull Island village while literally grabbing humans and eating them and/or tearing them in half alongside smashing their puny bodies. At one point he steps on someone in an attempt to kill them and when they keep moving he steps on them again but this time focused on their head. Kong is a real fucking monster. Even Godzilla, who has previously targeted unarmed humans on purpose, has never looked at any particular one and tried to kill them twice. His lack of ripping them in half may be due to his short arms, however.

The portrayal of the natives of Skull Island is horrendously racist, which isn't terribly surprising for a movies from the 1930's. But I was pleasantly surprised that the actors were not in brown and/or blackface to portray them. There is also an Asian man on the ship who is played by an Asian actor, which was immediately a big relief for me. This is obviously a tremendously low standard and we're not giving it bonus points for being slightly less racist than other films of its time, but it's at least worth acknowledging.

The ending, where Kong escapes, grabs Ann, and climbs to the top of the Empire State Building is surprisingly brief. They steal Kong from Skull Island at about the 80% mark of the movie, and it's a quick 15 minutes from landing in New York City to Kong falling from the skyscraper. This is primarily a good thing, despite being the most well-known part of the movie, because the time on Skull Island is the best part of the movie and it's not close. Not necessarily watching Kong rip apart the native people, though yes that too, but the encounters with dinosaurs and other pissed off giant animals is pretty rad. In a movie about giant monsters doing giant monster things, the movie spends a significant portion of its runtime focused on the giant monsters. Weird concept for some of the movies we've seen, but turns out it pays off.

One would think this movie is really about something, but that's part of the joy: it's really not. Commonly listed as a horror movie, King Kong holds up relatively well as both a horror movie and the effects required, despite being nearly a hundred years old at this point. It is a testament to the appeal of practical effects. Some of the fight sequences with the still motion effects took literal weeks to complete, but it looks infinitely better than "more advanced" effects from the late 90's or early 2000's because it's a real object interacting with other real objects. Even Kong's often goofy expressions are more appealing because of the undeniable substance of the model used.

The transition from here to Gojira seems a bit obvious to me. King Kong is not particularly large, comparatively, but the idea of a giant beast rampaging in (and out of) a city who is eventually brought down isn't a hard line to draw. While Toho added quite a bit more metaphor to their first kaiju film, it's important to note that Gojira was also one of the first tokusatsu movies as well as kaiju. Meaning "special effects," Gojira essentially created two entire genres after being inspired by King Kong. While the subject of a giant monster is clear, the focus on special effects is also a line which can be drawn directly from King Kong, but also unique because the Japanese method of bringing the effects to life was equally innovative and substantial. While the suits they use are not always stellar (looking at you, Toho King Kong), they also create a sense of actual weight that King Kong couldn't fully replicate: the swings and punches being models hitting models rather than people in suits smashing into other people in suits.

Essentially, King Kong is the grandparent of every movie this blog is about so it seemed only fitting to include it on the list. I can see the argument that it is not actually a Kaiju movie, but I'm unconvinced. More on that subject later. Regardless of whether it is or is not a kaiju flick, it's undeniable that the genre essentially started here, and I can see why: it's pretty damn good. I prefer the original Gojira, for my tastes, but King Kong is definitely a movie worth seeing for yourself if for no other reason than the historic place it holds in cinema history.

Next: Daimajin!