I watched, and reviewed, King Kong vs. Godzilla many years ago, a very basic couple of paragraphs that summed up my thoughts without me knowing quite as much as I do today about the enduring cinematic legacy of the Godzilla movies. So if you get a sense of déjà vu while reading this review, there’s a reason for that.
Let's get the simple plot out of the way: Godzilla wakes up and starts heading towards Tokyo, where everyone knows he will just start tearing the place apart, so Japan decides to "borrow" King Kong when he is discovered living on a small island just off the coast of . . . ummm . . somewhere not TOO far away from Japan (the exact location escapes me even though they show it on a map quite a few times during the movie). King Kong is set upon by the mighty lizard, and it's a smackdown to see who will be left standing.
Director Ishirô Honda returns to helm this new instalment, although you wouldn’t think this was the same person who gave us the darker and brilliant first film. This isn’t as concerned with the potential lives lost, nor does it take much time to explore the ramifications of the destruction wrought while two giant monsters fight one another, but it tries to give decent moments to each of the fighting beasties. And if you need to see King Kong picking up a tree and ramming it into Godzilla’s mouth then this if the film for you.
The cast all do what they need to do, there’s a young woman in danger while a couple of men fret and plan to keep her safe (that’s all they need to do), and the plotting makes use of them to position the titular characters ready to fight one another.
If you're a fan of this type of stuff (and I never even realised that I was until I found myself enjoying this so much) then this is just more happy viewing for you. The charmingly unrealistic miniatures, the rubber-suit monsters, the mix of poor trick photography and re-re-recycled footage. Many moments in the film provide laughs (some intentional and some unintentional) and there's never a dull moment, but it's like the cinematic equivalent of a Marmite sandwich; cheap and not very filling, but you either love or hate it.
7/10
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Like with comic books, "Vs" movies can often end up unsatisfying for a lot of the audience who think one side or the other should win. That's more evident now on social media where someone might watch this and say, "Godzilla should have done..." or "Kong should have done..." and the debate goes on and on.
ReplyDeleteAnd like comic books they always rig it whichever way they want the story to go. On Roku Channel there was a short documentary on the first crossover between Superman and Spider-Man and the intense negotiations between Marvel and DC so neither side would look bad. I'm sure there was something like that in play here too for how to stage it so neither monster would take out the other too quickly.
Anyway, for some reason Kong always seems to be the "good" monster in these fights. Even in the new Godzilla v Kong v Justice League comics, Kong intervenes on the side of humanity. Maybe it's supposed to be because he's a giant gorilla and thus related to humanity.
It's always the way. As was the same with the much-anticipated Freddy Vs. Jason :)
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