Stars: 3/5
Kong.
The Eighth Wonder of the World.
Fascinated by gorillas and apes as a child, Director Meriam C. Cooper envisioned a “giant terror gorilla picture” while working for RKO Pictures in the early 1930s. It was a mythological, nightmarish concept that laid the groundwork for one of cinema’s most iconic film monsters.
The end product was “King Kong,” starring Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong and Bruce Cabot which opened in New York City on March 2, 1933. Directed by Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, it’s a thematically rich film about beauty and the beast, the arrogance of man and environmental destruction of indigenous life by a wrathful Western civilization. The film was critically lauded and became a massive success for the studio, so much so that dozens of sequels, reboots and other reincarnations of the King of Skull Island were created.
Within the same year of the original film, a sequel titled “Son of Kong” was released. It opened to mediocre reviews which led to there not being another Kong film until the story was rebooted in 1976 and later again in 2005 by Peter Jackson. However, one of the most important Kong stories was depicted by Toho Studios from Japan when they licensed the character so that they could pit their company’s mighty monster, Godzilla, against his American equivalent in “King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962).”
Now, the time has come for a rematch.
Standing at 335 feet (as compared to the initial 50-foot version in the original film), Kong is set to duke it out with the 394-foot tall, atomic lizard thing in “Godzilla vs. Kong.” This prehistoric primate possesses semi-human intelligence and great physical strength. Additionally, he is crafty and is able to use tools, such as a tree or an axe, to his advantage. He’s the last surviving member of his species in the film, which deems him the deadliest anthropomorphic, bipedal threat in Warner Brothers’ monsterverse franchise to the atomic King of the Monsters, Godzilla.
So, how did the fight of the century turn out?
Well, “Godzilla vs. Kong,” or less commonly known as monkey versus lizard, was probably the dumbest boxing match movie I have ever seen; yet somehow, I quite enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong, this movie is completely stupid, but it is a lot of fun. For starters, the plot could’ve been glued together by a reddit bot. It features the most bargain bin level screenplay in the world, but I feel like the movie was just self-aware enough that it ensured to make room for some sweet neon-laden visuals and even cooler fights between two kings.
Everything about the titular monsters was awesome, but that’s it. I could not care less about any of the human characters except maybe the indigenous Skull Islander girl that Kong had a connection with. The Jules Verne-esque human plot reminded me of the characters from Michael Bay’s “Transformers” (2007) because one group is okay at best (Team Kong: Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall, Kaylee Hottle) and another is straight comedic relief (Team Godzilla: Millie Bobby Brown, Brian Tyree Henry, Julian Dennison). It’s a weird comparison, but I feel that it is quite accurate.
But yeah, this movie was exactly what it set out to be. It’s nothing particularly special, so analyzing it for some deeper meaning or a beautiful story will leave you with nothing but severe disappointment. Just stock up on some popcorn and your drink of choice and enjoy the show.
#TeamGodzilla #TeamMonkey