#king kong vs. godzilla movie review

[liquidsludge]

Just watched this gem of a movies

What did yall think?

[cloudsoffire]

big godzilla fan but i will never in my life interact with the fandom based on what i've seen on here

[bloodsplatteredcinema]

Greetings, fellow Gorehounds!

In honor of the recently released Godzilla Minus One and the upcoming Godzilla X Kong, The Horror Guru has decided to dive into the original 1962 Toho classic: King Kong vs. Godzilla!

This fast paced movie riff/movie review is filled with bad puns, silly skits and a lot of behind the scenes info on the making of the movie!

[digitalkaijustudios]

Gorilla Whale Episode 4 is out today!

Okay, but who amongst hasn't tried to smuggle some unpasteurized cheese and a giant sentient gorilla through customs?

On this week’s episode Kevin and Kayla take on King Kong vs Godzilla (1962). Original Godzilla director Ishiro Honda is back and he’s selling out to the masses! Or is he? The cash-grab crossover blockbuster may be older than we think, but that doesn’t mean Honda isn’t here with some points to make. It’s Art vs Business in this smackdown of the century—tune in to find out who is going home with the belt this time!

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1z0wjfCVffD7Y2OteSUUuA?si=086b81134ed647c2

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/AHfKmSzcTfA

KO-FI: https://ko-fi.com/digitalkaijustudios

In celebration of King Kong’s first appearance in the Godzilla franchise, we have a bonus episode for our Ko-Fi supporters where we discuss King Kong (1933). Check out the Ko-Fi for that and more monster movie discussions!

This is a clip from episode 4 of Gorilla Whale: A Godzilla Watch-Along, Podcast by Digital Kaiju Studios. This podcast is hosted and produced by Kevin Carpenter and Kayla Knutson. Art by Ashlee Hart.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

I might’ve been a little starved for blockbusters the first time I saw Godzilla vs. Kong and rated it. In my defense, it was during the pandemic and the other movies I was able to see during lockdown were mostly disappointments. Reviewing the film again, I recognize that the human’s plot is undercooked while everything with the monsters is spectacular. Well, at least the movie knows where its priorities stand and considering what its audience wants to see…

When Godzilla suddenly attacks Apex Cybernetics’ Pensacola facility, conspiracy theorist Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry) becomes convinced they somehow provoked the titan. Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) - an avid fan of his podcast - shares his suspicions. They rope her friend Josh (Julian Dennison) into investigating and confirm their fears aren't entirely unfounded. After the attack, Apex insists mankind needs to develop a weapon against Godzilla and asks Monarch to give them access to Kong. They believe the titan ape can lead them inside the vast caverns below our world to a power source formidable enough to take down the king of the monsters.

Though Godzilla’s name appears first in the title, this film is about Kong much more than the radioactive dinosaur. It’s a good choice, as the ape is resourceful, an underdog in this fight and intelligent enough to communicate with Monarch via sign language. Godzilla might’ve protected the Earth/humanity in the previous movies, but was it really a heroic character, or was the nuclear reptile just killing its rivals? Kong, on the other hand, has actual human friends. Even though the Iwis we met during Kong: Skull Island have been wiped out (seems like a missed opportunity), Kong still has a link to them in the form of Jia (Kaylee Hottle), a deaf-mute Iwi survivor adopted by Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall). Nonetheless, his situation gives him a very relatable quest: he wants to know if there is a new family for him out there.

One-half of the human's story fares fairly well. With the help of Apex Cybernetics, Dr. Ilene Andrews, along with Jia and hollow-earth scientist Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård) follow Kong into this hidden world beneath our feet that houses all sorts of monsters and an ancient rivalry between Kong and Godzilla (seems wacky, but it does lead to some fun developments). These characters are following Kong on his journey so when the 8th wonder of the world is put in danger, they are too. The other humans, however, feel like they only appear to deliver exposition or to give us some familiar faces. You could easily re-jig this story to remove them.

But of course, you didn't come to this film for the human element. Yes, kaiju films are better when the "tiny" protagonists are compelling, but if there's one aspect of this movie director Adam Wingard had to get right, it was the Godzilla and Kong stuff. I'm happy to say you won't be disappointed. The Titan battles are varied, clearly shot, tense and action-packed. You get three rounds between Kong and Godzilla, with a clear winner at the end that will leave fans of either camp satisfied. I know a lot of purists will say a Godzilla film isn't the same without rubber suits, but this picture does so much with modern special effects. Varied locations, varied angles, moves no human could do, etc. That last brawl in the neon-lit Hong Kong will make you say "wow!".

There have been a lot of Godzilla films since the character appeared. Some have been dramatic, others comedic or somewhere in the middle with an emphasis on dumb fun. None have featured action scenes as good as the ones in Godzilla vs. Kong. Even if you only have a passing interest in the characters, the highlights are strong, strong enough to make you forgive the parts that could've been strengthened. It's not even a guilty pleasure; it's gargantuan fun. (On Blu-ray, March 27, 2024)

[artblooger19moon]

GODZILLA vs KING KONG Review

On April 4 2021, I saw Godzilla vs King Kong at 10:00 Pm . The movie was awesome, amazing and breathtaking. The Kaiju and human characters where amazing. So many throwbacks to the first Godzilla vs Kong film of 1962. All the original Kaiju were amazing as well. There is no end credit scene for this movie.

Every Godzilla and King Kong Fan is going to enjoy the movie a lot.

I rate this movie 100/100 !!!

[movieanimex]

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire review | A massive showdown between titans | Checkout full movie review on MovieAnimeX:-

[tjsimplemind]

Return of king Kong vs Godzilla

[filmseries]

Godzilla vs. Kong - Short Movie Recap | #shorts

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (November 26-December 2, 2023)

I wasn't over the moon when Toho announced that Takashi Yamazaki's Blockbuster Monster Movie was in fact the next Godzilla film. I had seen a few of his works—none bad, but none spectacular either. Well, I've set my sights on watching the rest in the new year, because Godzilla Minus One is an unqualified masterpiece. A tagline from the original Godzilla, King of the Monsters! comes to mind (as it often does when you're me): "Mightiest melodrama of them all!" A lot of the post-Showa films suffer from an abundance of characters who just spout exposition and look at monitors; here, almost everyone in the small cast gets at least one close encounter with Godzilla, and the monster's backstory is conveyed with extreme efficiency. This tale of a war veteran trying to rebuild his life in the ruins of Tokyo, stumbling into a family, finding fulfillment in blowing up leftover mines, and haunted by what he perceives as his cowardice in combat, would have been plenty compelling without Godzilla.

Since it does have Godzilla, it's high on my list of the best movies of the year, and I only need one viewing to call it one of the best installments in the almost-70-year-old series. Yamazaki patiently waited some 15 years after Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 for his shot at a Godzilla feature. You certainly get the sense, watching one of the most brutal, pissed-off incarnations of the monster ever to grace the screen, that he spent every day of it in preparation. Watch it often while it's still in theaters, and watch it big.

Godzilla Minus One will gross about $10 million in its U.S. opening "weekend", a third-place finish that beat expectations. For context, Godzilla 2000, the last Toho Godzilla film to receive a wide release here, made about $10 million during its entire theatrical run here. Ticket prices were cheaper then, of course, and Minus One was helped along further by almost half of attendees going to premium-format screenings. Conversely, it had to overcome Americans' subtitle phobia, and the first weekend of December is usually a slow one. I was pessimistic at the outset, but now I expect larger theaters to carry the film into the new year, especially with near-universal raves from critics and audiences.

Yes, a third section for Godzilla Minus One; it's well-deserved, I promise. MyKaiju is risking life and limb by hosting an English translation of the film's novelization, written by Takashi Yamazaki himself. It appears to be at least partially machine-translated, but the Japanese text is included for comparison. Haven't read it yet, as I want to see the film a second time first, but quite a breakthrough given how mysterious this sort of thing usually is.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters could never hope to compare with the opening of a stellar new Godzilla film; unfortunately, I also thought this week's episode was the weakest so far. It's bookended by Frost-Vark action, but the rest just drags. All's forgiven if the teacher and the hacker smooch though.

Toho and Legendary used to let each other's live-action Godzilla movies breathe; now the U.S. opening weekend of one is coinciding with the opening marketing push of the other. IGN released a trio of pics from Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, showing Kong with his axe; Dr. Andrews, Jia, and Trapper (Dan Stevens's character) in uniform; and Godzilla "evolving into a powerful new form." The same article included an interview with director Adam Wingard. Naturally, he didn't give away much... besides the return of Doug.

Earlier in the week, Legendary put out a trio of posters featuring Godzilla, Kong, and the film's antagonist, now christened Skar King. The taglines ("Unite" for our heroes, "Bow to Your King" for SK) sound like kaiju campaign slogans. Makes me wonder if, like Godzilla vs. Megalon before it, the movie will improbably capitalize on the presidential election next year. To steal a joke from Titanollante: Godzilla/Kong unity ticket? They'd have my vote.

Godzilla's new form, meanwhile, has already been spoiled by a T-shirt on Legendary's own site and some dire-looking Playmates figures. It makes sense that Wingard would want to have his own spin on the character after keeping the design from Godzilla: King of the Monsters for Godzilla vs. Kong. Hard to cast judgment without seeing the real design in full, but there's one particular detail I really like.

The film also has a booth at CCXP in Brazil, with a panel later today, so I think a trailer is incoming (the main reason I hammered out this whole post so quickly).

I missed this one last week: Tsuburaya announced an anime project called Ultraman: DARKNESS HEELS. The DARKNESS HEELS branding has been around for a while, spotlighting prominent evil Ultras—and, of course, Jugglus Juggler. No details on the anime yet, but if the Juggleman's there, so am I.

The big toy reveal this weekend was Super7's ULTIMATES! MaiGoji figure. Previous Godzilla figures from this line haven't lived up to the official photos, but hope springs eternal. It's $85 (much less than the MonsterArts); preorders started Friday. Other highlights: a Super7 ReAction figure of the original Godzilla's skeleton, which comes with a little Oxygen Destroyer, and a plush Mothra from Surreal Entertainment that can flip to imago form to a neck pillow-shaped larva.

[avillanappears]

godzilla x kong: the new empire

"For most of human civilization, we believed that life could only exist on the surface of our planet. What else were we wrong about?"

okay, I kind of fell off doing this, but we’re back! the best ever tumblr review series that’s written by avillanappears.tumblr.com! I came in not expecting much, but it turns out I really, really liked it, actually! I’m more pleasantly surprised than anyone, godzilla vs kong rubbed me very much the wrong way. godzilla and kong beating the ever-loving tar out of each other was fun, sure, but I have WORDS for the human stuff. I could fill a whole post with those, probably, but we’re not talking about that! we’re thinking good thoughts, about the one I liked!

it’s definitely a fun adventure film. hollow earth was a much more fleshed out setting this time, I loved the varieties of locales and creatures. giant, flying flamingo fish that shoot electricity? kong crossing a rickety bridge made out of the spine of a monster so massive, that it’s kaiju sized compared to him? this is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to see! it was fascinating seeing kaiju sort of “on their level”, in a whole giant sized ecosystem made for them. we got some of that in the atomic time of monsters by @tyrantisterror, and I think it’s such fertile ground to explore. godzilla’s flirted with the idea before in both its netflix animes, but this is them really committing to it. it makes my worldbuilding and specbio freak heart happy. we even got to see more hellhawks! I love those guys.

lookit that face

okay this is going pretty long, but anyhoo, I liked the character stuff too. kong was as lovable as always, you really feel for the big lug. even though he’s a living god the size of a mountain, there’s a real vulnerability to him. he’s just a sad, lonely guy who wants purpose and belonging.

he and suko had some kind of fast, but still very nice bonding. the human side was fun too, they fixed a lot about what I didn’t like from the last movie. jia had more of an arc going instead of just being “the one kong talks to”, bernie was a lot more enjoyable since they cut out the weird conspiracy theorist stuff, trapper was a fun guy. it was nice just seeing someone who loves monsters and weird nature stuff.

skar king surprised me with how personal of a threat he is, they really let him feel like a horrid, nasty piece of work. he’s more than just a big evil overlord, he’s a bullying control freak who wants everything his way, and it makes his wretchedness more tangible in a way.

shimo didn’t get all that much, but I love shimo. I love her, and I can barely even tell why, there’s just some kind of Vibe to her I resonate with. I think it’s how mythical she feels. the oldest of a line of gods, a great being of ice, controlled by a wicked devil….in fact it all felt very mythic. I appreciate that, I love it when kaiju works play out like weird mythological epics.

probably the most tangible complaint I can think of right now is that the godzilla stuff was pretty underwritten. it honestly felt like he was just….doing video game sidequests or something. like, it didn’t have Impact up until the very end when he finally meets kong and SPOILERS SPOILERS. and it feels a shame to kill scylla and tiamat off this early, I liked those two as unpredictable wildcards. with rodan and the others still mia, and two titans unceremoniously dead, it’s starting to feel like the monsterverse is sorta….flattening itself? now that kongs arc is done, I think we need to get back to a godzilla solo or two, flesh things back out a bit. but that’s for future peter to talk about, today we’re leaving things off on a high note. fun characters, dynamic locales, some great monster brawling, this one was a good’un!

godzilla cast monkeys into hell for their sins

[wits-writing]

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Quick Review)

Director: Adam Wingard, Screenplay: Terry Rossio, Simon Barret, and Jeremy Slater

Resurrecting this inactive blog and copy pasting this from over on my Letterboxd because I need to spread the word about this movie as much as possible!

No Spoilers, fwiw:

Well...

This fucking owns!

Easily the best stuff from Godzilla vs Kong was Kong journey to discover more about himself and his connections to the Monsterverse's delightfully bonkers lore around The Hollow Earth. Positioning him as a member of an honorable line of warriors.

The New Empire effectively triples down on that by making Kong this movie's actual protagonist over any of the human characters (who are pretty fun to watch and play their support roles in this plot damn well.) The giant ape's story playing out as a quest for purpose within his new home in the Hollow Earth. One he discovers once he comes across other apes like him living under the tyrannical fist of the Skar King. Kong's challenge becomes figuring out how to get his rival Titan, Godzilla, on his side for the inevitable showdown with this new threat.

It's a highly fantastical tale, made better by the fact that this movie trusts the audience to follow along with it as plays out wordlessly. Only having the human characters directly commentate on it after the important actions have played out.

And all of this would be enough to leave me satisfied, but this movie actually has a fair amount of surprises up its sleeve that none of the marketing gave away.

So I'll just say, if you've been enjoying the Monsterverse up to this point, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is more than worth your time!

[goddamnwebcomics]

I hope Toho sues you, also way to miss the point of Godzilla. Godzilla is not some innocent victim who got turned radioactive by human error. Godzilla is an allegory for the nuclear bomb, his reaction should be more akin to "YOU FUCKED AROUND AND FOUND OUT MOTHERFUCKERS"

Mothra and Godzilla are ALLIES you stupid fuck! They have only fought in two movies, and I guess since this musical is an adaptation of multiple Godzilla movies from the Showa Era, does that mean Godzilla had a run in with King Kong in this musical??? What is the budget for this thing???

Okay, RODAN IS A FUCKING GUY. AND HE AND GODZILLA WERE NEVER LOVERS. MORE THAN ANYTHING IT WAS MOTHRA AND GODZILLA PEOPLE SHIP FOR SOME REASON.

Okay so after fighting Mothra and fucking Rodan, Godzilla just...stomps around in what I presume is the recreation of the first movie again? Also what is up with these stupid critics reviews? Critics didn't start praising Godzilla until Minus One hit the theaters!

Wow! We're jumping from straight from Showa Era to fucking Heisei Era with Godzilla vs. Destroyoah adaptation???

Well, this is an even bigger crime than making our protagonists into babyeaters, the amount of Godzilla lore that is completely wrong is just. Appalling.

[digitalkaijustudios]

For a film called King Kong vs Godzilla, the fight scenes were....were--well they were technically fight scenes!

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1z0wjfCVffD7Y2OteSUUuA?si=086b81134ed647c2

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/AHfKmSzcTfA

KO-FI: https://ko-fi.com/digitalkaijustudios

In celebration of King Kong’s first appearance in the Godzilla franchise, we have a bonus episode for our Ko-Fi supporters where we discuss King Kong (1933). Check out the Ko-Fi for that and more monster movie discussions!

This Friday, August 2nd we will be talking Mothra vs Godzilla (1964). This is not to be confused with Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992). You can legally find this for free on services like Tubi, Crackle, Amazon Freevee, and Pluto TV. Ko-Fi Titan subscribers can check out our Mothra (1961) bonus episode now!

This is a clip from episode 4 of Gorilla Whale: A Godzilla Watch-Along, Podcast by Digital Kaiju Studios. This podcast is hosted and produced by Kevin Carpenter and Kayla Knutson. Art by Ashlee Hart.

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Godzilla Minus One (Yamazaki, 2023)

We are so inundated with images of mass destruction tossed off so casually in our mass entertainments that it’s cathartic to see a movie give such images the physical and moral weight they deserve. This is a movie very aware that what it depicts is mass death and wants you to reckon with that. And on a pure technical level, this apparently cost a fraction of the average Hollywood blockbuster but looks substantially better than most in recent years, because it takes care to frame its effects through a clear sense of scale, and to render Godzilla’s movements so you can practically feel the ground shake. The opening attack scene, which takes cues from the T-Rex attack in Jurassic Park, is especially terrifying. This movie respects Godzilla and understands that he can be fearsome.

The conventional wisdom about these movies is that the monster scenes are the raison d’être but the human scenes are boring and must be suffered through. That’s probably true of the recent American movies (King of the Monsters has an especially wide gulf in quality between the two), but I actually like the fable-like directness of Mothra vs. Godzilla, the media satire of King Kong vs. Godzilla and the Cold War tensions of The Return of Godzilla, to name a few examples outside of the original. In any case, I think the human scenes here are a cut above in the way they parallel the hero’s story with the tensions around Japan’s postwar identity, overcoming the dehumanizing wartime experience under fascist rule to achieve something empowering and humanist. I’ve perhaps grown cynical from the last few years of humankind being totally unable to work together to solve problems that threaten us all, so I couldn’t help but be moved by this movie’s vision of ordinary, collaborative heroism. I feel no shame in saying that I found much of this movie deeply moving and shed more than a few tears during my viewing.

I’m on the record for finding Shin Godzilla a pretty wretched piece of work that fails entirely as both spectacle and social commentary, so it was nice to see a Godzilla movie do those things as well as this does. I will also say that I was pretty annoyed that during my screening I was sitting next to two dudes who spent the entire movie talking and laughing. Given that they weren’t actually that loud, I probably shouldn’t care too much, but that’s the big man up there on screen, show some goddamn respect.

[kraken17]

Godzillathon - The Showa Era

This month I started a Godzillathon, a series of reviews of all the King of the Monsters movies from Toho Studios. In my Letterboxd you have the reviews with more detail (in Spanish), but since I just finished with the Showa era, I thought I'd share some brief comments here.

Godzilla (1954) - ★★★★★ (10/10)

The original. An undisputed classic. A masterpiece. Terrifying, embracing its idea of the monster as a metaphor for the horror of the atomic bomb and its consequences. Top 5 of the whole kaiju eiga genre.

Godzilla Raids Again (1955) - ★★ (4/10)

In hardly less than a year we went from metaphorical horror to the most generic monster mash. It wouldn't be a problem if it weren't so bland/boring. Tremendous downgrade. Anguirus is cool, though.

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963) - ★★★ (6/10)

Basically a Kong movie with Godzilla as a guest antagonist (the real villain is capitalism). It has things that have aged very badly (the racial representation and use of blackface) and unbalanced pacing. It is saved by its last ten minutes. The US cut adds extra hilarity.

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) - ★★★★ (8/10)

Mothra is made of awesomeness. Godzilla is a charismatic asshole. Once again, the real villain is capitalism. The main metaphor gives way  now to a satire of the Japanese economic boom of the 1960s and its ecological impact. Fun from start to finish.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) - ★★★½ (7/10)

We lose the satire and social commentary, but we gain an iconic villain and embrace space opera and sci-fi without qualms. Fun monster mash and Godzilla's first step in his transition to an anti-hero status. He's still a jerk, but he's our jerk.

Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) - ★★★ (6/10)

The spectacle wins out over any subtext, which has all but disappeared. It introduces what will be a recurring element of alien invaders making use of giant monsters. Memorable for being overall a fun film and perhaps the craziest of what we've seen so far, but not much more. Also, Godzilla dances.

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) - ★★½ (5/10)

Originally a Kong movie rewritten for Godzilla and it shows. Tropical jungle island adventure. Villains that could come out of a Bond movie. Godzilla in full heroic mode. GIANT LOBSTER. Fun, but doesn't leave much of a lasting impression, although Ebirah has its fans.

Son of Godzilla (1967) - ★★ (4/10)

Not as horribly bad as I feared, but not a good movie. Horrible design decisions, unremarkable antagonists (except for the giant spider because it’s a giant spider), and abusive monster parenting. It tries to squeeze in a bit of environmental commentary, but it's dull and infantilizing.

Destroy All Monsters (1968) - ★★★ (6/10)

The Avengers of the franchise. I wanted to like this movie more than I did. Two very uneven first and second acts of a story with a recycled plot (aliens + monsters under mind control) saved by a resolution that is memorable as fuck. You almost feel sorry for Ghidorah. Almost.

All Monsters Attack (1969) - ★½ (3/10)

The absolute low point of the franchise. It's like a bad dream/recap episode. Tries to do some slice of life with the monsters as a metaphor for childhood anxieties in a plot that shoehorns gratuitous kidnappings into it. Good intention but disastrous execution.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) - ★★★★ (8/10)

A return to form! Hedorah is an excellent metaphor for uncontrolled pollution and contamination. A bit dissonant, with Godzilla as a kid friendly hero (he flies!) in a terrifying plot, with body horror, human casualties in large numbers and an apocalyptic feeling. And that poor kitty...

Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) - ★★★ (6/10)

Recycled plot of aliens (cockroaches!) using a giant monster. AGAIN. But it's fun and Gigan is memorable as one of Toho's most extravagant kaiju designs: anthropomorphic alien chicken with cool visor instead of eyes and knives. How many knives? All the knives.

Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) - ★★ (4/10)

What the fuck. Total drift to Saturday morning cartoon standards, but poorly done. It's basically a pilot episode for Jet Jaguar, which is endearingly crappy. The plot? The usual, but swap aliens for ancient underwater civilization. Godzilla looks almost too adorable. Note, it actually has a message: nuclear testing is bad.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) - ★★★½ (7/10)

Twentieth anniversary and introduction of an iconic villain! And the plot... Guess what the plot is? Take a fucking guess. The aliens are now gorillas, just because. At least it's well executed, it's good fun. Also, King Caesar. I like King Caesar, even though he feels like a discount version of Mothra at times. Surprisingly gory in the fights.

Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) - ★★★½ (7/10)

Direct sequel to the previous one. The end of the Showa era is a fun but a bit uneven film. Too much focus on a boring Titanosaurus (one of Toho's blandest kaiju designs). Good balance of monster fights and a human plot with touches of humanism and trans-humanism, and a tragic sacrificial ending.