Director: Ishiro Honda
Year: 1962
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: Kingu Kongu tai Gojira
Genre: Kaiju
Plot:
Hearing of a potential promotional pitch, a pharmaceutical company sends an expedition to a remote island in the Pacific to recover a supply of berries purported to have magical healing properties. When a team arrives there, they find the area home to the massive ape King Kong that feeds on the berries and can help the villagers defend the island when it goes looking for more. Taking it back to Japan, they find that Godzilla has broken free of his iceberg home to threaten the country and imagine the two monsters squaring off for their campaign, but Kong escapes to do battle with Godzilla before then and loses in a shocking battle. As Godzilla ravages the country with the military unable to stop him, the company races to get Kong ready for a repeat showdown with Godzilla to save the country.
Review:
Overall, this was a really likable and enjoyable effort with a lot to like about it. The main storyline here allows for a lot of fun to be had by crossing the traditional island home of Kong with the more traditional sci-fi elements of a Godzilla film. The discovery of the berries and their somatic properties as a pharmaceutical drug offer a fine means of getting the crew to the island and discovering Kong’s presence which fuels the fun of their adventures traversing the island, dealing with the natives, and getting to Kong as the treatment of him as an island God for the first half before his first appearance makes for a fine time here. The injections of comedy are in keeping with the tone established elsewhere in the film while also allowing just enough room for the serious treatment Godzilla’s appearance and escape from the iceberg is handled with everything pointing to the monsters getting onto a collision source in the middle of the country.
This allows the middle section to become a solid series of encounters where the military attempts to deal with Godzilla after defeating Kong. with the main plan being an attempted poisoning that comes at the bottom of a massive pit filled with explosives, the construction of the locale and the means of getting him into it with the flaming rivers guiding him to the trap are majestic and awesome inspiring to watch as there’s a method to the plan and a means of carrying out something that just might work. When it inevitably fails and Godzilla advances on Tokyo, the electrical towers around it are a deterrent for Godzilla but an attraction for Kong with his electrical discharge powers absorbing it and turning it into strength for him to recover, ravage the city, and find Godzilla later are all fine enough for what’s going on.
The other fun aspect here comes from the strong special effects work which has a lot to like. This is easily one of the better costumes in the series, giving Godzilla a bit more bulk in the body and legs while offering a more serpentine quality to the face with the way it’s redesigned. While the hands are a bit too big, it still looks great overall and allow him to dominate the film with his emergence from the iceberg to destroy an investigating submarine in the area, an attack on a NATO base, and the countryside rampage. The city destruction is left more for Kong with him running wild through Tokyo and only intermittently destroying objects or trains due to his size, but the sheer spectacle of the final battle between each other is among the best in the genre raging through the countryside, flipping the upper-hand constantly and logically with different tactics, features some bits of humor here and there, and ends on a high with the jaw-dropping visual of them fighting into the ocean after toppling the seaside castle.
Despite all this, there are some drawbacks to be had. Most of this centers around Kong’s costume which is one of the most abysmally-bad monster costumes in the series. The face is off-putting, the dimensions are all wrong, the fur looks completely wrong for what is supposedly an ape-like creature, and the upright posture from the actor completely destroys any illusion otherwise which makes him a disappointment at best and a laughing stock at worst. The addition of arm extensions in certain moments is an eye-sore with the stiff, unnaturally long arms from moment to moment is a real let-down, and is just way too much of a joke at times to be taken seriously. The other issue here is the human drama being such a letdown that it’s barely even worthwhile to have them involved in the storyline during the second half helping plans come together which is a bizarre feeling with them disappearing and you completely forget about them. Overall, these small issues hold it down.
Overview: ****/5
A generally solid and effective entry without much wrong, this one comes together with quite a lot to like and not too many flaws which helps to leave it in the upper echelon of the series. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of the other entries in the series or are general fans of this type of feature while most others out there might want to heed caution here.
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