King Kong Escapes

King Kong Escapes was one of the first giant monster movies to infect my young mind. It and Destroy All Monsters were shown during Channel 38's (or was it 9, or 11?) "monster week." Those two films are probably responsible for my fascination with giant monster movies and kaiju in particular.

To my pre-adolescent self, there was nothing more fascinating than the giant mechanical monster known as MechaniKong. He looked like the famed giant ape, but was metal head to toe. In the movie, both he and King Kong fight a T-Rex -- at least I thought it was a T-Rex, it turned out to be a Gorosaurus, a creation of Toho. There was a lot to love in this film.

Now, it's been released in a two-pack with King Kong Vs. Godzilla. I can still see what affected me as a youth, but the movie really pales in comparison to the rest of the Toho canon, and certainly with other Kong movies.

The film was actually a sequel to a 1960s Rankin-Bass cartoon, which has recently been released on DVD. I've never seen that series, so I can't comment on how the two compare.


The good: The movie is filled with neat ideas. There's a sleek submarine that the heroes patrol the waters with. There's MechaniKong, of course. The mechanical monster would later be the inspiration for MechaGodzilla. There's a crazed evil leader, that "international Judas" Doctor Who, and a conflicted agent of a unnamed Asian country. There's a mysterious Element X that could power the world, or lead to its destruction. There's electronic mind control devices. There's an Arctic command center.

And despite all these things, the movie is just not very good. Nothing in the movie is left for the viewer to figure out when a lump of exposition can be used instead. The building of MechaniKong makes no sense. It's built to dig up Element X. But it is immediately shorted out by that element. Shouldn't that have been tested before you spent millions on building a mechanical monster? Seems like a waste of resources. And for that matter, is building a giant mechanical ape any way to run an excavation site?

Logic aside, the movie just seems listless. Things happen and there's the occasional giant monster battle, but they all seem rather boring. The effects have their moments, but are generally poor. This movie came out between Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster (initially intended to be a King Kong film) and Son of Godzilla, films that are generally considered to be the start of G's downward trend. If you look at the effects, particularly the tropical island settings, those two films are much better than some of what's seen here.

Still, the absurdity of the film is fun and I still love MechaniKong. If only Toho could bring it back. King Kong Escapes is really only for giant monster movie completists.

Image found at KensForce.



Technorati Tags: King Kong, daikaiju, kaiju

King Kong atop the world

I saw "King Kong" over the weekend. I loved it. The movie took the original King Kong and used it as an outline for this movie. Everything that was in the 1933 movie has been expanded on and enriched. This made for a long movie, over three hours, but it never felt like one.
There were a few holes in the movie. Jack Black's acting is just a touch too much. Black is a ham and he is trying to rein it in here, but only partially succeeds. I don't think he could make a subtle motion to save his life. Fortunately for him, his character is over the top anyway. The film really gives a new look at Carl Denham: ambitious, self-obsessed, adventurous and probably crazy. I liked the rebuilding of the character, it made for a deeper, more interesting guy (and probably one truer to the era.)
The scene with the insects and lampreys and all was pretty exciting, but why does the calvary turn up? As far as I could tell, the writers had just put themselves in a corner and had to find a way out, despite logic. I think that Jackson just wanted to do that scene so much, he let it override his sense of story.
And the last line, the same one from the original film, was just wrong here. It wasn't as cringe inducing as I'd been led to believe, but it certainly didn't fit. In fact, in this version of the movie, Denham should have been packing his bags as the ape was rampaging.
And the movie's length: Yes, it moved right along and didn't feel like three hours, but there was still a hell of a lot of stuff that could have been deleted to make a shorter running time. Even if you love every minute of the film, it's hard to find time in the day to see a three-hour movie.
Despite all those quibbles, it was a great movie. I had a good time and would love to see it again. Naomi Watts was terrific, as she has been in everything I've seen her in. Kong was a marvel to behold. Everything on Skull Island was scary. Atop the Empire State Building, you could really feel a sense of vertigo. I don't think any movie has ever given me such a great sense of height.
This version of King Kong was a worthy remake of the original and adds itself to a list of the finest giant monster movies ever made.

Technorati Tags: kingkong, giantmonsters, movies, review

Bloggers on King Kong

Stephen Bissette is doing a fascinating critique of the new King Kong. He's got three parts so far, Part the First, Part the Second and Part the Third. A fourth part is promised.
Bissette writes about the special effects, the performances, the history behind the movies and the way the new movie improvises from and improves on the original. It's great writing writing, check it out.
While your at it, check out Tim Lucas's thoughts on Kong at Video Watchblog. Lucas can always be counted on for interesting movie commentary.
By the way, the movie has an 83% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. It really is about time I got to the theater to see this film.

A few Kong links

I'm sorry, I've been lax in my coverage of King Kong news. You can find a ton of it out there, however, so I hope I haven't left you too stranded. The trailer for Peter Jackson's film looks terrific.
I should point out that the original movie is out in two beautiful editions. I'll be picking up the second one, which includes Mighty Joe Young and Son of Kong with it.
Thanks to a blog I read, I did pick up some Kong news you probably haven't heard elsewhere. Violet Crown Radio Players are putting on their own radio adaptation of the original movie. Check out their Web site, join their mailing list. They seem to have some interesting stuff there. Besides their Kong adaptation, I'm also interested in their pulp-style hero show, the Blue Menace, among other series characters.
And if you're still hungry for Kong, here's a Kong related story at the soon to be late, lamented SciFiction.

Toho/Universal King Kong news

Apparently Universal will be releasing King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes on DVD, according to Monster Zero. Here's more info on KKvsG and KKE.
With all this great stuff coming out, my budget is going to be stretched into the holiday season. Both DVDs are being released on Nov. 29.
(Unfortunately, I'm sure we're not getting the Japanese version of KKvsG, which is infinitely better. C'est la vie.)

Kong documentary, DVD details

Peter Jackson is making a two-hour documentary about the original King Kong for the DVD release of that movie. Apparently, the original King Kong will be released in November in three different packages:
1. The two-disc special edition.
2. A two-disc collector's edition that will be packaged in "a collectable tin and including a 20-page reproduction of the original souvenir program, postcard reproductions of the original one sheets, and a mail-in offer for a reproduction of a vintage 27-by-41-inch movie poster."
3. The above special edition will also be sold packaged with "Son of Kong" and "Mighty Joe Young."
Also of note, Ray Harryhausen will be doing a commentary on the "King Kong" (1933) disc.
Apparently, a two-disc special edition">Korean disc is for sale right now with just the original movie.

King Kong toys

In other King Kong news, Playmates Toys will be in charge of making toys for the new King Kong movie. Playmates currently make the Simpsons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys. It'll be interesting to see what they do with Kong.
On message boards at Club Tokyo there seems to be some doubt about how well this company can pull it off. But we'll have to wait and see.
In the meantime, I'm glad I have my McFarlane version of Kong looming over my computer.

King Kong site corrects unfortunate misinformation

So there is this pretty neat King Kong Web site called Kong is King. It looks like it will be good for news, but an entry on their The History of King Kong section has me doubting their credibility:

"King Kong VS. Godzilla" - 1962

Another addition in the "Godzilla" series, the Japanese certainly have their own unique, and fun, take on the great ape. In the Japanese version, Kong lost, but in the American version, he won.

I can't describe to you how much I cringed when I saw this. For those of you who don't know, there has never been, never was and never will be two endings to "Godzilla vs. King Kong." There is one ending in which Godzilla and King Kong topple into the sea and we see King Kong arise from the ocean and head back to his home island. That's it. I own both versions of the film so I can confirm what any good Godzilla fan knows, there's just one ending.
The worst thing is this bit of misinformation keeps reappearing over and over at official sites. It's awful.
Also, I didn't like their description of "Son of Kong":

After the wonderful reaction to the first film, a sequel was produced. Carl Denham returned, this time meeting a little Kong. The film was considered mediocre at best. (An interesting note: Both of these early films feature a character known as a "Witch king." Sound familiar?)

Of course, "Son" was not as good as "King Kong" (few movies are) but it was far from "mediocre at best." It think it's a highly underrated film.
As for that bit about the witch king, a reference to the Lord of the Rings, what relevance does that have? Lord of the Rings was written after King Kong (and no, I don't think it influenced the books) and the characters are totally different. Whatever.
Anyway, I hope the Kong news site cleans up a bit. I would like it to be a good place to go for information, it isn't currently, though.

UPDATE: Kong is King has corrected the entry on King Kong vs. Godzilla, which makes me very happy. Hopefully everything else is fact checked. In the meantime, it's a great site to watch for the new King Kong movie news. Check it out.

Fay Wray dies

Fay Wray has died. Most of you know that by now. (I was away on vacation last week.) Wray was the beauty who killed the savage beast in King Kong. To look at that movie today, you can still see how beautiful she was. Her part was thin, she played a pretty girl living on the streets who risks a crazy adventure to put food on the table. In the process, she becomes the love interest of the Eighth Wonder of the World. She was 95 when she died. She had done many films over her career (which that article I linked to mentions) but she will always be remembered as the beautiful, unrequited love of King Kong.
Goodbye Fay Wray, as long as their are movies, you will never be forgotten.

British opera singer to be in 'King Kong'

British opera singer Lobo Chan is the latest actor to be signed up for "King Kong". The other announced cast so far is: Adrien Brody, Naomi Watts and Jack Black. People were upset about the announcement of Black to play Carl Denham, but I'm inclined to trust him. Denham is an over the top salesman with dreams that may exceed his reach. I could see Black pulling that off.