King Kong vs Godzilla

Released 11th August 1962, King Kong vs Godzilla pits the Eighth Wonder of the World against the King of the Monsters when Godzilla reawakens in the Arctic. This film is devoid of any impactful themes, such as atomic power in 1954’s Godzilla or beauty and discovery in 1933’s King Kong, due to the film not taking itself seriously. Alternatively, it tackles monopolistic gain through the presence of Kong and his home island, Faro Island, through the lens of satire. Whilst it does mention the ideas and caution of reanimation, the film does it in such an overtly blatant yet narratively incoherent way, I refuse to address it as one.

Godzilla is no longer the intimidating, powerhouse that he was in 1954’s harrowing tale; rather a goofy rubber suit which fascinates the children for his time onscreen, just like Kong. Whereas I can at least say Godzilla’s costume looks good when regarding his goof levels, Kong somehow looks even more dated than his 1933 appearance with an abominable, cheap costume which epitomises his character in the film. This cheap factor is so strong, the film actually re-enacts the plot of the 1933 outing in a less serious, unbelievable manner. All of the action scenes these monsters have is also little more than flying fists or simple nudging thus making their battles underwhelming. I’d also like to take a moment to say that, even for the 1960s, the use of green screen, and blue screen, is comical and consequentially obvious; the only decent component of the effects department is the use of miniatures.

The already bizarre script is made all the more comical by the melodramatic actors refusing to remotely try and give any nuance to their dialogue; not to mention most of the characters could be cut and literally nothing changes. To the film’s credit, the soundtrack is memorable and quite good at times, if not a bit overplayed. Overall King Kong vs Godzilla is little more than a cash grab of the time which leaves a lot to be desired for their rematch in Godzilla VS Kong.