Okay everyone! My friend Kassie asked if she could write a guest blog for me about this movie as she had some opinions on it she wanted to share. So, here we go!
By:Kassie Lamro
I am team Kong. My husband is team Godzilla. We’ve watched all of the Godzilla and King Kong movies together, so it was a no brainer when the Godzilla vs King Kong came out. Of course, we went to see it! In fact, I bought us matching Godzilla vs Kong t-shirts, and we wore them to the movie. Before I go into my opinion of this latest monster flick, I want to tell you a little bit about my love for King Kong, but also for Godzilla. Despite being team Kong, I have respect for Godzilla and him being a protector of our planet.
Godzilla’s story and motivation for being a protector is quite different from King Kong’s. From what I understand, he has a very holistic view. He cares about the planet. He doesn’t much care who lives on it as long as the planet stays protected. He’ll fight other monsters, sure, but only in the name of Earth. He’s a sort of anti-hero, if you will, which is one of the reasons my husband really likes him.
King Kong has a very different reason for being a protector. King Kong is from Skull Island, a Jurassic Park of sorts in the middle of nowhere. The natives there worshiped Kong, and, as we learn a little more clearly in the Peter Jackson film (2005), Kong has had a number of women offered to him as a thank you for keeping the dangerous creatures of Skull Island at bay. It seems that Kong wants love, (after all, his entire family was killed; we learn about this in Skull Island, 2017), but because love is hard and not everyone “gets you” when you’re a 15-25 foot gorilla, the women given to him are (can we say?) accidentally killed.
It isn’t until Ann Darrow comes to the island that Kong finds his true love. I like to think that he chose her not only because of her feisty nature, but also because of her love of the arts. It’s in Peter Jackson’s film where she connects with him through humor and stands up to him when he takes a joke too far. Kong’s love story is somewhat lessened in the 2017 Skull Island film, much to my chagrin, but it isn’t entirely absent. There is a touching moment between him and the lead female (played by Brie Larson) and (like mentioned), we learn about his family, which he lost in (most likely) a traumatic way.
Kong’s motivation for saving the world, then, is more individualistic. He wants to save it for the one that he loves and/or admires, which is why I am drawn to Kong as an anti-hero. Now that you have a good foundation of my opinions of the two contestants, let’s dive into this spoiler-filled review!
Story Gap
Skull Island (2017) flipped the original classic on its head, literally. If you watch carefully and know what clues to look for, you’ll learn that (according to the 70’s-driven tale) Kong was an ordinary gorilla, probably from the jungles of the Congo. He didn’t originate from Skull Island like in the other films. He was brought there as an experiment. It’s speculated that the storyline changed in order to make Kong taller, which, if you watch Skull Island, is the most defining characteristic of King Kong. He’s big. Really big. Over a 100-feett-tall big! (In Godzilla vs Kong, he’s 300-plus-feet!!)
In Godzilla vs Kong, we find King Kong in a sort-of Hunger Games sized stadium. It looks like Skull Island and feels like Skull Island, but it isn’t. You’d think they’d explain how Kong got to be in this giant aquarium or why there’s only one native left, the deaf girl, who attempts to be Kong’s love interest. They don’t explain anything! How did they build a Skull Island in (where are they again?) New York City, and why? How did they get Kong there, and why? What happened to the original Skull island? There is a giant story gap here, bigger than King Kong himself!
Deaf girl
Okay, okay. I love the idea that King Kong learned sign language. Who wouldn’t want to know what our beloved anti-hero is thinking? But the whole love story (although interesting that it’s a little girl this time!) felt forced to me. A lot of this probably has to do with the lack of backstory mentioned earlier. I admit that I might need to see the movie again and try to pick up on subtle clues, but I’m still unsure about how (apparently) King Kong saved the little girl and why. Even if we can get that through subtle clues, why is this deaf girl allowed in the Hunger Games sized stadium and no one else?
Most importantly, why does Kong love this girl? Because she’s the last native of Skull Island? He killed all the other native girls that were given to him in the original films. Why would he like this one? Is she more than just a deaf girl? What’s her personality? What is it that Kong admires in her, and why? Why does he tolerate the girl’s mother so well and doesn’t get jealous of the mom, like he was of Ann Darrow’s boyfriend? Seems to me that Kong isn’t himself. Hmmm…
The journey to the center of the earth
Going to the center of the earth didn’t make any sense to me. Okay, sure! We need the bad guys to get the glowy super power that fuels (*big spoiler here!*) mechagodzilla, but does Kong really need a magic stick to fight Godzilla? I don’t think so! They made it seem like Kong needed the glowstick to have a chance against Godzilla, which is totally unfair. He’s lived on Skull Island his whole life, fought dinosaurs and skull crawlers alike and always came out on top. He can take Godzilla any day! Glow stick or no glow stick.
Putting my bias for King Kong to the side, if I were to imagine the center of the earth, I don’t think it would be a paradise with luscious green trees. Isn’t there a core inside our earth, filled with (I don’t know) molten metal, nearly as hot as the surface of the sun?! How could anything grow down there? For me, the entire journey to the center of the earth was unnecessary— although, it was very satisfying when Kong crushed the woman in charge of the exposition, not only because she was one of the bad guys, but also because she kept calling Kong a “stupid monkey.”
Show the monster
My husband’s biggest complaint for the Godzilla (2014) film was that every time we were about to see Godzilla, there would be a building in the way, or he would dive into the water and we’d get a glimpse of his tail. My husband and I were, then, both happy that in Godzilla vs Kong, we got to “see the monsters.” There was no skipping out on seeing Godzilla or Kong in action. No hiding behind buildings or ducking into water or hinting at their heights. If the film got one thing right, it’s that the makers knew to give us the fight scenes— lots of them!—and they were really awesome! This leads me to my next point.
Fight on the ocean
The most intense fight scene for me was the one on the ocean. Here we have Kong on a ginormous ship. (He’s 300-plus-feet tall now, remember?) He’s chained, yet (somehow) willing to go out onto the water in order to get to where they’ve dug to the center of the earth. (Don’t worry. The deaf girl convinced him it was okay! *rolls eyes* Okay! Maybe they sedated him, but that doesn’t seem right either.) Here comes Godzilla, swimming at him like a shark! He has felt the presence of another alpha and because there can only be one true alpha, he’s coming for King Kong.
Gorillas can’t swim. I’m, also, not a good swimmer, so my heart was pounding, and I had to keep reminding myself to breathe! Kong got in some good punches, but he didn’t have a chance in the water, I’ll give Godzilla that. Kong had to be rescued by people, and, oh, what a humiliation that must have been!
I’m a believer in letting heroes fall before they make an important stand. The fight on the ocean (for me) should have been like Buffy’s first fight against the ubervamp in season seven (in Buffy the Vampire Slayer). It wasn’t pretty. It knocked our hero to the ground, but not for long. Heroes (even anti-heroes) always get back up.
I say that this moment should have been that fall before the triumph because, here’s the thing: people stepped in way too often for Kong. Just because they saved Kong from the ocean doesn’t mean they have the right to give him pointers or tell him how or who to fight. Kong is a King, remember? He knows how to fight. He knows how to win. He’s not on the ocean anymore. He has the advantage of swinging between buildings and throwing powerful punches.
Kong is “crowned” the winner in the second fight, but the victory didn’t feel like Kong’s to me. There were too many people helping out. I wanted them to back off, and I don’t think Godzilla should have won the third fight. Kong should have been able to wrestle him to the ground, shiny-fins or not. Again, I think if people could have let Kong fight on his own, he would have done a lot better.
Closing Thoughts
I guess I could talk about this movie forever! Before I wrap up, I will say that the human trio tracking Godzilla were fantastic! Their purpose in the film, really, was to expose the makers of mechagodzilla and prove that Godzilla wasn’t attacking cities at random, that he was protecting the planet, but the trio did more than that for me. They made me laugh— really hard! They had awesome one-liners and added much needed humor in an otherwise too-serious film.
All and all, Godzilla vs Kong is worth seeing. Using Kathy’s running metaphor/scale, I’d say it’s worth a fast-walk, but remember who King Kong is and why he does what he does. If he’s supposed to be in love with the deaf girl, that’s fine! But we need to know why her, and we need to see a hint of Kong’s jealous tendencies because that’s what drove him to the top of the Empire State building in the first place. If there’s a reasonable reason for Skull Island being a Hunger Games stadium, I’ll take it, but it better be a good one!
Kassie Lamro has a Bachelor’s in English teaching, Master’s in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MTESOL), and a Creative Writing Certificate. You can learn more about her at https://kassielamro.weebly.com where she blogs about her teaching, drumming, and writing.
Kathy runs to the movies 