Bill Couture

Godzilla vs. Kong ( two films)

Opens on a young tribesman, javelin in hand, bronzed skin.  He’s silently gathering large red berries in a dark, thickly enclosed jungle, looking wreaked with nerves.  Suddenly, an unearthly screeching cry shakes the ground, he knows what that is and whose hunting grounds he’s encroached upon.  The next instant he’s running for his life through a primordial jungle, thick with vegetation.  He escapes into a clearing, behind him explodes his pursuer, a 50 Ft long Tyranosaur. All seems lost when the enclosing screech is drowned out by a much larger roar from above which comes crashing down beside him.  The sun bleached 100 Ft figure towering above brings both fists down on the pursuing creature, and in a few swift motions, snaps the lower jaw clean off, easily removed from the rest of the Tyranosaur’s body between two enormous leathery hands.  It tosses the jaw aside, winds up, and throws the carcass back over the tree line far behind them.  

The tribesman, having leapt to the side by the explosion of beastly violence, gets up standing tall regaining his composure land looks up at the Kong.  The rage calms from the Kong’s face and the two figures eyes meet with a knowing glance, the tribesman has known this beast since his youth, they had fought and grown together as warriors, lords of the land.  Casually the two collect themselves.  The tribesman picks up his javelin, and vaults down a rocky slope, bounding huge gaps with a practiced expertise.  The Kong jumps from a cliffs edge near by heading in the same direction, bounding down in terrific leaps, amazing but routine maneuvers of incredible power and agility, down into the grasslands below towards their coastal city home.  

They emerge into a grand utopia.  Half made for man, half for Kong.  Steps, pyramids and temples made and accommodated for something far larger than human, mixed into the more familiar architecture of man.  Looking up and down the coast, the vista is enormous, the landmass huge.  Mountains stretching off into the distance, wide sweeping shots, beautiful cliffside structures above, strange ships enter and leave a harbor off in the distance.  Enormous wide streets, a city to dwarf the Aztec or Egyptian empires, something grand to inspire awe.  

Text stamps the screen; Skull Island, 20,000 BCE

This was the golden age of Skull Island, before it was all but lost to the sea.  Adolescent Kongs, sized 30 - 75 Ft can be seen in the distance.  The peaceful scene is short lived, all of a sudden, the coastal area waters sweep out, soon to come back in as a large tidal wave crashing into the city.  Thunderous steps make landfall crashing out from the surf.  The just arriving warrior tribesman shouts out, but is cut abruptly short.  Above, a sweeping step from a clawed foot levels buildings and crushes him.  A devastating tail sweeps past all that remains shrouding the streets in dust and debris.  The Kong that had arrived with the tribesman, largest among them, stands before the invading creature, jumping in fury at his lost friend, he gets swatted aside by it’s enormous sweeping tail and crashes towards the ground as if he were nothing.  

The intruding creature lets out an enormous roar that shakes the city, and in the momentary silence between footfalls, a roar from the mountains answers.

The people know that roar, it was King, their god; King Kong, leader of both the tribes of man and beast of all Skull Island.  That battle-cry of rage fills those below with more fear than any outside force ever could, they know the fury that is coming, and they mustn’t upset their lord.  Alarms ring out, those closest rush into the sacred weapons grounds on the outskirts of the city in preparation.  The pyres go ablaze, and drums of war blast the signal out into the wilderness above.  All citizens become warriors, all set in motion to assist their living god.  

King Kong explodes swiftly from far into the mountains, crashing in upon the sacred weapons grounds below.  A pyre of gigantic protruding bone, reinforced in metals and terrible spiked protrusions tower above the worshippers below, hundred Ft high blunt weaponry, constructed by titan blacksmiths, made and for use only by King Kong.  Weapons rack of the gods.  All around, the fires blaze, the guise of civility melts away as tribal madness takes hold.  King Kong tears away a large spear of bone and metal dipped in oils and lights it afire, a 100 Ft weapon of insanity carried in one hand by the 200 Ft. beast.  The survivors of the city’s attack from the creature fleeing below, King Kong tears in, bounding over huge buildings into the spiked mountain we now see clearly as Godzilla.  The handful of younger Kong seen in the distance before part ways for their leader, they are no match for this threat and they know it.  The gods above them clash.    

King Kong tear into him, going for his legs, stabbing the blazing weapon into his side.  A 300 Ft reptilian thing, two-thirds larger, superior in mass, tail swinging crys in rage. Huge, brutal fists, pummel into him, and a city begins getting demolished below.  The two deafening war cry’s from opposing gods above destroy all in their path, survivors below seek refuge they will not find.  Frenzied, harsh cuts gather momentum and ferocity with every blow.  Cut to black against the thunder of hits drowning each other below the beating drums of war;    

Title stamp; Godzilla vs. Kong

Deep underwater, a scuba diver examines archaic ruins, packing some pieces away carefully into the two drone submersibles beside him, he gets a call to return to the surface right away.  Grabbing the back of one of the submersibles, he uses it as a propeller to speed himself up, passing huge intimidating statues and structures half fading into darkness around him.  He surfaces to a ship off the coast of a familiar island to speak with some top brass waiting aboard, just arriving by helicopter with an urgent mission.

Text stamp; Skull Island 1985

Bullet Points:

-Monarch has had a presence on Skull Island since 1973, directly after the events of Kong: Skull Island.  Multiple outposts, on and off coast.  As this is humanity’s first concrete source to examine the newly discovered hollow earth, along with living titans, it is logical all resources be poured into its study, and protected in secret over the next 47 years.  Humanity’s place in this newly unearthed ecosystem brings with it a new age of humility and fear which began with the discovery of Godzilla in 1954.

-After the climax of Kong Skull Island, Kong has become more of a beast master, wrangling the rest of the unruly Skullcrawlers under his thumb after their leader was conquered.  More species emerge, ever larger and more formidable, challenging him in endless succession.  

-Finding off coast ruins in the late ’70’s after the events of Kong Skull Island leads to the discovery that Skull Island was just a small remaining section of a far larger landmass and lost civilization.  If Skull Island was the head, this submerged land and civilization was theorized to be the size of the rest of the skeleton.  Exploration continues finding new discoveries submerged further off the coast.  

-Mystery of the ancient civilization, far pre-dating all others known, is compounded by the discoveries of other similarly dated lost civilizations; namely the recent events of Godzilla: King of the Monsters.  The new knowledge of man worshipping Titans as the first living gods goes much further back than anything known.  

-Discovery of man and Kong working together, worshipping them as gods, a golden age that devolved into the Skull Island of today seen through the eyes of the descendants of the Iwi tribe.  Leads to the study of Kong’s intelligence far surpassing anything expected.  

-Many new plants and species discovered and researched on Skull Island such as the mysterious red berries found far inland.  It has incredible properties Monarch begins using in different experimentations.

-Secrets of the Iwi tribe continuously uncovered.  More history discovered.  

-Titans have begun migrating to Skull Island.  Why?  What is calling them, what is underground there waiting?  What event is about to take place?  Why had Godzilla initially invaded Skull Island 20,000 years ago at they height of it’s civilization, why again now?  What other civilizations lay across the globe at that ancient time as humanity worshipped the other known Titans?  How did Godzilla’s home, seen and destroyed in Godzilla King of the Monsters end, sinking into the abyss ages ago?

*The answer; the hollow earth army of giant monsters below, preparing full scale invasion through the portal on Skull Island.  As they have tried before, so they will again.  We’ve seen Skullcrawlers and the parasitic Mutos, but the awakening/ unearthing in 1973 and 2014 was just the beginning, many far older, nastier species of Titanus and lesser beasts are yet to be seen.  Throughout the millennia, Godzilla has tasked himself to hold the the horde at bay as a balance of nature for the surface world, recognizing, and keeping check on the open portals across the earth.  The black mirror to the Titans above such as himself wait below, wishing only destruction and the surface to be theirs.  Ghidorah came from outer space above, but the true threat has been under our Earth waiting.  

-20,000 years ago, Godzilla heeded the call as he had in the past to the landmass known as Skull Island.  Although over the passing age since he last patrolled it, a new Titanus evolved; the tribe of Kong.  Smaller, mortal, unlike Godzilla; immortal and last of his kind, The Kong has been able to grow formidable, with an incredible evolution of problem solving intelligence.  They became symbiotic with the newly evolving tribes of man, both living alongside long dead species in a land of the lost; Skull Island.  Godzilla coming in contact with Kong’s ancestors was only in the crossfire of Godzilla’s journey towards the hollow earth portal there.  Although since then, because of that first devastating meeting, the two species have become much hated rivals.  Godzilla has not since returned, and because of that lack of his intervention, the tribe of Kong unsuccessfully couldn’t keep the hollow earth there in check.  Skull Island over the millennia devolved into a doomed island of fear, the Kong’s going all but extinct, with only one survivor remaining humanity met in ‘73.

-Godzilla’s invasion then, as now in 2020, is strictly routine.  Awakened by the brutal events of Godzilla King of the Monsters on the surface, the hollow earth has once again become active.  Although Kong, now last of his kind like Godzilla, has tasked himself as protector as well, keeping the horde at bay, devolved from the golden age of his species, but still fighting.  And larger and more capable than all that came before him.  As all Titans converge towards Kong’s home to answer the call of war, the threat from below reaches a fever pitch.  Unknown creatures, new species of Titan, not seen in hundreds of millions of years, are about to explode upon an unsuspecting Earth.  

-Kong must defend his home, even as it is surely doomed for annihilation.  Both from Titan, as well as mankind with their finger at the button ready to strike, aware of the potential incoming threat through Monarchs decades of research.  We know the hell that could be unleashed.  As his ancestors fought, so will he, immortal vs mortal.  Who is destined to lead the Titans into a new world, the old order, or the new?  Two god-kings, millennia of rivalry.  Godzilla has defeated Kong’s ancestors as they tragically crossed paths before, although now, this last remaining Kong has grown far stronger and larger than all that came before, can he re-claim the title of King that his lineage lost in ages past?  Fighting alone against the horde, species his ancestors never dreamed of conquering.  Is it possible for them to work together long enough to save the surface world, or will they kill each other before then, dooming all above?        

-End goal; to have man and Kong working together again, and to have him earn the title King.  Godzilla to have revealed his purpose.  A balance of nature cleansing unnatural elements begun with Ghidorah, but now at the expense of lesser life;  we have become expendable in the face of such a great threat.  An explosion of the hollow earth, humanity overrun by Skullcrawler and new species, containment becomes futile, many pockets discovered across the globe.

Separated across two films; Godzilla vs Kong duo logy.

Part 1:

Ends after the total destruction of Skull Island, nuked from a bomber high above in hopes of leveling the portal and blocking the invasion.  Godzilla, Kong, and many other Titans fighting above, barely escape, some don’t.  Godzilla naturally survives, but Kong is buried, lost below into the hollow earth, finding refuge and escaping the island through underground passages and swimming to land towards South America, he becomes a refuge making a new home deep in the Andes mountains.  The film cuts between the deep past of Skull Island and the present, to better understand the history of the threat, as well as Godzilla and Kong’s millennia old rivalry.    

Part 2.

Kong’s home destroyed, he levels his eye on hunting Godzilla, wrangling hollow earth creatures along the way.  Godzilla was the last creature he fought before his exile, all his rage is directed towards him for the destruction of his land, never comprehending our nuclear intervention.  It ends in New York City, the culmination of a 34 year hunt, the year is 2054.  The world has changed, the hollow earth has steadily been creeping past our defenses, threatening our dominance and control.  G-Team and monarch has evolved.  Kong battles one last time in a marathon against Godzilla, who has over the past few decades become more aggressive, causing unacceptable levels of collateral damage in his wake.  An ally in the past, but now a clear threat to our survival.  The tribal warriors of Skull Island’s past are reborn, we fight alongside our modern day Kong.  Using the weapons of man and all at his disposal Kong fights to his last, but ultimately falls to the King of the Monsters, incinerated in a nuclear blast.  

Godzilla reigns as the immortal king, having felled the last mortal champion in Kong.  In a world over-run from below, Godzilla transforms into a new, more brutal god to combat this new threat; the God of Destruction re-born from ages past.  No longer on any terms with the unknowable god from the distant past, humanity shrinks back from any semblance of control, as the balance of nature, discovered 100 years prior, no longer has any regard for us below.  The war with the hollow earth escalates further.    

The world no longer ours, it becomes unrecognizable.  The old gods are at war. As it may have looked hundreds of millions of years ago, a world we truly have no say in stokes fear and madness in man;  the Mechagodzilla project is born.    

Sequel: Godzilla 3: Terror of Mechagodzilla

Humanity vs. Godzilla, in a post apocalyptic over-run monster wasteland.  Humanity’s last effort to seize any semblance of control in a world no longer ours as we face total annihilation.

After my first viewing, as well as taking in many reviews, I’ve gotten through a spectrum of different, opposing opinions.  First off, critical consensus isn’t wrong, all those issues exist.  The critic's responsibility is to uphold character, motivation, story, all the things that make for a resonating whole.  It’s nothing to get upset about, I love that stuff.  However,  if those opinions were the end all, it would discount mostly all of which fans love, and get fully delivered, in this insanely awesome movie.

My favorite critical opinion on this film, as well as 2014′s was Cinemassacre’s James Rolfe.  In his 2014 Godzilla reanalysis, he rightfully pointed out the major fault being the early death of Brian Cranston’s character.  The movie was a redemptive story between father and son, and his death halted that storyline, effectively laboring the remaining half.  All other decisions are simply that, choices good or bad, monsters, side characters, they may put some off, but they're inconsequential to this one glaring issue, the pacing.  After the Honolulu airport scene the movie dragged, because the purpose left it.  It became the supporting character getting home to his background family.  Other, more surface level issues can be forgiven, or more enjoyed, if this base is retained, which in this one it wasn’t, and the new one struggled with as well.

For Godzilla King of the Monsters, the grounded reality that was established in 2014′s, is left behind, starting with the very first shot of San Fransisco.  It is now seen through a very different lens, a godlike larger than life one, fantastical, and tinted in color.  This compounds more and more with each new development.  Instead of ‘on the ground’ natural disaster set pieces, the POV is quickly taken up and away into The Argo, (Super X equivalent) globetrotting though the eyes of Monarch.  This is a shift into a whole different game.  Monarch and G Team are basically GI Joe, locations are outlandish, and lore is deepened into archaic mystery.  I freaking loved it!

However, throughout the amusement park ride, is the issue of character.  The family’s division and loss driving the plot existed, but simply that, it just existed there.  The base issue of dead son, to estranged father, to distraught mother, to distant adolescent, was laid out ineffectively.  Especially since their dead son was what drove the mother to unleash armageddon, a very rash decision, it needed a lot more weight and care (such as Brian Cranston’s wife’s death in 2014, the impactful inciting incident that got him, and the movie, along it’s way).  As well as collaborating with a heinous villain with a mercenary army, also very rash, and a rushed through development.  This core was difficult to swallow by how it was presented.  I was most pumped for Charles Dance’s character, the ex military Eco terrorist (he was great, I just needed more).  His could have had full Bond villain proportions, but was just allowed part of the background schemes.   

Besides this core issue, others are lesser, and the rest is pure beauty.  Bradley Whitford’s lines are standouts as Dr. Rick Stanton.  Surprisingly, the quip master,  most necessary to diffuse some key scenes and allow the fun in (something that really needed more allowance, the admittance of fun to enjoy the awe inspiring fights on display more).  Dr. Stanton’s lines like ‘bad day to be a Red Sox fan’, ‘Serizawa’s got that lizard juiced’, and ‘come on big guy, fight it’ (which I laughed with in that break neck situational absurdity). On the other hand, Serizawa’s storyline was so rewarding, and I was right there engaged with them, and many more scenes as well.  

Director Michael Dougherty, wrote and directed Trick r’ Treat and Krampus, both of which I loved for their sick, black humor.  Going in, I was expecting, and looking forward, to this film having his signature fun, sick tone and personality, to feel distinctly his.  It doesn’t, it’s more dry, which I thought would disappoint me, but not entirely.  He instead takes the material very seriously, and with incredible reverence and care, which is rare, given the fantastical route he chose to pursue.  Most would be seduced to laugh with, or not take it to it’s complete end, but he did, and it was incredible.  It’s my highest praise to say that this movie is an insane Saturday morning cartoon, but presented in a very sincere way.  In other words, very much for some, but the enemy of those without an inner child.  For me, it’s achievements far outweigh it’s faults, and it is definitely benefiting to dedicated fans over those more casual.  

A couple gripes/ points I agree with by Cinemassacre’s James Rolfe:

-Day time fights, simply for variety and a psychological need to have a break from the dark.    

-Destruction with civilians.  Besides Rodan’s escape, there were no scene’s with civilians to put the scale against monsters besides Monarch’s people.  Boston was evacuated and empty, Washington DC, destroyed off camera before the Argo’s arrival.  Just some scenes of hundreds of people underfoot or wing in different locations.  Specifically, monsters knocking buildings over before them, some type of clear, wanton destruction.  

Aspects I loved:

-Hollow Earth elaboration.  More than I hoped, so much fun lore to get into.

-G Team, basically Titan GI Joe.

-Mothra, and the twins explanation.  

-Monarch’s HQ, Argo, every fantastical element.

-Titan personality, specifically King Ghidorah and Godzilla.  Surprising traits and great rivalry.  

-Musical Score, awesome. 

One thing that went in different directions between the American 2014 Godzilla reboot and Japan’s 2016 Shin Godzilla reboot, is our interaction, or lack of interaction, with Godzilla.  In the American film our relationship to Godzilla was inconsequential,  but in Shin Godzilla, humanity gained his notice.  The set up between films is Godzilla in a monster fight VS Godzilla against humanity, the intent was far different, but having no relationship diminished our stakes and involvement in the American film.  America used him as a typhoon or storm, which is to say a natural development separated from us, man vs. nature.  Japan two years later responded with the opposite, that he is very much a part of us, evolving and unnatural.  That involvement in the character, as fun as it is to have America’s ancient alpha predator origin, is ultimately more engaging.    

My fault for the American film is lack of consequences.  Our use of a nuclear weapon in the American film detonated away from the city, as we cheered Godzilla back into the ocean peacefully at the end.  It was an ending that left an emptiness.  The Japanese film had Godzilla trailing nuclear radiation, had him unleash a devastating blast when attacked, and left him frozen for an indeterminate time, ending on the promise of more horrific evolution to come.  The difference between the films is consequence VS not, and the weight and purpose consequence gives something. The character has evolved like the best, into all different uses.  That’s Godzilla’s thing, he’s a villain, a hero, a balance, wrath, salvation.  It’s just that his original, and most powerful intended use, was as a black mirror.  Horror and dread, the force to reflect upon our self destruction.  In 1945 we created our best way to do so, applied it to warfare, and have been living under the gun ever since.  It’s enough to capture your imagination, to feel misanthropic at times, or at least to question things.