Rating: 4.5/5
Hooptober 8.0 | 22/34 | Kaiju or Kong | Decades 7/8 | 30s
And the prophet said: "And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing. And from that day, it was as one dead." — Old Arabian Proverb (or some dude)
You know the story.
The movie starts a little slowly. The filmmakers depict the native tribe in a supremely fucked up way.
Even after 90 years, it still delivers thrills. It’s an innovator and a standard that few monster movies have met.
Despite the abundance of sequels, rip-offs, and remakes, nothing competed until the 50s. And that’s the original Godzilla.
** Thoughts / Spoilers **
- Carl Denham promises Ann Darrow “no funny business.”
- Jack Driscoll, the ship’s first mate, falls for Ann even though he hates women.
- It’s a good thing the skipper speaks the native language.
- The King Kong reveal is awesome! Willis H. O’Brien is a fucking hero for the special effects in this movie. Yes, they’ve aged, but they still look incredible.
- The sets are also killer. The village’s door is an impressive visual.
- Fay Wray is a stellar scream queen. She sells seeing a creature better than most people do with GCI today.
- Stegosaurus! He looks so fucking cool! And they walk around it!
- Nessie?? She fucking wrecks those guys!
- This movie is the blueprint. I’m annoyed at Peter Jackson for fucking around so much in his version. His King Kong has aged worse than this one.
- I see now why Kong vs. Godzilla is a sought-after concept. Kong fighting the T-Rex rules. The choreography is something.
- Kong breaks that dude’s face!
- Kong is taking off Ann’s clothes. Pre-Code, baby.
- And a pterodactyl? Ann will need extensive therapy after this.
- They got underwater footage! It looks superb.
- Denham STILL wants to capture Kong. What a doofus.
- The movie is relishing in those native people’s deaths too much :(
- “He’s always been king of his world, but we’ll show him fear.” What the fuck??
- So, is the movie not happening?
- Kong drops the woman who isn’t Ann. Brutal.
- Poor guy just wanted to bang but couldn’t find anyone his size :(