King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

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MandaSaurus
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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

Post by MandaSaurus »

I'm a fan of Japanese kaiju, first & foremost, but I still enjoy Kong.

I like the 1933 original AND the "Son of Kong" sequel. I agree that the DeLaurentiis Kong was a disappointment, & it's sequel, KKL, was a disaster. Both are best forgotten. BUT I think Peter Jackson did an admirable job with his 2005 update - for me, it's the ULTIMATE Kong. I don't see anyone attempting to touch Kong again for a loooong time!

And it is fitting, that for their first foray outside the world of Japanese Kaiju, S.H. MonsterArts chose King Kong. NOT the 1933 one. NOT the kaiju-esque one. NOT the DeLaurentiis one( Thank God! ). The Peter Jackson one. I have already pre-ordered mine, & unless you already own the MezCo or X-Plus versions( which I don't ), I would humbly suggest any fan of Kong do the same. A King Kong Tribute, indeed.

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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

Post by gzilla46 »

Kaiju-King42 wrote:Mmmm... I think, critically speaking, Gojira is a better film than the original King Kong. King Kong's (the movie, not the ape) treatment of woman was a bit disheartening. Ann spent the whole film fainting, screaming, fainting, and barely contributing to the story other than being a plot device. All she does in the story is act as the love interest of Jack, and the reason they venture out into the island jungles and meet Kong in the first place. At least the 2005 Ann, you know, actually DID STUFF! And she didn't faint every five seconds, that's another plus. I know it was on;y 1933 and all, but it still makes me unhappy.

Emiko may have cried a LOT in Gojira, but at least she actually contributed to the plot. If it wasn't for her, Serizawa would have never used the Oxygen Destroyer on Godzilla. And she didn't faint every five seconds, so that's alway nice.

I also found the love story between 1933 Jack and Ann to be a bit... forced. One scene, he's acting like a total douch bag and claiming that he hates woman, the next, he's kissing Ann and risking his life for her! Just... what?

Not to say King Kong 1933 is a bad film. On the contrary! It's a great film! But I truly believe Gojira to be the better film. King Kong was, though and though, just an adventure story in the end. Gojira carried with it a powerful message. It wasn't just an ordinary monster film. It was a plea against nuclear testing.
Those are some very good points, now that you put it that way. I never saw the original, only the 2005 remake, but good point.

You know, there are some differences too. In the scene where Kong is about to break free and rampage through New York, there are differences between the 2. In the 1933 film, Carl Denham became concerned while in the remake, he was like, "Nah, let him roar. It makes it more exciting".
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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

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gzilla46 wrote:Again, I don't get why the guys that made King Kong vs Godzilla didn't put ANY form of connection to the 1933 film to the events of this movie. Kong should be living on Skull Island. Why isn't Carl Denham and Ann Darrow there? It would've been great to see them return for King Kong vs Godzilla. I would've loved to see their reaction to Godzilla fighting Kong.
Kong died at the end of KING KONG, and Skull Island was destroyed in SON OF KONG so a "Carl Denham finds Kong living on Skull Island" story wouldn't have worked for KING KONG VS GODZILLA. KKvsG isn't a direct sequel to the previous Kong movies, but a completely separate story featuring a new giant monster named King Kong.
eabaker wrote:"What if we took this classic, and instead of approaching it with any new ideas, we just made the emotional aspects less subtle and the action sequences EXTREME?!"

Jackson is a very talented filmmaker, but he generally lacks objectivity when working on his dream projects.
Jackson's KING KONG has it's flaws (story points that aren't resolved, over the top action scenes, etc) but not "approaching it with any new ideas" certainly isn't one of them. Jackson's film is packed with new ideas so, while it closely follows the story of the original, nearly every key point is subtly altered to create a very different impression than what has gone before. As a Kong fan, I thought this made the remake worthwhile even more than the seeing a version made with modern FX techniques... I even saw the original and the Jackson version in theaters on the same day, which drove home the interesting differences in approach between the two.

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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

Post by eabaker »

kpa wrote:
gzilla46 wrote:Again, I don't get why the guys that made King Kong vs Godzilla didn't put ANY form of connection to the 1933 film to the events of this movie. Kong should be living on Skull Island. Why isn't Carl Denham and Ann Darrow there? It would've been great to see them return for King Kong vs Godzilla. I would've loved to see their reaction to Godzilla fighting Kong.
Kong died at the end of KING KONG, and Skull Island was destroyed in SON OF KONG so a "Carl Denham finds Kong living on Skull Island" story wouldn't have worked for KING KONG VS GODZILLA. KKvsG isn't a direct sequel to the previous Kong movies, but a completely separate story featuring a new giant monster named King Kong.
eabaker wrote:"What if we took this classic, and instead of approaching it with any new ideas, we just made the emotional aspects less subtle and the action sequences EXTREME?!"

Jackson is a very talented filmmaker, but he generally lacks objectivity when working on his dream projects.
Jackson's KING KONG has it's flaws (story points that aren't resolved, over the top action scenes, etc) but not "approaching it with any new ideas" certainly isn't one of them. Jackson's film is packed with new ideas so, while it closely follows the story of the original, nearly every key point is subtly altered to create a very different impression than what has gone before. As a Kong fan, I thought this made the remake worthwhile even more than the seeing a version made with modern FX techniques... I even saw the original and the Jackson version in theaters on the same day, which drove home the interesting differences in approach between the two.
Well, pardon me for exaggerating for effect. I don't think any reasonable person would have believed I meant that there really was not a single new idea in the movie. I obviously did not think that the faux-quote I included represented anyone's genuine attitude in making the movie.

But the changes that were made, while altering the meanings of moments, didn't generally alter them in a way that I felt actually enriched the story, and the fact that he stuck so closely to the original structure makes the changes feel cosmetic and shallow - even when they're not. And in many cases, the changes stripped the story of what subtlety the original possessed.

And saying it made it worthwhile "even more than seeing a version made with modern FX techniques" is, in terms of my tastes, like saying it made it worthwhile even more than air weighs.

I don't dislike Jackson's version, but certain aspects of it really, really grate on me, which is particularly frustrating because, stripped of much of its excess, there's a really good remake buried in there.
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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

Post by 20th Century Boy »

So apparently today is the 80th anniversary of the orignal King Kong. Did anyone watch it today? :)

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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

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Has anyone seen the animated Kong series?

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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

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ray243 wrote:Has anyone seen the animated Kong series?
You mean the one from the 90's, yes i have. I was actually pretty fond of it.
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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

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20th Century Boy wrote:So apparently today is the 80th anniversary of the orignal King Kong. Did anyone watch it today? :)
Tempting, but I was busy and don't own it anyway. :?

King Kong: I like him. He isn't one of my favorites, but I enjoy most of his movies and recognize & respect the impact of the original.

The first film is a classic, no doubt. Granted, story-wise it's really shallow, but hey, it's the original Giant Monster action movie; what do you expect?

Son of Kong I'm not so keen on. It's a quick cash-in movie with an even shallower story, and even O. Brien's animation doesn't look quite up to par.

Both of Toho's movies are, once again, very satisfying thrill rides. Tsuburaya and Honda clearly enjoyed doing these movies.

I haven't seen the 70's films yet; but I'm hesitant to.

Peter Jackson's remake is probably my favorite of the Kong films. I think it shows through that Jackson loves Kong, and did his best to do the character justice. I think this movie improves on the weak story points of the original, while also offering new and more surprising action sequences. Is it exaggerated at times? Yeah. Are some of the subplots (*coughJimmycough*) pointless? Yes. Despite this, though, I consider this movie to be pretty solid.

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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

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20th Century Boy wrote:So apparently today is the 80th anniversary of the orignal King Kong. Did anyone watch it today? :)
No, but I did watch my copy of "A*P*E in 3-D". :lol:

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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

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eabaker wrote:Well, pardon me for exaggerating for effect.
You're pardoned. :lol:

But my point stands, and you shouldn't get so worked up over a reply to something you wrote on a monster movie board. This stuff is supposed to fun!

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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

Post by eabaker »

kpa wrote:
eabaker wrote:Well, pardon me for exaggerating for effect.
You're pardoned. :lol:

But my point stands, and you shouldn't get so worked up over a reply to something you wrote on a monster movie board. This stuff is supposed to fun!
I have no idea what irritated me so much there. I guess I felt condescended to, which is weird, because your post really wasn't condescending.

Sorry! Won't happen again!
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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

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I figured at least someone around here would like to know a new steelbook Blu-ray/DVD combo pack of the 2005 King Kong remake is coming out on May 6th, the same day as the Godzilla releases. I can't really tell what is new feature wise, if anything, or if the Ultraviolet or digital copy versions have come with previous home media releases of the film. It's available for preorder on Amazon for those who care to look/compare it to prior releases.

Also, I suppose an interested mod could integrate the standalone thread for the 1933 film and my "Future of King Kong" thread into this one, which ably serves as a general discussion thread for the non-Toho King Kong character.

Future of King Kong
http://tohokingdom.com/forum/viewtopic. ... =king+kong

Talkback Thread: King Kong (1933)
http://tohokingdom.com/forum/viewtopic. ... =king+kong

Now since I apparently haven't contributed to the King Kong thread before (surprisingly), here I go:

It's hard to argue with the original, and not just because it's so acclaimed. The sheer influence the film had in so many areas of film have been proven handily over the years. I think it's particularly impressive given that on its own, it's highly enjoyable but isn't necessarily amazing in and of itself, similar to Titanic or Avatar (both of which should prove to be far less influence yet were huge events and influential themselves). I mean, whether or not it's heresy I will compare it to Godzilla, which I enjoy more, probably even in the oft-dismissed King of the Monsters version. Son of Kong has its charms and deserves more credit than it receives IMO. It's not the original but merits a watch if you like classic sci-fi adventures.

The 1976 remake is middling, both in its cavalier spirit and visuals aside from its suit. The suit is great and wouldn't look out of place in a contemporary movie - probably a lower budget one if it was utilizing a suit, but still. If only a suit of that quality could've been used in the two Toho films featuring King Kong. But the concept of a somewhat more grounded setting in realism would've had to really make up for its fewer outlandish thrills with great characters, fantastic King Kong, and extra-impressive battles. It is my opinion that the audiences receives none of that. And we won't talk about King Kong Lives other than saying I do value the idea of expansion of the King Kong/Skull Island universe in general.

And of course, Peter Jackson's 2005 remake is the one tasked with inspiring a new generation along with its tie-in media like the now-surely-forgotten video game. Contrary to opinions on here, I'm a fan of this remake. The summary is that unlike the 1976 version there's actually a point in watching and revisiting this remake. The 1976 remake of King Kong, 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes, or 1998 whateverthatwas of Godzilla do not succeed in this area. There's an obvious adoration for the source material and it looks superb from beginning to end. The only moderate criticism I have is that despite it working well as a three hour movie, it just might have worked even better as a 135-ish minute movie. While it remains very re-watchable to me, it'd be even more so if it wasn't so long that I practically have to plan ahead of time to watch it. The other is that I'd have gone with a King Kong vs V-Rex battle instead of three. It'd have been more intense if they seemed more equally powerful. That is just a minor quibble. In a way, I actually respect that Jackson found a way to turn a 100 minute movie successfully into something nearly twice that. Unlike the other two there's no sequel to speak of. Maybe we'd have gotten something if it performed better at the box office, given that the returns were solid but nothing stellar considering the expectations (not entirely unlike Godzilla in 1998). Maybe they could borrow events surrounding the dates of 1605, 1749, or 1944 as mentioned in the 1976 film.
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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

Post by Omegazilla »

I love the original 1933 Kong. He was an ape, but definitely more monster like because he was unique. What made him so unique? He was bipedal and relatively humanoid for a Great Ape. The 1976 remake was awful and the 2005 remake was overrated and I don't like how he was basically just a giant gorilla. How the 1933 Kong could take down a T-Rex was plain wicked and one of my favorite monster fights of all time.

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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

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I can just faintly remember the first time as saw G: King of the Monsters but no matter how far I go back, I can still remember Kong.

While Ishiro Honda's original subtitled version is better than Kong 1933 in terms of acting and storyline, we all must take our hats off for the monkey. No Kong means no Harryhausen movies, no US giant monster movies in the 50s, no Godzilla and crew in Japan--and that means no Ultraman or Gamera.

Personally I'm a fan of all three of the chief Kong films. 1933 is the most important and, regardless of its shortcomings is the overall best. My personal favorite is 1976--that score, those location shoots, that pathos! 2005, fun to watch popcorn flick.

If Godzilla is the King of the Monsters, it was only because he earned the title from the first King of the Monsters: King Kong!

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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

Post by Zilla103192 »

Nobody is going to even mention the true best Kong film???

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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

Post by UltramanGoji »

Zilla103192 wrote:Nobody is going to even mention the true best Kong film???

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... _Video.jpg
God, I need to torrent this or something. Haven't seen it in years.
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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

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Zilla103192 wrote:Nobody is going to even mention the true best Kong film???

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... _Video.jpg
NO NEVER HAPPENED!!!!! *Erases it from existence*

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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

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Yeah, I saw it. And I wish I hadn't. :dizzy:

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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

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Some kind of prequel to the Jackson movie would be cool. Despite it being nearly a decade later, $200M should be more than enough for another King Kong film.

King Kong vs Kraken. :shock:
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Re: King Kong Tribute Thread (THE REAL KING KONG!)

Post by LegendZilla »

Chris55 wrote:King Kong v.s. Godzilla 2011

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/MR ... _PRINT.jpg

and yeah I double tagged this one cuz people still shit :)
Ray Harryhausen would've flipped if he saw that.

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