Two of cinema’s oldest and most famous titans are going head to head once again in the epic new Godzilla vs. Kong. This upcoming film will be the 36th time we’ve seen Godzilla on the big screen and the 12th we’ve seen Kong. Both giants are legends in their own rights and their history goes back almost as far as cinema itself.
So, that being said, it’s fair to assume that there’s a bit of catching up to do when it comes to the new film. Thankfully you don’t need to go right back to 1933 to understand the new flick though as this film is part of the MonsterVerse universe which currently has three other films that make up that world.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Godzilla (2014) is the first of these in Legendary’s canon. In the film, which essentially functions as a reboot of the Godzilla story, a legend that has been revived and reimaged four times in the Japanese version and twice in the American version.
The Godzilla universe comes from a genre of Japanese filmmaking called kaiju – essentially, giant monster movies. Godzilla was the founding figure of the genre but it quickly spawned other kaiju figures who frequently fought each other.
Legendary’s MonsterVerse features four of these kaiju which are all hinted at in the post-credits scene of Kong: Skull Island. Here we see Mothra, a huge and benevolent insect goddess born on an island. There is also Rodan, a huge Pterodactyl-like dinosaur. Finally, there is King Ghidorah, a giant three-headed dragon of extraterrestrial origin. The first three developed over time from villains into heroes who often protect and save humanity from other destructive forces like that of King Ghidorah, who usually wants to flatten us.
King Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World
Legendary’s Kong: Skull Island gives us an intro to the character who has an already long and colourful history. Starting out in 1933, the classic black and white film King Kong set down the framework for the giant ape.
Kong is a massive gorilla discovered on an island by a down-on-his luck filmmaker who tricks a production crew into going to the island to make a film about the ape. Here, Kong is a protector, worshipped by the local indigenous population for keeping the balance with the other massive and dangerous creatures on the island. The locals sacrifice women to Kong to keep him happy and end up doing so with a woman from the American production crew. The crew go after Kong, trying to get her back, eventually drugging and capturing Kong and bringing him to New York to exhibit. Kong breaks free and goes on a rampage through New York, recapturing the woman who was offered to him as he has now formed a strong emotional bond with her. He climbs the Empire State Building to escape but is eventually gunned down. It’s a semi-tragic tale of capitalistic exploitation of nature and paints Kong in a sympathetic light.
Kong has actually fought Godzilla before in the 1962 Toho Studios film King Kong vs. Godzilla where Godzilla is again awakened by an American nuclear submarine and Kong is captured, bizarrely, by a pharmaceutical company who want to use him for advertising purposes. The pair duke it out on Mt Fuji before falling into the sea together with Kong swimming back to his home at the end.
Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake was essentially the same film as the 1933 version but with better animation and an indulgent three hour run time.
Legendary
The previous three Legendary films have seen the rise of Kong on his home island and set him up as a sympathetic character who the protagonists attempt to save from destruction. Godzilla is also a hero figure who saves humanity from attacks from other kaiju including King Ghidorah, Rodan, and two Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms or MUTOs.
The organisation involved in the discovery and exploration of these titans is called Monarch. They have thus far been the protagonists of the story, working to protect the creatures and study them.
They appear to have uncovered that a “titan war” has been raging across the planet for aeons, with Kong and Godzilla on opposing sides of this historical conflict and ending up as the last ones of their respective species. This could be the reason the two titans go to war in the film, but there may be more to it than that.
Despite Godzilla’s record of saving humanity during the past two films, he is shown to be attacking it during the trailer of the upcoming film. This could either be due to the transportation of Kong through his territory or it may have something to do with the orca technology we have seen wielded in previous films. This sonic tech allows humans to communicate and even control the titans, with the possibility that Godzilla is being controlled by someone else.
There is also the theory that a third monster could appear, whose emergence has enraged Godzilla into attacking people. Mechagodzilla is a giant robotic version of the titan and a historic adversary.
Perhaps Monarch, or another agency, are creating their own titans which send the original two into a rage. Perhaps they team up together to defeat the mechanical creation. Maybe we’re completely off the mark entirely. Either way, this is everything we know going into the film and we can’t wait to see what the next instalment of the MonsterVerse brings.
Be sure to check out the trailer for Godzilla vs. Kong before it hits cinemas around Australia on March 25.