King Kong vs. Godzilla Review and History

[ChrisTheLovableJerk]

http://sfdebris.com/videos/films/kingkongvsgodzilla.php

[Mecha82]

Review was solid but with Background video he did pet peeve of mine and called Kong Monkey when in actual review he showed that he knows that Kong is Ape instead. Well Great Ape since that's what Gorillas are. Yeah, I know that people usually defend that by saying that Monkey sounds funnier than Ape but it's still wrong from biological point of view since Apes and Monkeys aren't same thing.

[Trinary]

I hate to be the history nitpick over a throwaway sentence, but Chuck missed the mark in his introduction video when he talked about the war between Poland and the Soviet Union. Lenin's motivation in invading Poland was not to reclaim Polish territories because they had formerly been part of the Russian Empire under the Tsars, but to try to link up with the developing revolutionary movement in Germany. He hoped Soviet troops could help bring about victory to the German Spartacists and alter the political landscape of Europe in favor of communism.

The war did not begin with the Soviet invasion of Poland, but actually with a Polish invasion of Soviet Union with the Kiev Offensive. Josef Pilsudski, the leader of Poland, wanted to create an intermarium (międzymorze) confederation of states along the lines and territory of the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, spanning from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, including the Baltic states and Ukraine. The Poles invaded the Soviet Union in April in support of the already defeated Ukrainian nationalist Symon Petlura (in fact Poland had gone to war with an independent Ukraine over in 1918-19). The Poles were beaten back, at which point the Soviets decided to pursue them into Poland with the aim of reaching Germany, but were defeated outside Warsaw in 1920.

(One could could draw, broadly speaking, comparisons between that conflict and what happened in the Korean War: with North Korea invading South Korea, then the Americans deciding not to stop after pushing Northern forces back to the 38th parallel, but driving on into North Korea itself, advancing all the way to the Yalu River--at which point the Chinese intervened and forced the Americans back to the 38th parallel).

Still it was a rich, fascinating life Chuck described.

[Rodan56]

My opinion more or less lines up with Chuck's concerning the film. While not my favorite of the Showa Era, it is a fun film and I'm eager to see the rematch next year from Legendary. It's important to note that, even though Godzilla has changed, that doesn't deminish his cultural impact. Everything evolves, not always in a way we expect, sometimes it becomes more child-friendly, less artistic, but it's not lesser of a film because of that. Sometimes, all you need is a fun diversion.

I hope we'll be seeing more Toho pictures soon, it's nice to hear Chuck's views on these films. Here's hoping Rodan won't take too long. It is one of my favorites after all.

[Rocketboy1313]

The title card of the background video says "King KING versus Godzilla".
It goes by so quick I thought I was hallucinating.
The is the smallest flaw I have ever bothered to point out in a video.

[Marveryn]

a couple of thing chuck fail to mention. While replacing Frankenstein with Godzilla they gave Frakenstein power to Kong. That why electricity make him stronger. Godzilla weakness to electricity was ignore in later films so it was establish and forgotten. I do wonder how much of the original script was use for this film and in the film Frakenstein conquer the world also what with the obsession with giant octopus as in the later film it show up to attack Frank.

P.S. New York time getting a story wrong is so common there a reason fake news is a thing

[TrueMetis]

Review was solid but with Background video he did pet peeve of mine and called Kong Monkey when in actual review he showed that he knows that Kong is Ape instead. Well Great Ape since that's what Gorillas are. Yeah, I know that people usually defend that by saying that Monkey sounds funnier than Ape but it's still wrong from biological point of view since Apes and Monkeys aren't same thing.

Calling an ape a monkey is like calling a human an ape or a bird a dinosaur. It's perfectly fine and biologically entirely correct. Humans are apes, apes are monkeys, monkeys are primates, primates are mammals, etc.

[TheStarWarsTrek]

I was a little confused by the joke about the main characters explorer outfits being associated with smallpox blankets. I'm guessing they're associated with the European colonization of Africa? Still, when I see those outfits the first thing I think is less "exploiting the natives" and more "cheap Halloween costume" or "whatever a character in a 90's kids show would wear when they're supposed to be in a jungle".

[Darth Wedgius]

I was a little confused by the joke about the main characters explorer outfits being associated with smallpox blankets. I'm guessing they're associated with the European colonization of Africa? Still, when I see those outfits the first thing I think is less "exploiting the natives" and more "cheap Halloween costume" or "whatever a character in a 90's kids show would wear when they're supposed to be in a jungle".

When the British colonized North America (this was before the American Revolution), they gave some Indians blankets that carried smallpox. The Indians through the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes area fell victim to a really nasty smallpox plague. Whether the blankets did it or not is in question, but the intent seemed to be there.

[Dargaron]

Thing is, the "pith helmet" explorer garb is more associated with the exploration/early colonization of Africa, which is more than a century later. Take, for instance, this 1870s image of explorer Henry Morton Stanley.



Still a legitimate complaint about the PP folks' costume that it was a very on-the-nose, colonialist getup, just from the wrong time period.