In the 1960s, King Kong found a new lease of life – in Japan. Firstly he fought Japan's most famous monster in KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, a film that famously had a different ending for Japanese and US viewers – in the Japanese print, Godzilla whooped the giant ape's backside, while in the USA, King Kong came out on top. Five years after that film was made, Japan released a sequel, KING KONG ESCAPES. Sadly, the giant green lizard isn't present this time around, leaving Kong to battle a giant mechanical version of himself (unoriginally monikored Mecha-Kong).
KING KONG ESCAPES is a pretty poor example of the Japanese kaiju film. Aimed solely at kids, these films came out in their dozens in the '60s and '70s in Japan, and centre pieced city-crushing bouts between multiple monsters as their major draw for battle-hungry children. KING KONG ESCAPES looks like it's going down a similarly enjoyable route, firstly by introducing the massive Mecha-Kong, and then reprising the original KING KONG antics as we meet the giant ape fighting of dinosaurs and sea serpents on mondo island. Sadly, that's as far as the film gets before it stalls, and the rest of the movie is a talky bore. The final bout between King Kong and the robot version of himself is a particularly disappointing showdown; only one building gets razed, and then we're back to the gravity-defying pummels atop a giant pylon that we've seen time and time again.
This film was made with an eye on the massive American market, which is why – unusually for a kaiju flick – there are US actors present in the cast. Unfortunately, they're all pretty rubbish. Linda Miller, the teenage heroine who was dubbed by another US actress, is utterly irritating as a Fay Wray imitator and you'll be longing for Kong to crush her in his grip. Rhodes Reason, a western veteran, is uncomfortably out of place amongst the futuristic sets and primitive special effects. It's left to the Japanese cast to give solid performances, whether it's the lovely femme fatale Mie Hama (YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE) or the hilariously overacting Eisei Amamoto as the villainous Doctor Who (must have seemed funny at the time). Akira Takarada is something of a kaiju regular – his most recent was 2004's GODZILLA: FINAL WARS – and he's dependable as the guy who'd be the hero in the non-American version, but who takes a back seat to the Western actors here.
Of course, the film is packed with special effects, and Mecha-Kong is an impressive creation. Less impressive are King Kong himself – whose glazed-over expression and moth-eaten costume give him the appearance of a druggie – and the toy helicopters and hover crafts which appear to have been constructed by a five year-old. It's not that the film is bone-crushingly bad, because it's not; it even hits a high occasionally, like during Kong's tussle with the slippery sea serpent. But it's nothing we've not seen before, and all the ideas here have been done better, elsewhere; there's a stale, tired air to the proceedings which make it hard to sit through. And this is from a kaiju fan. Seven years later, somebody remembered Mecha-Kong, and hit upon the idea of Mecha-Godzilla. Thus the film GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA was born.
KING KONG ESCAPES is a pretty poor example of the Japanese kaiju film. Aimed solely at kids, these films came out in their dozens in the '60s and '70s in Japan, and centre pieced city-crushing bouts between multiple monsters as their major draw for battle-hungry children. KING KONG ESCAPES looks like it's going down a similarly enjoyable route, firstly by introducing the massive Mecha-Kong, and then reprising the original KING KONG antics as we meet the giant ape fighting of dinosaurs and sea serpents on mondo island. Sadly, that's as far as the film gets before it stalls, and the rest of the movie is a talky bore. The final bout between King Kong and the robot version of himself is a particularly disappointing showdown; only one building gets razed, and then we're back to the gravity-defying pummels atop a giant pylon that we've seen time and time again.
This film was made with an eye on the massive American market, which is why – unusually for a kaiju flick – there are US actors present in the cast. Unfortunately, they're all pretty rubbish. Linda Miller, the teenage heroine who was dubbed by another US actress, is utterly irritating as a Fay Wray imitator and you'll be longing for Kong to crush her in his grip. Rhodes Reason, a western veteran, is uncomfortably out of place amongst the futuristic sets and primitive special effects. It's left to the Japanese cast to give solid performances, whether it's the lovely femme fatale Mie Hama (YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE) or the hilariously overacting Eisei Amamoto as the villainous Doctor Who (must have seemed funny at the time). Akira Takarada is something of a kaiju regular – his most recent was 2004's GODZILLA: FINAL WARS – and he's dependable as the guy who'd be the hero in the non-American version, but who takes a back seat to the Western actors here.
Of course, the film is packed with special effects, and Mecha-Kong is an impressive creation. Less impressive are King Kong himself – whose glazed-over expression and moth-eaten costume give him the appearance of a druggie – and the toy helicopters and hover crafts which appear to have been constructed by a five year-old. It's not that the film is bone-crushingly bad, because it's not; it even hits a high occasionally, like during Kong's tussle with the slippery sea serpent. But it's nothing we've not seen before, and all the ideas here have been done better, elsewhere; there's a stale, tired air to the proceedings which make it hard to sit through. And this is from a kaiju fan. Seven years later, somebody remembered Mecha-Kong, and hit upon the idea of Mecha-Godzilla. Thus the film GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA was born.