All week long, we’re celebrating the clash of the titans that is Godzilla vs. Kong! It’s Kongzilla Week! Read all of the pieces here!

by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, The Red Herring

As preparation for this week’s Godzilla vs. King Kong, I decided to go back and watch (or revisit) every ‘official’ cinematic appearance of the 8th Wonder of the World. I say ‘official,’ because, since the film became a mainstay of television in the 1950s, Kong has showed up all over the place. Anyway, here’s my ranking from best to worst, because there’s no point in even pretending the original isn’t the best. At the bottom, I give some notes on honorable mentions that aren’t directly Kong films, but fit the archetype.

1. King Kong (dirs. Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933)

I didn’t even bother to do this rankling in reverse order, because this film is far and away the king of the Kongs. Watching this nearly 90 year old film is still a magical experience today. A mix of fairy tale story and the mood of an operatic monster movie, the film trades in wonder and surprise just as easily as it did when it first came to the screen. This is right up there with Frankenstein and The Wizard of Oz for that feeling of being transported away by “the movies.” Additionally, the variety of film techniques on display alone makes this a worthy King. 

Of course the film’s depictions of non-Western cultures and women leaves much to be desired, so expect that going in. That fear of changing social order is baked into the Kong story, of course, but seeing it might still be a shock. Still, the efficiency of the storytelling here is incredible, and it’s easy to see how Peter Jackson doubled the length without adding much. This one is truly a mighty wonder. 

I also wanted to briefly highlight Ruth Rose, who not only wrote this film, Son of Kong, and Mighty Joe Young, but was a script doctor for much of her career. Yet another unsung woman of significant influence in Hollywood. 

2. King Kong Escapes (dir. Ishirō Honda, 1967)

The second-best film in Kong’s cinematic history is his second appearance in a Toho film, an adaptation of a 1966 Canadian/American/Japanese animated series called The King Kong Show. In the show, Kong is mostly tame and helps out a family (which is also the premise of the Godzilla cartoon from a decade later). This film mixes Ishirō Honda’s imagination for giant monster battles with a riff/spoof on the popular spy genre. In the film, Doctor Who (Hideyo Amamoto/Paul Frees) has created a giant simian robot called Mechani-Kong. When it fails to dig up Element X at the North Pole, the good doctor decides to seek out the real thing. This intersects with a sort of remake of the first film, but leads to a climactic showdown between Kong and Mechani-Kong at the Tokyo Tower. 

While the design of  the Kong suit here is actually pretty bad (his eyes are too...googily), especially compared to the same studio’s Godzilla output, I instantly fell in love with the design of Mechani-Kong the moment I laid eyes on him. Overall, this film is pure fun and highly recommended for anyone who likes older Godzilla movies. One of my Godzilla faves from this era, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, was originally intended to star Kong as well, so maybe my fondness shouldn’t be a surprise. 

3. King Kong (dir. John Guillermin, 1976)

This has a mixed reputation, so maybe that’s why I found it to be a pleasant surprise? Yes, the pulpy dialogue and tone sometimes feels like it is out of sync with the contemporary setting. However, looking back on this 45 years later, it’s now all far enough in the past where that kind of works? One of the things both straight remakes of Kong have in common is that they are at their best on their way to Skull Island, and suffer a bit once Kong himself is introduced. I also appreciate that this movie adds an environmental angle not present in the original.

As a time capsule, this is an exciting artifact in that it very much pushes the boundaries of the PG-rating more than a few times (Deep Throat references?) and is probably near the pinnacle of effects work pre-Star Wars and Superman: The Movie. It reinforces why those films were such big landmarks in that area. Still, the suit does look goofy, and the promised animatronic only appears briefly. And yet, this movie ultimately captures the tragic fairy tale nature of the story, and the ending made me choke up, cementing its place on this list. 

4. King Kong Lives (dir. John Guillermin, 1986)

Just to recap this film’s first act: Kong has been in frozen stasis since he fell off the World Trade Center, and now he needs a heart transplant and blood transfusion. The heart is taken care of, a large mechanical heart has been prepared for the giant ape. But where to get the blood that will match Kong’s? To Borneo, where a female ape lives in the jungle! And then of course, both apes are quickly on the loose. 

I’m not going to defend this as a “good” movie, but I really don’t understand how anyone could watch this and not have a reasonably good time. A sample line of dialogue:

Well we should have no problem identifying the enemy, they're each about 50 feet tall, and they're wearing their birthday suits!

I truly appreciate that this is a dual romance movie! Both the human leads (Linda Hamilton and Brian Kerwin) and Kong and “Lady Kong” fall in love here. What more could you ask for? So many of the other Kong movies are just riffs on the original film, but this one manages to really break the mold and more or less attempt an original story. There’s a good deal of comedy in the film, and I think it helps underline that the ridiculously blood-thirsty military guys are the baddies. 

5. Godzilla vs. Kong (dir. Adam Wingard, 2021)

This leaped into the 5th place spot on this list after my initial viewing because it is a better Kong movie than it is a Godzilla movie. For a few reasons raging from design to licensing, Kong is just so more expressive than my favorite big monster in the film, and his bond with a human child carries so much of the film’s pathos. Seeing Kong through her eyes made me appreciate his character greatly. Plus he gets to solve problems, think about stuff, and wield a giant power axe. That’s just cool!

6. King Kong (dir. Peter Jackson, 2005)

Why does this exist? Because Peter Jackson got the chance to remake the film that made him want to be a filmmaker. What is it about? Mostly, Peter Jackson getting the chance to remake the film that made him want to be a filmmaker. But overall there's not much substance here. It's all spectacle, and it feels like it was made the way a kid watches a movie...all imagination, but hardly anything underneath. There's a bit in here about how Carl Denham (Jack Black) essentially puts the artist in 'con artist.' You can see Jackson celebrating the more charlatan aspects of his chosen profession, sneaking art into theaters under the noses of money-minded studio bosses. 

The production is lush of course, and the 4K disc looks fantastic. The rendering of old New York is especially charming as well. However, there's way too much CGI in Skull Island. It never feels like a real place, because the scale is so over the top. 

Jackson does try to give the human characters more storylines, but it seems more like a way to justify the film’s long runtime rather than adding much to the overall story. And except Denham, they are all resolved or dropped by the time they leave Skull Island. Naomi Watts is single handedly the most captivating element of this film, but there’s no way that this movie needs to be twice as long as the original. 

7. Kong: Skull Island (dir. Jordan Vogt-Roberts, 2017)

I have deeply mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, it is a movie of glorious spectacle, focused on imagery above all else. On the other hand, it has no idea what those images mean. Kong: Skull Island feels like it was edited/directed by someone who has seen a ton of movies, loves those kinds of amazing shots, but doesn't understand that they work as much as they do because those films try to earn those shots, rather than just being beautiful looking. This movie co-opts images of The Vietnam War without ever reckoning with what those images mean in a way that is almost offensive?

On the other other hand, this movie has an incredibly stacked cast. Special notice should be given to John C. Reilly’s performance as a World War II soldier stranded on Skull Island for 30 years, as well as the off-the-carts chemistry between Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston. I’ve come to accept this movie’s flaws, but that does make it hard to recommend to people. 

8. Son of Kong (dir. Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933)

This slapdash sequel from one of the original’s directors is more promising than it is good. The setup has Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) on the ropes due to the financial and insurance-related fallout of having a giant ape tearing up downtown Manhattan. So it’s back to the island to find another ape! Armstrong is really compelling as Denham here. It’s a strong character choice (it kind of reminds me of Iron Man 3 in that regard), but sadly, any interest is dropped once this gets into standard adventure territory.

9. King Kong vs. Godzilla (dir. Ishirō Honda, 1962, and Thomas Montgomery, 1963)

While I have a lot of nostalgia for the U.S. version (it was the only Godzilla or King Kong movie I had seen for most of my childhood), there is nothing much to recommend here. It’s not even fun-goofy. I’m pretty sure that, even as a kid, I would fast forward through a lot of this on VHS. I was a smart kid. I will note that the Japanese cut (which does not feature a different ending) is much more coherent, paced, and well-balanced. But Honda as a director really figures out the monster battles in the following two films, so it still is nearly at the bottom of this list.

10. The Mighty Kong (dir. Art Scott, 1998)

Almost unwatchable. The animation is on par with your average episode of The Real Ghostbusters, but that's just not good enough for a feature length film from 1998. This clearly is going for that early 90s Disney style, but without the storytelling craft. 

Also, they make it “family-friendly” by not having Kong die, but still manage to frequently objectify Ann Darrow (voiced by Jodi Benson of Ariel The Little Mermaid fame).

Honorable Mentions: Kong Clones

While the above are the ‘official’ Kong appearances (there’s a bunch involving rights over the names and things), there are also some ‘big monke’ movies that are not intended to be Kong movies, yet are inarguably indebted to the 8th Wonder of the World!

1. Mighty Joe Young (dir. Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1949)

This film, from the same producer, director, and screenwriter of King Kong and Son of Kong, was an attempt to get lightning to strike twice. And though the film didn’t connect with audiences at the time, I found it a charming fairy tale about a girl and her giant gorilla friend. In addition, it boasts effects as innovative as the original Kong. In addition, there’s a fire in the final act and the entire film is tinted red as a result, which adds even more tension to an already mesmerizing sequence. This story is really about how show businesses ruins the innocent and turns them into monsters the minute they can’t be controlled, which adds another layer of weight to Joe’s story.

2. Congo (dir. Frank Marshall, 1995)

A group of people from the West venture into a jungle environment where they discover something astonishing involving gorillas, is Kong adjacent enough for this to count. When I was a kid the story I thought this movie had was of a hidden civilization of sentient apes. This was based on the trailers and the action figures, which were very cool. But I only caught up with the movie recently as my mom deemed the book too violent for 9 year old me. Anyway, this is actually a fun adventure film with Laura Linney, Tim Curry, and Ernie Hudson! 

3. Konga (dir. John Lemont, 1961)

“There's a huge monster gorilla that's constantly growing to outlandish proportions loose in the streets!”

I had been wanting to watch Konga since I saw the trailer at an Exhumed Films event last summer. This is one of those movies where the trailer promises a giant ape, but that really doesn’t happen until the end of the film. 

BUT. Konga has so much more to offer than merely an ape with outlandish proportions. Konga starts as a chimpanzee, then becomes a man-sized gorilla that Dr. Charles Decker (Michael Gough) uses to do his dirty work. Konga, doing Decker’s bidding, offs a dean as well as a student that calls Decker out on trying to gaslight a female student the dirty professor has his eye on. While Konga is his muscle, Decker spends much of his time attending carnivorous plants he’s grown to insane size that now need to be fed large amounts of raw meat. 

It also contains the should-be-classic line: “What are you having with your poached egg? Murder?”

Featured on this episode of I Saw It In a Movie.

4. Mighty Joe Young (dir. Ron Underwood, 1998)

I remember the ads for this one being everywhere in 1998, but I never saw it until I decided to include it on the list. While Joe Young still feels like an effects marvel, and this comes right before they probably felt like they could get away with him being all-digital, so it is mostly an animatronic gorilla. Still, there’s just nothing that’s all that compelling here, even with poaching playing a central role in the story.