Plot
An evil dictator and his terrorist
group build a huge robot called MechaKong so that it can dig out a rare
mineral which they will use to make nuclear
bombs. When the robot fails there is only one thing to do: bring in the real
thing. They kidnap King Kong, still alive on Kong Island, and have him dig for the mineral instead. But
he escapes and they send Mechakong out to destroy him. The battle that
ensues threatens to destroy Tokyo and the whole of Japan.
Review
After Toho had spent way too much
money on securing the rights to the King of the Jungle, it became apparent
that they had little in store for him once they cast him in the biggest
monster showdown ever. After rushing through the titanic battle with
Godzilla and ending the film rather weakly (with no outright winner), Kong
peaked too early in his Japanese career. Once you've fought Godzilla, what
else is there to do? It took five years for Toho to get this sequel out
after the success of King Kong Vs Godzilla. In the meantime, they'd
prepared a story for Kong but it ended up becoming a Godzilla film - that of
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. So when a studio thinks that a giant ape
and a huge lobster battling each other isn't going to cut it, what other
monster is there for Kong to fight? Well they used the good old standby of
the monster fighting his mechanical doppleganger. Hey it worked for Godzilla
later in his career, why not Kong?
King
Kong looks to have really hit the bottle since his last outing. There's no
comparing the Toho men-in-suits version with the classic Willis O'Brien stop
motion model but there's comparing this suit with the one he was stuck with
in King Kong Vs Godzilla. And the difference is staggering. Toho look
like they locked him up for years and let the moths do their worst on him.
He looks in really bad condition and I'd swear you can see bits of him
crumbling in some scenes. He's got a stupid perman-grin on his face, even
when he's getting his ass kicked and his goofy teeth stick out for a mile.
MechaKong looks the part though, or at least as much as a mechanical ape
could look. The fact that they're both human in form means that at least
they can grapple with each other and use their arms and legs. Some of the
Toho monster's lacked arms or a decent range of movement so fights were
limited. Here they do look like two guys bashing the hell out of each other
in fancy dress. Kong gets to battle his mechanical doppleganger in numerous
scenes, none of which are particularly memorable save for the finale in
which they both climb atop the Tokyo Tower. In fact the best fight scene
comes when Kong does battle with Gorosaurus on the island. It may smack of
unoriginality - I mean Kong fights a T-Rex in pretty much every movie he's
been in. But at least Gorosaurus gives him a good fight, with a nifty
kangaroo-like kick. The T-Rex suit looks pretty good too.
The
rest of the film is just bonkers. There's a sub-standard James Bond-style
vibe going on with the terrorist corporation trying to build nuclear bombs
with the mysterious Element X. They've got a secret Antarctic base and have
their own private army. Dr Who does a lot of killing - he is a 100%
certified psycho in here - and he'd give some Bond villains a run for their
money. Actor Eisei Amamoto has a lot of fun in the role and wears a cape and
funny hat whilst delivering some clunky dialogue like "the world is ours."
It's a bit weird that Toho didn't have a clue that England had their own,
infinitely more famous Dr Who back in 1963 and there's probably a lawsuit
lost in limbo somewhere along the line. Mie Hama plays Madame X, a
mysterious agent who negotiates with Dr Who and is from an unnamed country.
The script goes to great lengths to avoiding naming the country but it's
blatantly obvious it's meant to be China or North Korea. Hama more famously
portrayed Kissy Suzuki in classic Bond film You Only Live Twice so
there is more than one Bond connection to this kaiju film.
Verdict
King Kong Escapes is
the big ape's worst day at the cinema by a long shot and he's had some real stinkers. He
probably wished he'd have stayed dead at the end of the 1933 original now.
There's some daft fun in the fight scenes but it's more likely because you
feel sorry for the state of King Kong himself rather than any emotional
attachment to this film.
