My Top 10 Picks Leading to Godzilla vs. Kong

It has been 59 years since their first bout in 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla, and giant monster fans will finally get to see a rematch with 2021’s Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong. GvK is the fourth film of the Legendary series starting from Godzilla (2014) to the prequel Kong: Skull Island and lastly, 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Filming wrapped in April 2019; however, fans would have to wait two years for it to be released. Due to the global pandemic, the movie will be released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max on March 31, 2021. Why is this such a big deal? After numerous postponements, the people have waited patiently, and they are hungry for giant monster beatdowns.

For the casual moviegoer, where do you start with King Kong and Godzilla before the two meet up for the new movie? Just to be on the safe side and that you are not lost, you can always start with the three flicks preceding GvK, starting with Godzilla (2014). If you want to delve deeper to see why the fans go nuts for these giant monster flicks, look no further.

Now there are many detailed articles and videos out there chronicling the cinematic journey of King Kong, Godzilla, and others, most notably are Cinemasscare’s Monster Madness videos from the Angry Video Game Nerd himself, James Rolfe. There are many sequels, spin-offs, remakes, reboots, and rip-offs of the big two; where do we begin? Godzilla has over 30 movies, and King Kong has around nine under his belt. I want to share with you my Top 10 Godzilla/King Kong movies in order going into 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong. Before we begin, everybody has different opinions; if you don’t see your films on here, you can always recommend your favorites to others. Let’s begin!

• King Kong (1933) – The image of a giant ape holding a beautiful woman in one hand on top of the Empire State Building fighting off jets is so iconic it embedded itself into the pop culture mainstream. The effects alone were handled by FX legend Willis O’Brien who worked on the stop-motion animation bringing King Kong to life at the time. His work and influence inspired countless movie wizards out there who some cite this movie getting themselves into the business. The movie stars Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, and Bruce Cabot and is directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack and penned by Edgar Wallace, Merian Cooper, James Creelman, and Ruth Rose. I re-watched this movie recently and found myself in awe still after 88 years since the movie’s release; King Kong still has that old-school magic. Kong is to giant monster movies what Superman is to comic books; the big boom that would change the landscape of their respective mediums forever.

  

• Gojira ゴジラ (1954) – Or better known to the world as GODZILLA. There are two versions to this the Japanese original and the U.S. one starring Raymond Burr. The U.S. cut was watered down for us American audiences at the time, whereas in the original, it was taken seriously. Before becoming the heroic King of the Monsters, Godzilla was a symbol of nuclear weapons told by the very people that once witnessed its destruction in World War II. Sure, there is no giant rival Godzilla goes up against but witness the raw power and destruction what this kaiju can do. Many Godzilla fans and I highly recommend this should be a must-watch for any folks becoming a fan of this genre.

  

• Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)- In this one, Mothra, a giant moth/butterfly, tries to get a giant pterodactyl named Rodan and Godzilla to join forces to take on a three-headed space dragon called Ghidorah (or Ghidrah). This is the first time Godzilla becomes a hero in this, and the series takes a more light-hearted and kid-friendly turn. I like to talk more about it but if you haven’t seen this, definitely pop this sucker in.

  

• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)- 20 years after his debut, Godzilla returns only this time he goes up against his robo-doppelganger: Mechagodzilla! This infamous monster went on to become a worthy and memorable adversary, right up there with King Ghidorah. To see two sides of Godzilla, one good and one bad, going head-to-head is a delight for viewers. Its cheesiness, memorable monsters, ape aliens (?), Mechagodzilla being ruthless and making its debut here make it my personal favorite in all of the Godzilla series. Toho wanted to do something special for the 20^th Anniversary of Godzilla, and this movie did not disappoint.

  

• Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005)- Coming off the success of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, garnering even Best Picture, acclaimed filmmaker Peter Jackson takes on the legend of the Skull Island ape! Peter Jackson takes audiences back to the original storyline setting it back in the early 1930s. His scope and visuals expand the storyline; with his 3 to 4-hour pictures, this was inevitable, but it helps flesh out the characters more, including the star primate himself. With an all-star cast featuring Adrian Brody, Naomi Watts, Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Kyle Chandler, and Andy Serkis (who does the mocap for King Kong), this is about as epic King Kong can get and something you want fresh in your heads before GvK. Also, fun fact, the film references the Sumatran rat-monkey from Braindead (in the U.S. Dead Alive) how badass is that? You can say that King Kong is a spin-off prequel to the zombie comedy. Very clever, Mr. Jackson. Very clever.

  

• Shin Godzilla (2016)- Toho’s recent live-action incarnation directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi is a modern retelling of the atomic breathing kaiju. When Godzilla was first introduced, the giant atomic breath lizard was a metaphor for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This time Godzilla is introduced as a natural disaster drawing inspiration from the nuclear disaster of Fukushima Daiichi and tsunami/earthquake of Tōhoku in 2011. There are moments in the movie that make this one unforgettable; in one shot, there’s this scene where the characters are passing by and looking up at the awesome might of this giant and the atomic breath lasers destroying whatever in its path. The movie ends in a cliffhanger that is both eerie and eyebrow-raising. We hope to see a follow-up soon, but don’t hold your breath. When Legendary was developing their MonsterVerse, Toho was under contract from Legendary not to release any live-action Godzilla movies until 2020. Toho seems to be focusing on their animated series while Legendary handles the live-action films.

  

• King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)- Here we go the first time these two titans collided, the East versus the West, the monster icons of the U.S. and Japan going at it. This movie marked the first time these two were in color since they were first introduced in black and white. King Kong’s height was changed from 18-24 ft to match up with Godzilla’s because there wouldn’t be much of a fight. Audiences from all around came in droves for this fight, and at the time, this was the highest-attended Godzilla film in Japan. It’s debatable about who wins in the end, and yes, the rumor of a double ending between both the Japanese and American versions of this film has been debunked. With a cohesive story and movie FX continuously improving with CGI, a growing interest in giant movie monsters, and a MonsterVerse foundation established, King Kong and Godzilla will go to head-to-head once again. “One will fall.”

  

• Godzilla (2014)- The first film of the MonsterVerse series directed by Star Wars Rogue One director Gareth Edwards starring Bryan Cranston, Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Sally Hawkins, and Ken Watanabe. After the poor response and reputation of the 1998 Godzilla movie from TriStar, Legendary Productions gained the rights from Toho to produce their Godzilla lineup, and boy was it was well received. The character of Joe Brody is portrayed by Bryan Cranston (just came off the success of AMC’s Breaking Bad), delivering such a strong character performance that you almost forget you’re watching a Godzilla movie while he’s on screen. In this movie, Godzilla takes on not just one, but two other monsters in this both called the Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism (or just simply MUTO, yeah let’s go with MUTO). My favorite scene in this, and some would agree, where the TriStar one lacked, is when Godzilla uses his atomic breath for the first time and that energizing humming sound building up made audiences go crazy. This take was a breath of fresh air, and that breath alright arrived in full atomic force. Now to be clear and fair warning, Godzilla is not in this as much, but this was a good starting point. Also, not to jump on the ’98 Godzilla hate bandwagon, but without that, we would not be here with these movies like Batman & Robin not existing we would not have the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy. Besides, if you ever want to see ’98 Zilla go against Godzilla, then watch Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), you will not be disappointed. Tee-hee.

  

• Kong: Skull Island (2017)- This served as a prequel to 2014’s Godzilla as this takes place around the ending of the Vietnam War. King Kong is once again reimagined as a titan nearing the height level of Godzilla. Unlike previous versions of Kong, where in the beginning of the film, he’s on the island, gets transported to New York only to be gunned down by fighter jets, and eventually dies. In this (“spoiler alert”) Kong lives (in case the GvK trailers haven’t ruined that for you), but seriously the movie spends most of the time on Skull Island. The film is packed with good amounts of action here and has an all-star cast featuring John Goodman, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, and John C. Reilly. This movie is a nice treat giving audiences more of this Kong’s backstory, Monarch, which is the organization that studies the giant monsters on their world. With the Marvel alumni mentioned, Kong: Skull Island took cues from their movies even so far as adding a post-credits scene setting up for the next movies.

  

• Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)- Here we go, the movie preceding Godzilla vs. Kong and a movie made by Godzilla fans, and it shows. Michael Dougherty, of Trick-r-Treat and Krampus, takes the director’s chair in this and gives us not only Godzilla, but Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah! This movie marks the first official U.S. appearances of Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah, and this movie pulls no punches. This movie is a remake of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, believe it or not, because that movie brought the 4 monsters together for the first time. The fan service for this goes so far to bring back the original Godzilla theme by Akira Ifukube, and composer Bear McCreary did not disappoint. When that theme played in theaters, you can tell the fans in the theaters got excited sh*t. A nice little touch in the music was also bringing a cover of the Blue Oyster Cult hit song Godzilla featuring System of a Down’s Serj Tankian. The spectacle, kaiju action, the music, and the titans make this movie worth coming back to, is this a guilty pleasure to some? Probably. Any movie that has a replay value and able to find your excitement again, like how you first watched it automatically makes this a good Godzilla movie.

These 10 movies I recommended here should help get you pumped up for the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong in theaters and HBO Max on March 31, 2021. After so many delays due to COVID and waiting, we are finally getting to see these two back on the screen, whichever you choose to see the movie on.

To quote Ken Watanabe’s Serizawa: “Let them fight.”

This is dedicated to the cast and crew, both past and present, of the giant monster franchises for making these entertaining flicks for us and to the fans for keeping this genre alive and always growing.

Special thanks to JD Davis, Charles Kuwanyaioma, and Danny Blankemeier.

All copyrighted images (RKO Pictures, Universal, Toho, Legendary, and Warner Bros., etc.) belong to the respective owners.