The Monster Island Film Vault Posts

Having spent a few weeks bandaging my bruised ego after the Island’s Board of Directors bamboozled me, I’ve decided to channel my inner Joel Robinson by riffing Nathan and Dallas’ discussion of Kong: Skull Island. That always cheers me up. (That and Baby Yoda).

Here we go!

• Dallas meant to say “Goji-Kong” and not “Goji-kun.” He gave our mascots/resident gremlins that “duo name” before the broadcast but misspoke on the air.
• The actor from Godzilla (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron Nathan couldn’t remember was Aaron Taylor-Johnson. You lost some serious nerd points there, Marchand. (Also, he was the star of Kick-Ass).
• IMDB does claim that James Conrad was likely named after author Joseph Conrad. It also mentions that Marlow was named after the protagonist in the author’s most famous novel, heart of Darkness. But this is IMDB we’re talking about here, so it may require a kaiju-sized grain of salt.
• The Legendary Godzilla actually appeared throughout history and inspired mythologies, but this was between long naps. He was awakened by nuclear submarine on accident in 1954, which led to the Castle Bravo test meant to kill him.
• Nathan neglected to mention that the town of Brookings, Oregon, has a 400-year-old samurai sword from a Japanese fighter pilot on display. Read about it here.
• It was five months after the Cubs won (October 2016-March 2017). Nathan, you never were good at math-ing.
• The name of Marlow’s Japanese friend was Gunpei Ikari. You lost some more nerd points there, Nathan.
• The name of the Chinese actress was Jing Tian. Her role was originally larger, but it was reduced through cuts to the movie. Interestingly, in Chinese her role is described as “hua ping” which refers to a vase. As in an insignificant role.
• The actor who played young Marlow and Marlow’s son was Will Britain.
• No, I will not share the vacation photo I slipped into the slideshow briefing. The Internet couldn’t handle it.
• It’s called a dump button, Nathan. “Drop button.” Sheesh!
• Oldboy is no longer on Netflix, at least in the U.S.
• Dallas, you said “literally” when you meant “figuratively”! I’m surprised Nathan didn’t chew you out for that. I would’ve said something, but it wasn’t that important.
• Actually, from what I can tell, U.S. troop deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq are comparable to the Vietnam War. There’ve been 775,000 troops deployed at least once to Afghanistan. Mind you, those weren’t all at once. There were 340,000 U.S. troops stationed in and around Iraq when Baghdad fell in 2005, with 235,000 engaged in the war.
• “Eight month hiatus” for the “Kong Quest” (ba-dun-ching)? More like seven months, Nathan (April-November). Again, you’ve never been good with numbers. 😛

And now to fulfill my contractual obligations, here are Nathan’s leftover notes:

The Film

• Starts in WWII. Conflict between American and Japanese fighter pilot. Foreshadows Kong and Godzilla? The Japanese pilot is never seen after the opening, which is disappointing.
• Young Marlow is a terrible shot.
• “Skull Island: The land where God did not finish creation.” Interesting. “A place where myth and science meet.” Describes the MonsterVerse.
• It’s implied that Hiddleston is also a disgraced soldier hardened by the war and the public.
• Larson gives a much better performance here than in Captain Marvel. I actually like her here. She isn’t a block of wood.
• This briefing scene is similar to one from Kong ’76. The island is also obscured by a perpetual storm, which is like the fog of ’76, but a little crazy.
• How many helicopters are there? The number seems to shift.
• I can’t help but think the close-ups of the Nixon bobblehead during Jackson’s Icarus speech and whatnot are meant to be commentaries on the war and foolhardiness. 
• Once they reach the island in 27 minutes, it really starts to feel like Apocalypse Now. That’s interesting because this film was largely shot in Vietnam. Director Vogt-Roberts became very fond of the country.
• Kong’s anti-copter tree attack returns from King Kong Escapes!
• This version of Skull Island has the most diverse wildlife. The giant buffalo is one of the most interesting.
• The hollow Earth theory is brought up here for the first time.
• I’ve been told the soldier being impaled by the bamboo spider was inspired by a film I never want to see: Cannibal Holocaust.
• In this film we see Kong hunt.
• The natives here are a bit odd. They have no crime or personal property (“beyond all that”). They don’t speak much. They have hallowed ground dedicated to Kong and will cut off people’s hands if they touch the wrong thing.
• Kong is the god of the island, but the devils live below. “Kong is king around here.” Said like that because of copyright? This breaks the tradition of “King” not being given to him until he’s taken to civilization.
• There’s still a wall like in most Kong films.
• I feel sorry for this young guy. He wanders around alone for a long time and dies alone.
• “The dangerous places are the most beautiful.” -Conrad
• Like in 2005, Kong is lonely and the last of his kind, but he doesn’t seek companionship from a specific human. The closest is the tribe, which he protects.
• The scientist getting dismembered by the lizard birds is…gruesome. Visceral.
• “I’ve taken enough photos of mass graves to recognize one.” I don’t think this quite qualifies.
• John Goodman gets killed off too soon, although he does help set up a cool set piece. He reminds me of the professor from Jurassic Park.
• Man, that katana is sharp! It slices through lizard bird like paper!
• There’s a lot of respect shown to the military and soldiers in this film.
• In some ways, this film is an overcompensation for the perceived “problems” of G2014. The daylight complaint I’m tired of hearing. Some say it’s because it’s easier to hide SFX problems at night, but in this film, the characters aren’t brightly colored or have colorful attacks, so daylight makes sense.
• FPS shots!
• Kong is angry not only because his family is dead and he’s the last of his kind, but also because humans and Skullcrawlers keep invading his home. He attacks and kills humans intentionally because of this (unlike Godzilla). (Omni Viewer).
• Packard dies just before Jackson can say his “famous line.”
• 1:37:00: Vertigo shot!
• Once again Kong is caught in chains that he breaks. In this case, it wasn’t chains of captivity. Strength overcoming hardship. He then uses them and the boat rotors as weapons.
• Kong saves Mason and golds her in his hand, but that’s the closest we get to classic Kong. Miraculously, she isn’t crushed in his hand when the Big One swallows Kong’s hand. Good thing she was unconscious.
• Kong kills the Big One, it’s implied, out of gratitude for the protagonists helping him with Packard.
• Director Vogt-Roberts wanted Kong to move like a mech, which is weird.
• Vogt-Roberts went on a Twitter rant when CinemaSins released their video on the film.
• Vogt-Roberts says he was reinventing the story not as man vs. nature but as man vs. god. Didn’t want to retell the beauty and the beast story.
• Vogt-Roberts says in the 1970s, people were actively destroying myth, but these characters go where it still exists.
• Kong needs to be huge to small his grandiosity, humans in the shadow of the colossus.
• Vogt-Roberts says he loves flawed characters because that makes them interesting.
• Vogt-Roberts did hope that people walked away wondering what role myth and nature play in their lives.
• Early concepts were more gorilla-like, but Vogt-Roberts wanted him to be more movie monster, more Neanderthal-like.
• ILM used komodo dragons, deer, and buffalo for reference for the Skullcrawlers. Looked at how deer and buffalo thrust their heads getting up.
• Those working on the film say every Kong film brings with it technical innovation.
• Most Americans know Vietnam through the war, and those photos were from the siuth. The north has completely different landscape. “Like a matte paiting.” –Vogt-Roberts
• Brie Larson worked with real photographer and war correspondents. Her camera was real. She took photos on set. On blu-ray. Some used in film, some not.
• Symbols painted on Iwi skin and woven into their clothing as form of communication and camouflage. They’re not indigenous. Collection of people who were stranded on island.
• Post-credit scene wasn’t always in film. Vogt-Roberts believed in it, but it took a new technician who hadn’t seen the film before to say it should be included.

The Toku Topic

• Soldiers grew more restless and doubted their purpose for being there and the government’s reasoning for doing so. Many suffered from PTSD and turned to vices like drugs. “On the collapse of U.S. morale, historian Shelby Stanton wrote: ‘In the last years of the Army’s retreat, its remaining forces were relegated to static security. The American Army’s decline was readily apparent in this final stage. Racial incidents, drug abuse, combat disobedience, and crime reflected growing idleness, resentment, and frustration… the fatal handicaps of faulty campaign strategy, incomplete wartime preparation, and the tardy, superficial attempts at Vietnamization. An entire American army was sacrificed on the battlefield of Vietnam.’” (Wikipedia)
• ROTC enrollment dropped drastically from 191,749 in 1966 to 72,459 by 1971, and reached an all-time low of 33,220 in 1974,” depriving the military of much-needed leadership. (Wikipedia)
• “In 1970, a joint U.S-South Vietnamese operation invaded Cambodia, hoping to wipe out DRV supply bases there. The South Vietnamese then led their own invasion of Laos, which was pushed back by North Vietnam. … The invasion of these countries, in violation of international law, sparked a new wave of protests on college campuses across America. During one, on May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, National Guardsmen shot and killed four students. At another protest 10 days later, two students at Jackson State University in Mississippi were killed by police.” (History.com)
• There was much insubordination among the ranks as the war went on (which sounds like the film when Packard’s men turn on him). “Ron Milam has questioned the severity of the ‘breakdown’ of the U.S. armed forces, especially among combat troops, as reflecting the opinions of ‘angry colonels’ (can you say Packard?) who deplored the erosion of traditional military values during the Vietnam War. Although acknowledging serious problems, he questions the alleged ‘near mutinous’ conduct of junior officers and enlisted men in combat. Investigating one combat refusal incident, a journalist declared, ‘A certain sense of independence, a reluctance to behave according to the military’s insistence on obedience, like pawns or puppets…The grunts [infantrymen] were determined to survive…they insisted of having something to say about the making of decisions that determined whether they might live or die.’ The morale and discipline problems and resistance to conscription were important factors leading to the creation of an all-volunteer military force by the United States and the termination of conscription. The last conscript was inducted into the army in 1973. The all-volunteer military moderated some of the coercive methods of discipline previously used to maintain order in military ranks.”
• “President Ronald Reagan coined the term ‘Vietnam Syndrome’ to describe the reluctance of the American public and politicians to support further military interventions abroad after Vietnam. In the same speech, he voiced support for the war and its veterans, saying, “It is time we recognized that ours was, in truth, a noble cause. A small country newly free from colonial rule sought our help in establishing self-rule and the means of self-defense against a totalitarian neighbor bent on conquest. We dishonor the memory of 50,000 young Americans who died in that cause when we give way to feelings of guilt as if we were doing something shameful, and we have been shabby in our treatment of those who returned. They fought as well and as bravely as any Americans have ever fought in any war. They deserve our gratitude, our respect, and our continuing concern.”
• “The Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, concerning the fate of U.S. service personnel listed as missing in action, persisted for many years after the war’s conclusion. The costs of the war loom large in American popular consciousness; a 1990 poll showed that the public incorrectly believed that more Americans lost their lives in Vietnam than in World War II.” (Wikipedia)

That’s everything for this week. My apologies for posting it late. With us pumping out bonus episodes to entertain and enlighten everyone in quarantine thanks to COVID-19, the episode took precedence over my blog.

Regardless, next week you’ll hear Nathan’s discussion of Battle in Outer Space—the second entry in Toho’s “pseudo-trilogy”—with Luke Jaconetti from the Earth Destruction Directive podcast. Then for the first episode in May, Nathan starts what could be called the “Summer of Mothra” with a discussion of Rebirth of Mothra with Bex from the Redeemed Otaku podcast.

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