Next up is probably my 2nd favorite Godzilla film of all time, even though it's one of the more low key ones. Ever wanted to bitch slap a giant lobster! Then step right up!
The sequel to Kong: Skull Island, this proposed film idea of mine more or less deals with the aftermath of Kong’s battle with Godzilla, whilst exploring how the emergence of Kaiju has led to a whole new black-market specializing in the trafficking of them and their parts.
Near or at the beginning of the film, we have Kong at Skull Island’s shore during the sunset. He flashes back to his battle with Godzilla, where he was nearly drowned (if this doesn’t happen in Godzilla VS Kong, this scene is cut out). It becomes clear that he’s grown some insecurities and trauma regarding the ocean, and Kong attempts to mitigate this by angrily yelling at the ocean and striking the water before retreating back. Frustrated, he tends back to his regular schedule, either as King of the Monsters or not.
HotD is meant to discuss Kong’s traumas regarding his previous battle, or at the very least how he has a glaring weakness when it comes to water, unlike his rival Godzilla. So, what better way to challenge our hero than to make him face off against an aquatic Kaiju, Ebirah?
(Obviously, this film’s existence acknowledges how Godzilla vs Ebirah was initially a Kong film. And, seeing as how we’ve already got plenty of potential Godzilla films, unlike with Kong, I decided to give this monster to him.)
The main conflict revolves around a criminal-terrorist organization, the Red Bamboo. Among their cast is Raul, a new hotshot who’s been rising through the ranks. Raul is meant to be an adaptation of Ryuui, and like his predecessor he has an eyepatch embroidered with the Red Bamboo insignia. It’s later revealed in the film that Raul is the same person we saw selling Kevin to Jonah at the end of KotM, with the red bandanas he and his crew were wearing as foreshadowing to this.
Raul’s motives are obvious- It’s a new world, and after the Oxygen Destroyer he and his community needed a way to survive. This eventually led to the inhabitants of Isla de Mara (or what was left of them) leaving room for the Red Bamboo to take over, with Raul himself joining. Raul is clearly bitter at the US for their usage of the Oxygen Destroyer, but otherwise he displays a casual, charismatic personality in his interactions. He’s clearly an economically-minded person who was forced by circumstance to do what it takes to survive, and he’s admitted this and embraced it.
Raul helps contribute to the Red Bamboo’s cause of buying and selling Kaiju DNA and parts, as well as arms dealing, smuggling, etc. Like Jonah, part of their political motives are ‘levelling the global playingfield’, especially when it comes to giving third-world countries nuclear weapons. It’s briefly discussed the pros and cons of this; Namely, allowing third-world countries power and leverage to fend for themselves, at the cost of Nuclear War possibly happening.
Still, the Red Bamboo is by no means a ‘good’ organization, and some of its kinder deeds stem either from an attempt to built a good image, and/or members who joined the group specifically to help out their homes. Either way, its main motive is profit and power. Their main base of operations is at Devil’s Island, which may or may not be shaped like it has horns. Either way, this is where all of their merchandise passes through, with some nuclear weapons even being manufactured at the base.
The Red Bamboo manages to hide itself utilizing a combination of violent storms and advanced, state-of-the-art cloaking technology (Fun fact: This technology was given to them by Jonah in a trade). Like in the source material, the Red Bamboo maintains a tentative relationship with Ebirah that the crustacean knows nothing of;
Ebirah acts as a guard-dog of sorts, due to his territorial nature in patrolling the waters around Devil’s Island. Intruders or people escaping quickly find their boats torn apart by Ebirah’s powerful, cutting pincers before being devoured. Luckily, the Red Bamboo manages to circumvent this by having kidnapped slaves utilize the island’s fruits (possibly Durian) to form a foul-smelling concoction that keeps Ebirah at bay. Despite this, Red Bamboo sailors still get rather uneasy when passing through Ebirah’s domain.
Kong gets himself involved when some Iwi natives are kidnapped to be slaves in the concoction-making process. The main cast, consisting of Monarch agents and Iwi villagers, and/or some regular civilians, get wrapped up in their attempts to free their friends and uncover the Red Bamboo’s operations.
Kong’s soft spot for the Iwi makes him head towards Devil’s Island himself, either using the Hollow Earth or maybe even swimming there personally- The latter would be a bit of a character development. Either way, Kong and our human protagonists arrive on Devil’s Island. There, they get wrapped up in the Red Bamboo’s plots and antics. Mothra may or may not get involved when people from Infant Island are kidnapped.
Kong has an initial battle with Ebirah, which doesn’t go too well, but he barely manages to escape and isn’t badly wrecked. He devises a new strategy and plans, even swimming in Devil’s Island’s lakes to train and prepare for the rematch with Ebirah. Meanwhile, the human protagonists get messed up with the Red Bamboo. They discover Raul’s origins, and at one point we have a very brief snippt of a scene where the Red Bamboo leader is discussing with a client about shipments of hi-tech weapons and nukes (This is meant to be subtle foreshadowing towards Mechagodzilla).
One of the protagonists incites a subtle rebellion amongst the slaves that involves switching out the concoction that keeps Ebirah at bay with another one (As a joke, said protagonist has no problem with the fruit’s stench and even loves it). Meanwhile, Kong comes into battle with the Giant Condor.
In this case, the Giant Condor is either;
A) Like in the source material, an irradiated mutant of unnatural origins that is killed off.
B) A natural Kaiju of the Titanus category, taking heavy cues from The Giant Claw and being named Okondoru, or Urodnoko. The Kaiju is beaten and sent fleeing.
C) Literally Rodan, who arrived at Devil’s Island awhile back and was appeased by the Red Bamboo’s regular offerings of food. Rodan, surprised to see Kong, sees an opportunity and challenges him for the title of King of the Monsters. Big surprise, he gets his butt kicked and agrees to help Kong defeat the Red Bamboo.
Either way, the film’s climax culminates with an attack by Kong against the Red Bamboo. Try as they might, but the feared organization quickly finds themselves out of their weight-class in a hilariously one-sided battle against Kong. Kong easily thrashes the Red Bamboo while the human protagonists lead the slaves to freedom.
The Red Bamboo leader calls a retreat as he, Raul, and several other goons load a ship with precious cargo and start fleeing. When Ebirah begins to stir, they attempt to ward him off with the concoction, but surprise! It’s the fake one, and Ebirah casually lifts the ship into the air and slices it in half with his pincers, before turning his attention to Kong.
Recognizing his foe, Ebirah challenges Kong and vice-versa. Kong at first utilizes a strategy of hurling boulders and other debris at Ebirah, but the crustacean adapts and simply flicks it aside. Eventually, Kong dives into the water, fighting Ebirah on his turf. Utilizing his training and clever thinking, Kong gets the upper hand on Ebirah, eventually dragging him to the shore.
Cut off from the water, Ebirah finds himself out of his depth (Heh heh), struggling to adapt to dry land as Kong quickly defeats him. To finish off the fight, Kong straight up tears Ebirah’s claws right out of their sockets, one by one, before leaving his crippled foe to slink back into the ocean. Roaring and pounding his chest in victory, Kong grimly-proudly slurps up some of Ebirah’s meat before checking on the human protagonists.
Aaaannd… Cue happy ending! For now, at least… A post-credits scene reveals Raul barely clinging to some floating debris, apparently the only survivor from Ebirah’s attack. He opens up his eyepatch to reveal a tiny, orb-shaped device nestled in his empty eye-socket. Taking it out, Raul activates the device, sending out an emergency broadcast that attracts a helicopter with Jonah and his group inside.
Jonah picks up Raul, casually holding him at gunpoint as he muses on why he shouldn’t just torture him for information on the Red Bamboo. Raul keeps his cool, revealing to Jonah that the organization managed to manufacture a few nukes and get them off-island before Ebirah destroyed the rest, and he’ll happily put in a good word to the rest of the group in exchange for freedom.
Super yummy lunch that lissi and i had at Red bamboo in new york. As starters we had vegan chicken nuggets (which were SO Good!), vegan buffalo wings which were tasty but looked too much like meat for my taste and green vegan dumplings which were my favorite 😍
as a main dish i had potatoes and vegan chicken in a really good coconut sauce with a side of brown rice and veggies.
And for dessert: THE BOMB 😍 peanutbutter chocolate cake which probably was the best cake i had in my (entire) life 🎉
