The Chekhov's Gun You Didn't Notice Early In Godzilla Vs. Kong
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Contains spoilers for Godzilla vs. Kong
The HBO Max and theatrical release of Godzilla vs. Kong has certainly satisfied the itch for fans of the kaiju genre. The film's giant monster fights are just as thrilling as ever, and the entire movie's riddled with Easter eggs that only true King Kong or Godzilla enthusiasts would pick up on. One of these hidden clues involves the use of a Chekhov's gun, a plot device in film and literature that's used to foreshadow an event. This is usually done by focusing on an object near the beginning of a story that will have more significant meaning later on.
In Godzilla vs. Kong, a blatant Chekhov's gun is presented to fans early on, but there's a lot more to it than you might expect. Not only is this object a clever bit of foreshadowing, but it's also a reference that should stand out for fans of previous Godzilla films.
The Chekhov's gun in Godzilla vs. Kong ends up saving the day
The Chekhov's gun in Godzilla vs. Kong is an alcohol flask owned by Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), a former technician who became a hardcore conspiracy theorist. The film lingers on this flask during several scenes, and even has characters such as Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) and Josh Valentine (Julian Dennison) bring it up in conversation, implying that it's going to be important later down the road. This ends up being the case, when the flask is used in the penultimate fight between Mechagodzilla, Godzilla, and King Kong. When the mechanized monstrosity ends up being too much for the titular creatures to handle, the contents inside Bernie's flask are used to briefly short-circuit Mechagodzilla, giving the giant monster duo an opportunity to attack.
In addition to Bernie's flask being used as a Chekhov's gun, the drink inside the object refers to an older film in the Godzilla franchise. The name of the drink is revealed to be "Kazunari single malt whiskey," which is a reference to Kazunari Mori, the Mechagodzilla suit actor from the 1974 and '75 films, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and Terror of Mechagodzilla. In addition to this nod to the actor, the object name also hints that the film's main antagonist is going to be Mechagodzilla. With all of these layers in place, the writers for Godzilla vs. Kong really knew how to shove some narrative weight into such a small object.
Track the flask across three acts in Godzilla vs. Kong on HBO Max and in theaters.