Mighty Peking Man is not a bad movie really but it struggle really really hard to be a good one. This Shaw Brothers production checks off a lot of genre boxes as the story tumbles along at a pretty good pace. The actors seem competent and the girl is downright pretty, so that helps solve a lot of issues.
The story begins when a Himalaya village is wracked by earthquakes and Peking Man (a giant simian of some kind) shows up and raises hell. Quickly an expedition is mounted and Johnny (our hero ) is coming off a bad break-up so he's the mood to travel to the ends of the Earth. The trip is dangerous and eventually Johnny is abandoned when he meets first Peking Man and then Samantha, a beautiful blonde jungle goddess, a lone survivor of a long ago plane crash.
She and Peking Man, who she calls "Utam" are buds and before long she and Johnny are lovers. That idyllic moment doesn't last long as a serpent literally interrupts this mountainous Eden with a deadly bite and Johnny must save his new dame. Then they head to civilization by way of Hong Kong and we all already know that will not turn out well for Utam especially. There's plenty of mayhem for those of us who like mayhem.
There is some really good kaiju-like activity in this one and the action as a whole is pretty good. The characters are well drawn if not deep. The movie ends abruptly though and to be honest I'm not sure who lived and who died exactly. Mighty Peking Man is definitely worth any kaiju or Kong fan's time.
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