Kong Skull Island introduces Kong to the Monsterverse and sets the war parable against Kaiju survival! I knew King Kong from the 1976 remake, it wasn’t memorable, then it was King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) which had some great Kaiju action, but the Kong suit was not up to standards and it was silly. Then, came the Peter Jackson King Kong (2005) which was a CG disappointment, it just doesn’t seem to bring the love of the original, have fun characters, and even have the power of the first King Kong (1933). Kong entered the MonsterVerse with this movie directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts. He also directed episodes of the horror comedy show, Death Valley (2011). The story is by John Gatins who worte the screenplay for Real Steel (2011). The screenplay is by Dan Gilroy who wrote and directed Nightcrawler (2014), Derek Connelly, one of the screenwriters for Jurassic World (20150, and Max Borenstein who is crafting the MonsterVerse staring with Godzilla (2014). The film takes off with gunfire in the clouds as we get that it is “Somewhere over the South Pacific, 1944.”
We see the glare of the sun as a man comes falling down from the sky! There is a beach with rocky formations around it and a plane crashes down. An American soldier (Will Brittain) in a parachute lands,. He was in the comedy series 25 & Counting. Another plane crashes and the Japanese pilot parachutes to the beach (Miyavi). He was in the biographical drama Unbroken (2014). The American fires his gun at his enemy, the shots hit around Gunpei in the sand dune. The Japanese shoots at the rival pilot and then chases him into the jungle to a cliff. He has his sword and also a knife, but while they struggle a massive paw clamps down on the cliff! It is the massive head of Kong and he roars! There is some newsreel footage of the scientific discoveries and political climate before we get Washington D.C. in 1973. There are protestors of the war before we get the cab of Bill Randa (John Goodman). He was previously in the horror movie 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016). He is an official for the Monarch official going to the government for a mission since the company is running out of funds.
Randa is working with geologist Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins), he was in episodes of The Walking Dead. Glasses and wearing a sweater, Brooks is too collegiate to operate in the jungle. Randa is meeting with Senator Willis (Richard Jenkins), he was in The Cabin in the Woods (2012), his character’s name is a nod to special effects legend of the original Kong, Willis O’Brien. He presents the senator of satellite photos taken recently of Skull Island. Brooks notes that Landsat, the NASA program to mapping through satellites, is sending a mission. Also, that the Russians will find the island in three days. The senator reluctantly agrees and Randa adds that will need a military escort. This shifts to the Da Nang Air Base in Vietnam, soldiers are playing cards as the 3rd Assault Helicopter Company is getting ready to close. Watching them is Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson). Jackson was also in The Legend of Tarzan (2016).
In his office, he is met by Major Jack Chapman (Toby Kebbell), he was in the drama, A Monster Calls (2016). Packard checks a box of mail and other belongings. It shifts to his office at night. We get the soldiers laughing in the rain and Colonel Packard is directed to a phone call. Even though all of his unit are ready to ship back home, Packard approves of one last op escorting the Landsat team with his helicopters to the island. In the rain, Quan Nam, Saigon, Randa is searching for a tracker at a bar. They find him, James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) playing pool, and then he takes out several men with his pool stick. Hiddleston was previously starring in Crimson Peak (2015). In her dark room, war time photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) is checking her photos. Larson played the mother in the drama, Room (2015). Mason gets a call that she is approved for the Landsat mission. The Athena is docked at Bangkok, Thailand. She meets with Packard before boarding. Yup, it’s basically Captain Marvel meeting Nick Fury before the movie!
Everyone is briefed on the mission, the “resource exploration team” with Randa and Brooks also includes Miss San (Jing Tian), a biologist. Tian was also in the action movie, The Great Wall (2016). Brooks explains that they will be dropping seismic bombs to chart the underground. Major Chapman points out that the storms will block radio and the only other contact will be through the refueling ship that will meet with them in three days. Conrad is checking the hold and is met by Mason. In the morning, everyone prepares for the arrival to the island, they board the helicopters and then launch from the ship into the storm! It is bumpy ride through lightning, but the helicopters break through and reach Skull Island. The seismic charges are dropped, spinning hand-held bombs, that reveal to Brooks a “Hollow Earth”, this is a hint that leads to Godzilla vs. Kong. A helicopter sees a massive tree heading toward the cockpit before it smashes into it! The charges have awakened Kong!
We see the setting sun with the dark form of Kong rising and helicopters closing in on him bi-plane style. It is a shot out of Apocalypse Now (1979). They close in on Kong and Packard gives the order to open fire. It does not go well. Packard’s helicopter goes down. The helicopter of Conrad and Mason follows it. Packard can only stare vengefully at Kong tearing up his helicopter company. Chapman is also grounded. The groups are separated and Conrad has to lead his group to the river. They encounter a Kaiju-sized water buffalo which is mostly docile and other beasties a little more hostile. This is more of an eco-system than a world of all predators in Godzilla vs. Kong. The worst of the Skull Island creatures is the Skull Crawlers, reptilian Kaiju with hardened heads like skulls. Conrad’s group finds the Iwe natives, Jia from GvK was the last of them. They are lead by a marooned character played by John C. Reilly. He was in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). His character is eccentric, a little funny, and a survivor. The two groups have to get through the dangers of Skull Island to reach the rendezvous with Packard intent on revenge. Kong: Skull Island has some interesting Kaiju battles that stand above the other Kong movies.
Three Seismic Charges out of Five!
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