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Kong: Skull Island

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Kong: Skull Island
Credits
Title: Kong: Skull Island
Genres: Adventure
Directed by: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Written by: Dan Gilroy; Eric McLeod; Max Borenstein; Derek Connolly; John Gatins
Produced by: Edward Cheng; Alex Garcia; Jon Jashni; Thomas Tull; Jennifer Conroy; Tom C. Peitzman
Music by: Henry Jackman
Cinematography: Larry Fong
Edited by: Richard Pearson
Production
Distributed by: Warner Bros.
Legendary Pictures
Released: March 10th, 2017
Rating: PG-13
Running time: 127 min.
Country: USA
Language: English
Budget: $190,000,000 [1]
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Kong: Skull Island is an American feature film of the action and giant monster genres. It is a remake of the various iterations of the King Kong films that have been produced over the years and is the second film in Legendary Pictures' shared "MonsterVerse" continuity, after 2014's reboot of Godzilla. The film was directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts with a screenplay written by Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein and Derek Connolly based on a story treatment by John Gatins. It premiered in the United States on March 10th, 2017.

Kong: Skull Island features an ensemble cast which includes Tom Hiddleston as James Conrad, Samuel L. Jackson as Preston Packard, Brie Larson as Mason Weaver, John C. Reilly as Hank Marlow, John Goodman as Bill Randa, and Corey Hawkins as Houston Brooks.

Plot[]

It's 1944, World War II. Somewhere on the South Pacific, two planes fall on an island, followed closely by their parachuting pilots: American soldier Hank Marlow and Japanese soldier Gunpei Ikari. As soon as they see each other, the shooting and running begin, and the chase takes them from the beach into the jungle. Hank finds himself obliged to stop when he comes across the edge of a cliff, an opportunity Gunpei uses to attack him with his sword. Hank stops the sword with his bare hands and pushes Gunpei away, disarming him. But Gunpei takes a knife and jumps on Hank, his knife merely inches from his throat when suddenly, a giant hairy hand appears over the edge of the cliff, followed by a huge gorilla head that roars at the soldiers.

We then cut to Washington, where we see a taxi parking in front of the White House. Two men come out of it: Bill Randa, head of the U.S government organization Monarch, and Doctor Houston Brooks, a geologist. They're there to see Senator Willis, and Brooks isn't sure it is a good idea considering the timing, but Randa reminds him they're broke and this is their last chance. The Senator receives them in their office even if he's rather skeptical about it, and the men quickly begin their explanation: they've discovered an uncharted island on the South Pacific of which legends speak about: Skull Island, the place where God did not finish creation, notorious for all the ships and planes that have gone missing there. Randa thinks that the 1954 nuclear tests weren't tests, they were trying to destroy something there and that there's an imaginable ecosystem to be found. The Senator still thinks it's a fairytale so he leaves his office, but Randa and Brooks don't give up and following him with more reasons to do this: there's a mission going nearby soon, so they could piggyback on it, and there are many things that they possibly find on the island - Brooks isn't sure what that could be, but whatever it is, they can't let the Russians find it first. That manages to convince the Senator, who tells them this will be the last favour he does for them. Randa adds they'll need a military escort.

We're shown an American airbase in Vietnam next, where all soldiers are getting ready to go home now the war is over. Here we meet officers Glenn Mills, Earl Cole, Reg Slivko, Reles, and their Lieutenant Colonel, Preston Packard. After some drinking, Packard goes back to his office, where he's checked on by Major Jack Chapman. It seems Chapman already has a job in his future, but Packard feels all his achievements had been for nothing. Later, when night falls, Packard receives a call asking him to join Randa's mission he very grateful accepts.

Meanwhile, in Saigon, Brooks and Randa are going to a bar to hire a former special air service captain as their tracker. Inside the bar, they find this man, James Conrad, playing pool and winning money for it. His opponents get angry for losing and try to hurt him, but he quickly knocks them out using the cue stick. A moment later, the three of them are sharing a table and trying to reach a deal. Conrad thinks this expedition is extremely dangerous, so he asks for five times the money they're offering plus a bonus if they make it back. They accept. Conrad also wants to know exactly what they're tracking, but Brooks and Randa only tell him they want his expertise in exploring dangerous territory.

Next we cut to Mason Weaver, a photojournalist, doing work in her dark room. She receives a call informing she's been accepted into Randa's expedition, which makes her very excited. When asked why she's so interested in this, she explains that different sources have all told her all the same thing, which means they're lying. Something must be going on.

A couple of days later in Bangkok, all characters are coming together to board the boat. The soldiers aren't very happy with this new mission, since they had been eager to return home when the war ended. Weaver introduces herself to Steve Woodward, a NASA employee, then to Packard, who isn't a fan of her anti-war journalism.

The ship finally sets sail when everyone is on board, and all the explorers get together to listen to a talk by another NASA official, Victor Nieves. He explains the island is surrounded by a perpetual storm system, which is what allows it to stay hidden from the outside world. But they should be able to make it through with Packard's military helicopters. He also introduces Brooks and Randa, plus a third scientist in their team, San Lin. Brooks takes over the explanation then, saying they'll use explosives to create vibrations that will help them map the island. Then it's Chapman's turn, he explains that the storm's interference will block all radio contact, they'll be by themselves, and that three days later will meet them at the north end of the island - that's the only safe departure window for an unknown period of time, so nobody should miss it. Once everyone is dismissed, Conrad and Weaver scout the boat and come across each other. They're both suspicious of the reasons they were given for this expedition, and they poke at each other's reasoning for being there as well.

It doesn't take them long to arrive at the island's location, and the storm looks way nastier in person. Randa wants to cross it, Nieves doesn't. They leave the decision up to Packard, who decides they are going in. All soldiers plus the civilian teams board a fleet of helicopters and they take off, flying off smoothly at first. As soon as they enter the storm though, things get complicated: constant lightning must be dodged and the helicopters are continuously shaken. But Packard is experienced and manages to keep his cool, guiding his fleet with a speech about Icarus until they safely make it through. The island is absolutely gorgeous, but there isn't much time to enjoy it since the plan is getting started: after leaving all civilians - except for Weaver, Randa and Conrad - on land, the helicopters spread to find the assigned spots to drop the bombs at. As the radars quickly pick up the vibrations from the explosions, Brooks' theory is confirmed: the bedrock is practically hollow. All is going well until suddenly, one of the helicopters is struck and knocked down by a flying tree, and another is hit grabbed by a giant hand. The helicopter is turned around and the soldier gets to see the big face of an ape before being swallowed by it. All alarms start to go off when everyone raises their eyes to see the mighty figure standing against the horizon: Kong, the giant gorilla. At first he only stays on his spot, roaring at them, but as soon as the soldiers start shooting at him, he doesn't hesitate to defend himself. The bullets don't truly hurt him, so it's easy for Kong to move among the helicopters to knock them down, and he even smashes some soldiers that make it safely to the ground. One by one, Kong destroys every chopper, and he doesn't leave until there isn't a single one left in the air.

Because of the attack, all members of the expedition got scattered. On one spot, we have Weaver, Nieves, Slivko, Brooks, San Lin and Conrad, who will guide them up north to be as close as possible to the meeting point. On another spot, Chapman is alone, but he manages to send Packard his position before communication dies. Packard is on yet another spot together with Reles, and when they start moving, they quickly find Cole, Mills Woodward and a couple more soldiers. Turns out Randa is also nearby, so Packard goes to speak to him in private. He points his gun at him and asks for the real reason behind this expedition, so Randa explains: monsters exist, and nobody ever believed him. The bombs weren't dropped for geology, they were dropped to shake something out. Many years ago, Randa was in a ship that got attacked by a monster. He survived, but the government told his family the ship had sunk in battle, and the public never heard about it. Randa's never stopped believing and now he wants to destroy these beasts before they destroy humanity. He asks Packard to take them home with proof so they can send the cavalry - Packard replies he is the cavalry.

Back to Conrad's group, Slivko tries to contact the others to no avail. When they walk by a lake, they encounter a huge bison-like animal that Slivko points his gun at, but Conrad makes him put it down, since the animal isn't attacking them. After staring at them for a moment, the creature turns and leaves. Meanwhile, Packard and his soldiers are searching for Chapman and the special weapons. As they make their way through the jungle, one of their soldiers is suddenly killed by a large stick in his throat - when they look up, they realize that stick is the leg of a giant spider. The team immediately starts firing at it, which doesn't stop the spider from catching Mills. With a friend in the way, they can't shoot anymore, so they start working on cutting the legs as Mills takes out a knife and starts cutting the limbs that are grabbing him. It takes him some effort but he succeeds, and as soon as he is dropped on the ground, the team opens fire again, defeating the spider.

In the meantime, Conrad's team finds some abandoned ruins. As soon as they take a couple of steps inside, they're surrounded by natives pointing their weapons at them. They point their guns back, but a potential fight is prevented just in time by a man appearing here among the natives: it's Hank, the pilot that landed here during World War II. When he says everything is fine, the natives back off, and Hank guides the team into the ruins. Back to Chapman, he's refilling his canteen when he sees Kong arrive. Chapman hides behind a rock and watches the ape drink water and, rather suddenly, reach into the river and grab a giant octopus. The creature tries to squeeze Kong with its tentacles, but Kong proceeds to tear off his limbs and eat them. He leaves dragging the rest of the octopus behind him.

In the village, Hank explains to the team that they'll be safe as long as they stay with the natives. There's a huge wall surrounding them, but it isn't for Kong, it's for the other monsters. Hank take them to an old shipwreck and inside it, he shows them some old paintings on the rocks. They depict the beliefs of the natives: for thousands of years, they lived in fear of the monsters, until suddenly, some of those creatures started protecting them instead. Kong is considered the king around here and god to these people, and he won't attack unless provoked. It wasn't Kong that killed Gunpei, it was another monster: the Skullcrawlers, big lizards that live underground and have been woken up by the bombs. Kong usually can handle them just fine, but the biggest one is dangerous: it is the one that killed Kong's family. Conrad changes the subject and tells Hank about the team that will be coming to rescue them in three days, but Hank says it'd be impossible to reach the north end of the island in such a short time... at least, not on foot.

Meanwhile, Packard's team is walking through a swamp when they see a group of strange birds. They don't attack them, but Packard shoots one anyway, scaring all the others away. The soldiers are getting nervous, unsure if they'll make it in time, but Cole asks them to trust Packard. Back to Conrad and company, they're being told by Hank that he and Gunpei had started to build a boat before Gunpei died. Now the team will help him finish it so they can reach the rescue team in time. While everyone works on the repairs, Weaver interacts with the natives, taking pictures of them. It's then that she hears a noise coming from the other side of the wall so she goes investigate: it's one of those bison-like creatures that has been caught under a chopper. She tries to help it but lacks the strength to move an entire helicopter by herself, thankfully Kong arrives and picks it up himself. He stares at her for a short moment before leaving, seemingly approving her actions. During their walk in search of Chapman, Packard's team finds the bloodstain Kong left on a mountain. Now they know the creature can be hurt and even killed.

While Conrad's team continues to work on the boat, Chapman still tries to communicate through the radio, but it won't work. He sits on a big trunk to rest, but the trunk moves and reveals it's not a fallen tree: it's a creature that looks like one. Chapman shoots it, which scares it off but also calls the attention of another monster. He barely has time to turn around before a Skullcrawler eats him. Night falls. In the village, while others chitchat, Conrad and Weaver look at the northern lights. She's trying to take a picture but her flashlight broke, so Conrad lends her his lighter, a gift from his father who had fought in World War II. He was his hero. In the jungle, Packard's team is setting camp, and Randa tells him this plan is folly. Packard replies that if he doesn't like how he runs things, he can leave. The next morning, the boat is ready to go. Hank retrieves the sword from Gunpei's grave to take it with him, since Gunpei had become his brother during the time they spent together. Everybody boards the boat and, after some extra effort to make it start, they finally set sail. While Hank tells them about the family he left behind, they received a call from Packard's team. They are asked to shoot a signal so they can find their location, and Packard does so. Turns out they're close enough to pick them up, but the celebration is soured when one of those weird birds flies by and takes Nieves to eat with its flock. They can't do much but keep moving. A couple of hours later, they land the boat and get off to reunite with Packard and his team. Now everyone is back together, Conrad wants them to get back on the ship and leave fast, but Packard refuses: he still wants to find Chapman. Hank protests against the idea since going west means going where the Skullcrawlers live. But since his job is to track, Conrad ends up giving in under the condition they make it back by nightfall. The group departs in search of Chapman and on the way, they find the skeletons of Kong's parents. Despite Hank's complaints, Packard orders them to cross the mass grave, which is covered in a weird mist - a mist they discover is flammable when Cole drops his cigarette and causes an explosion. They don't make it far before a Skullcrawler reaches them, and they quickly hide behind the giant bones. The Skullcrawler pauses to puke out a skull that lands near Conrad and makes it possible for him to notice it has Chapman's name tag, then seemingly turns around and leaves. The team thinks it's safe to come out, but when Randa's camera flash goes off, the Skullcrawler comes back and eats him. Everyone opens fire, but it's hard to aim when the lizard hides in the mist. It suddenly shows up in front of Hank, who manages to cut it with the sword before it pushes him out of the way and eats one of the soldiers. It goes after Weaver next, and that's when another soldier turns on his flamethrower against it. The Skullcrawler hits that soldier with its tail and sends it flying, causing another explosion where it lands. Slivko is hit and knocked out by the explosion, landing near the cans of gas. The weird birds from before suddenly show up and while the soldiers shoot them, Conrad takes Hank's sword and a gas mask that was on the floor and puts it on to enter the leaking gas area. He cuts every bird on the way until he makes it to Slivko, but the Skullcrawler has made it to them as well. Luckily Weaver arrives just in time to throw Conrad's lighter at the monster, making it blow up.

Once they leave the mass grave behind, Hank reminds Packard what a horrible idea that is, and Conrad informs everyone that Chapman is dead, which he proves by showing the name tag the creature had puked out. But Packard doesn't care, he still wants to reach the crash site to retrieve the explosives in order to kill Kong. Hank, Conrad, the scientists and Weaver try to stop him, explaining that Kong was good and had only been defending himself, Packard continues not to listen. Everyone draws their weapons and it seems a fight is about to begin, but Conrad mediates: he tells Packard the location he and his soldiers need, but he will take the civilians back to the boat - except Woodward, who goes with the soldiers. They find Chapman's things on the way and retrieve them so they can send them back to his family.

Meanwhile, Conrad tells his team to wait a moment because he needs to find high ground, Weaver goes with him. It's nighttime by the time Packard's party finds the weapons and begins working on a trap for Kong that includes flames.

We cut back to Conrad and Weaver then, who make it to the edge of a cliff and manage to take a good look at the river and where the boat could possibly be. It's at that moment that Kong visits them, but he doesn't attack because he recognizes Weaver, who now feels brave enough to touch his nose. Kong doesn't seem to mind, but he roars and leaves when he hears the explosions set off by the soldiers. Conrad and Weaver return to their team and send them back to the boat, the scientists do as asked but Hank joins them when he learns they want to save Kong.

Meanwhile, Kong has reached the soldiers and is ready to fight. He runs to them on the water, but Packard throws a torch and starts a ring of fire around the ape. At first it seems Kong is in so much pain that he's unable to move, but eventually he makes it through the flames and smashes Woodward with his foot before falling to the ground. Packard asks his soldiers to place their charges but we can see in their eyes that they're hesitating after seeing Kong suffer. As they all grab the detonators, Conrad, Weaver and Hank arrive to stop them. Soldiers and civilians point their weapons at each other while Packard rants about a soldier's dirty work - the group seems to be at an impasse, at least until Slivko comes through and points at Packard instead.

Conrad declares it's over, but he's interrupted by a noise in the water: it's the biggest Skullcrawler. Everybody runs away except Packard, who stays behind to turn on the detonator with the intention of killing Kong but ends up being crushed by him when he wakes up. Kong engages the lizard in battle but is soon overpowered.

The sun rises as the group make it to the edge of the island. They send Weaver to fire a flare that Brooks could see while they work on a distraction to buy them some time. Conrad and the soldiers start running as soon as the Skullcrawler begins its chase. Cole decides to stay behind and sacrifice himself with the intention of blowing up his explosives when the lizard comes close enough, but he's whacked away by its tail. The Skullcrawler is about to get the rest of the team when Kong makes a reappearance, punching and smashing the lizard as many times as possible while Weaver reaches a high place and fires the flare. After a couple more hits including one with a tree, Kong is pushed back by the Skullcrawler and accidentally falls on some chains that bound him. The lizard is about to kill him when the scientists arrive with the boat, shooting their weapons at the Skullcrawler while the soldiers climb aboard. Between them and a flare Weaver shoots at its eye, they manage to distract the monster long enough for Kong to free himself from the chains and use one with a propeller to attack his opponent, hitting the Skullcrawler with it before grabbing and smashing it against the mountain, which causes Weaver to fall in the water. Kong sees her and hurries to knock out the lizard with a few hits before reaching into the water to rescue Weaver. He takes her out just as the Skullcrawler makes a comeback, jumping on Kong and grabbing his wrist with its tongue. Kong takes the chance to grab the tongue and kill the Skullcrawler by ripping its guts out.

When he opens his hand, Weaver is fine, so he gently puts her down on the ground where Conrad comes to check on her. Together they watch Kong give them one last look before leaving. Moments later, everyone is on the boat, sailing to the meeting point. They're worried the place will change when word comes out, but they promise they won't say anything. As a fleet of helicopters arrives to rescue them, we see Kong one last time, roaring for the camera.

Two final bonus scenes come afterwards: one is of Hank, reuniting with his wife and son. The other one is Conrad and Weaver, who think they've been captured by the military, but it's just Brooks and San Lin, who explain they've found footage of a cave that shows other monster kings like Kong: drawings represent Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. The final image shows Godzilla and Ghidorah in battle.

Cast[]

Incomplete

Actor Role
Tom Hiddleston James Conrad
Samuel L. Jackson Preston Packard
Brie Larson Mason Weaver
John C. Reilly Hank Marlow
John Goodman Bill Randa
Corey Hawkins Houston Brooks
John Ortiz Victor Nieves
Tian Jing San
Toby Kebbell Jack Chapman/Kong
Jason Mitchell Mills
Shea Whigham Cole
Thomas Mann Slivko

Notes[]

  • This is the eighth live-action film to feature the character of King Kong. It is the sixth American film. It is the second film in the franchise to take place in the 1970s.
  • Early preview screenings for Kong: Skull Island were shown in the United States on Thursday evening, March 9th, 2017 - one day before the world premiere. The movie earned $3.7 million dollars on its initial Thursday release, though it still trailed behind the critically praised Logan, which had its test screening a week earlier. [2]
  • Independent trackers predicted that Kong: Skull Island would earn between $45-50 million over the course of its opening weekend. [3]
  • During the premiere of Kong: Skull Island in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, some tiki torches, or possibly even a volcano prop got out of control lighting a large scale-model of Kong and the nearby stage on fire. Fortunately, there were no injuries. [4]
  • The events of this film take place in the year 1973.

Fun Facts[]

  • The tagline to this film is "Hail to the King".
  • It's hard to imagine that the people on the island would have such a difficult time in dealing with Kong. After all, he's going up against the combined forces of Nick Fury, Loki Laufeyson, Captain Marvel, and Rhomann Dey - all of whom are characters featured in another crossover franchise - the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  • Actor Corey Hawkins is also known for playing a character named Heath on AMC's The Walking Dead.
  • Per the timeline of this film, this would have been around the same era that Godzilla was first swapping punches with a beastie known as Megalon. Godzilla vs. Megalon was released in March, 1973.

Recommendations[]

Giant monster films

Godzilla films

Other Kaiju

External Links[]

References[]

  1. ↑ IMDB; Kong: Skull Island (2017); Box office & business.
  2. ↑ Variety.com; "Box Office: 'Kong: Skull island' Opens With $3.7 Million on Thursday". McNary, Dave (3-10-17).
  3. ↑ The Wrap.com; "'Kong: Skull Island' Is King at Thursday Box Office With $3.7 Million". Verhoeven, Beatrice (3-10-17).
  4. ↑ TMZ.com; March 10th, 2017. 'King Kong' Premiere UP IN FLAMES!!'.

Keywords[]

1970s; 1973; Apes; Giant animal; Giant monster; Gorillas; Helicopter; Island; Pilot

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