In 1944 two men, one American and one Japanese, end up stranded on an uncharted island in the South Pacific when they shoot down each other’s planes. They continue their fight hand-to-hand but are interrupted by the appearance of a 100-foot gorilla.
In 1946 Monarch was founded. Monarch is a secret global scientific organization that monitors and studies creatures known as titans. The current head of the organization is crypto-zoologist Bill Randa (John Goodman).
In 1973 aerial photographs of the island are obtained. Randa convinces the government to sponsor a research expedition to the island. An Army unit led by Lt. Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) is attached to the researchers. A photographer, Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) is on hand to photograph the expedition. Also on hand is a former British Special Air Service Captain, James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston).
The island is surrounded by a perpetual storm system which keeps it hidden from the outside world and blocks radio contact. The expedition ship, the Athena, sails to the island where they then take helicopters through the storm and come out over a peaceful looking island. The choppers drop seismic explosives that are used to map the island. The working theory is that the Earth is hollow, and the island is part of an entrance to the subterranean realm.
No sooner do they drop their bombs when they are attacked by a giant ape. The ape, Kong, destroys all the helicopters killing many of the soldiers. Those that live are scattered around the island. In the jungle, Conrad and Weaver find Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly), the remaining pilot that crashed in 1944, and the Iwi, a tribe of natives that live on Skull Island. The Iwi worship Kong as a god. They believe that Kong protects the Earth against evil forces.
Slowly the scattered survivors find each other. Everyone is ready to get to the rendezvous point to be extracted from the island, but Packard is still missing one of his men, Jack Chapman (Toby Kebbell), that he believes may still be alive. He refuses to leave until the man is found. Their rescue mission turns deadly when they wander into the territory of vicious and deadly creatures from Hollow Earth called Skullcrawlers. When they find that Chapman is dead, Packard shifts his focus to killing Kong.
“Kong: Skull Island” was released in 2017 and was directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts. It is a science fiction fantasy film. There are at least 13 movies and four television series that feature the giant ape in some way or another, the first being the 1933 original story. There was also a lost silent Japanese film called “Wasei Kingu Kongu” done in 1933.
This has got some of the most incredible visuals as well as some excellent 70’s music. In fact, they managed to recreate the whole “Apocalypse Now” vibe nicely. It also has some “Moby Dick” influences with Sam Jackson’s character, Packard, vowing to destroy Kong no matter the cost. I enjoyed all the explosions, chaos and monsters.
The design of the Skullcrawlers was based on the two-armed pit lizard creature from “King Kong” 1933. Kaijus, other than Skullcrawlers and Kong himself, actually seen in the film are, Mother Longlegs, Spore Mantis, Sker Buffalo, Mire Squid, and Leafwing.