[HorrorScience] Kong: Skull Island (2017)

Reading time: 5 minutes

Qualification

Kong: Skull Island

Year

2017

Duration

118 minutes

Director

Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Distribution

Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, Jing Tian, Toby Kebbell, John Ortiz, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Shea Whigham, Thomas Mann, Terry Notary, John C. Reilly

Script

John Gatins

Despite its notable importance in the history of cinema (the original Kong film invented many of the visual resources and special effects that continued to be used for more than 50 years), King Kong has not had a very constant trajectory and its films have appeared gradually, with decades of separation between them.

After king kong (1933) its sequel appeared The Son of Kong (1933) and from there we have to jump a few decades until King Kong VS Godzilla (1963) and King Kong Escapes (1967) that were not linked to the originals, despite using a giant and extravagant version of the ape.

In 1976 the first remake of king kong and 10 years later its sequel appeared King Kong 2/King Kong Lives. In 2005, Peter Jackson directed the second remake of the character and since then 12 years have passed until King Kong returned with Kong: Skull Island (Kong: Skull Island).

After discovering an island unexplored by man (mainly due to storms keeping it hidden), an exploration group formed by scientists and military personnel begins.

The expedition will begin in a very unusual way: by launching bombs at the island, supposedly to be able to explore its terrain with depth scanners, a task that is interrupted by the appearance of a giant ape that destroys the helicopters in a matter of minutes.

The survivors of the attack, totally isolated from each other, begin to explore the island, only to discover that the ape is the least of their problems.

[HorrorScience] Kong: Skull Island (2017) — Bill Randa, the main person responsible for the expedition to Skull Island

I've always thought that the Kong movies can be separated into three categories:

Movies that tell the classic story of Kong (the original from 1933 and its remakes from 1976 and 2005)
Movies related to Kong but with different protagonists (Kong's son, Mighty Joe Young and its remake)
Movies that use Kong, but with a different story and context than the original: (King Kong VS Godzilla, King Kong Escapes, King Kong Lives!)

Kong: Skull Island It would be in the last category, because although the story is similar based on the classic one, it completely deviates from what was expected to offer us large doses of action and paranoia at the same time that it introduces us to the fauna of Kong Island.

The parts where the protagonists survive the prehistoric monsters are quite interesting, although they don't go much outside the box (well, the encounter with the spider seemed very original to me). However, Kong's parts are excellent, not only for the action (and for bringing us back to a Kong as unstoppable and fearsome as the original was), but also for their staging thanks to the play they make with the landscapes and weather conditions. The paranoid scenes of the character played by Samuel L. Jackson are tremendous but make you hesitate whether to laugh or not.

I think this movie It has never sought to replace or resemble the original and that is an incredible success, Well, the fact that they don't try to explain the story of how beauty killed the beast leaves them enough room to do what they want with the character and with all the fauna of Skull Island.

It is true that the characters matter little and only a few have seemed somewhat interesting to me (William Randa, Preston Packard and Hank Mallow) but that also means that we will waste less time in the film on them, which for me is excellent.

Summing up, Kong: Skull Island It won't leave a mark like the first ape movie, but at least has offered us something different and crazy and what is more important, it has shown a powerful and terrible Kong, who is good with humans but punishes them if they do something they shouldn't and above all, it has made me forget for a moment the nerdy Kong from Peter Jackson's remake who skated on the ice with his beloved in his arms.

Movie trivia:

The film's post-credits scene demonstrates that this film and godzilla (2014) share universe. In fact, a new version of King Kong VS Godzilla in 2020.

The director admitted that he relied on Apocalypse Now, The Host, Princess Mononoke, Platoon, Evangelion and even Pokémon, for some scenes and the design of the monsters.