kong skull island movie 2017 official poster

Ignoring the time period, Skull Island has a Jurassic Park 3 vibe. Set in 1973, this allows for countless nods to Apocalypse Now and a few references to the 1976 King Kong. After a brief cameo during a prologue set in 1944 (which has two World War 2 pilots crash-landing on Skull Island), Kong makes his grand entrance about 20 minutes into the main story. Unlike Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla, which kept its title creature under wraps for half the running time, it doesn’t take Kong long to get into the action. How many millions of people will see this movie because of “Kong” that wouldn’t see it if was about “ApeX”? Why use the name Kong when so much is different and previous continuity has been thrown out the window? Marketing! The name “King Kong” has tremendous name recognition. It’s a completely new story set in a parallel universe where nothing that happened in any previous King Kong movie has transpired. Kong: Skull Island isn’t a sequel, prequel, or reboot. For the producers, the end game is 2020’s King Kong versus Godzilla, as is made evident in a post-credits scene. At 300+ feet tall, he’s about 10 times the size of his 1933/ 1976/ 2005 “little brother” – a change that was made so he can eventually go toe-to-toe with Godzilla – something that wouldn’t work if he was only in the 30-50 foot range. Forget all that “Beauty and the Beast” crap. The Kong of Skull Island is a hulking force of nature who exists exclusively to wreck helicopters and beat up other monsters. Call him “Kong in Name Only.” Superficial physical resemblances aside, it’s hard to find much of the Big Guy’s personality in this incarnation. The supersized ape stomping around this tropical atoll isn’t recognizable as any Kong we have previously seen.

As a King Kong movie, however, Skull Island is less successful. It offers all the tropes and clichés one expects from this sort of endeavor, sparing no expense when it comes to special effects. As a big-budget B-grade monster movie, Kong: Skull Island is a home run.

Kong skull island movie 2017 official poster