Directed by: Jordan Voght-Roberts
Genre: Kaiju/Jungle Adventure/War
THE MOVIE:
Gareth Edward's 2016 Godzilla movie launched a new shared universe, the Monsterverse which is still going strong with multiple movies, television shows, and ancillary media. The first follow-up to Godzilla is a prequel set in 1973 during the Vietnam War era and is a fun genre mash-up that mixes kaiju action, the King Kong mythos, and Vietnam war movie flavor. Thankfully, this movie wisely avoids retreading the classic story which was done so lovingly in Peter Jackson’s 2005 movie.
Although this movie is in no way a remake of any past movies, there are some echoes of the classic Kong stories. Like the previous films, Skull Island features an expedition to the titular location, although here on an expedition for the Monarch organization introduced in Godzilla. As always, there is a blond woman, here played by Brie Larson who like her predecessors forms a (in this case, brief) connection to Kong. There is a dashing leading man, played by Tom Hiddleston, in full action hero mode. Sam Jackson plays a military commander who forms and instant grudge against Kong and is one of the few actors I can think of who can both believably stare down a 100 foot ape and shut down a self-righteous monologue with a well-placed “Bitch, please.” I do think this is one of Jackson’s most iconic and fun performances. Also, a fun game in this movie is counting the other MCU actors which includes some more obscure ones like John C. Reilly and Eugene Cordero.
Skull Island also does a lot to flesh out the world of the Monsterverse, centering on John Goodman’s character, Bill Randa, who is in some ways is fulfilling the Carl Denham role as the morally ambiguous figure who sets the whole voyage in motion here in service of Monarch. Randa is also a major character in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which features him in the decades prior to Skull Island and the early years of the organization. Kong: Skull Island also eases us into the concept of the Hollow Earth which is a major plot point in the subsequent movies. This theory is alluded to by Corey Hawkins character, who also appears decades later in 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
This movie introduces audiences to a new, bigger Kong and sets the giant primate up to go on new adventures. The Monsterverse does a wonderful job with Kong over the course of the series making him a compelling character in his own right with a satisfying arc that finally frees him from his tragic story.
However, the greatest legacy of this movie is adding a much needed element of fun to the Monsterverse after the somewhat glum and serious Godzilla. Skull Island and the subsequent Kong/Godzilla team-up movies are really notable for their often unexpected and quirky tones, bold, inventive action and visuals and excellent characterization of Kong and some of the other creatures and that really starts with Jordan Voght-Roberts’ direction here and is built up in the subsequent movies.
THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS:
This design is much more upright and less Gorilla-like than he was in Jackson’s version. Kong here is not at his full adult size yet but the movie clearly scales him up prepping for his planned fight against Godzilla, which doesn’t happen for another fifty years in the movie continuity. Certainly he is much bigger than he has been in American media. Remember, classic Kong is only about 25 feet tall and about twice the size of the largest apes to have lived. That is barely up to Godzilla's cankle and hardly makes for an interesting match up so to play in Godzilla's sandbox he's always had to be scaled up significantly (classic Toho Kong is a little bigger than he is depicted in this movie.)
Skull Island, as always, is full of creatures. While there is not the fully realized prehistoric ecosystem of the 2005 Peter Jackson movie, there are a handful of memorable creatures here including some Pterodactyls, a giant yak, an overgrown octopus (seemingly a Toho throwback), and a creepy giant stilt-legged bug, that is the source of a memorable horror scene. There are some other creatures native to Skull Island which we see later in the franchise in Monarch season 2.
Instead of the usual dinosaurs, this Kong's natural rivals are two-limbed reptilian creatures which Reilly's character self-consciously dubs, Skull Crawlers. One of Kong's main roles in the Skull Island eco-system is to control the population of these creatures. These monsters have a unique design with a weird two-legged walk. Their heads are covered with a bony exo-skull, hence their name. They have a maw filled with teeth and their prehensile tongues. The final boss is the giant Skull Devil which emerges from underground, possibly straight from Hollow Earth from where these creatures originate. Kong fights the Skull Devil at the end of the movie, here beginning his habit in the Monsterverse of wielding a variety of tools (boat propellers, Godzilla Spine Axes, Power Gloves, children) to defeat his enemies.
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT:
Our first encounter with Kong, as the helicopters descend on the island Apocalypse Now-style, complete with requisite Classic Rock soundtrack only to have one of them fall prey to a giant tree trunk thrown like a spear and we suddenly go from one genre movie into a completely different one.
SEQUELS:
Followed by Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire (2024) and Godzilla X Kong: Supernova (2027)
The Apple TV series Monarch Legacy of Monsters (2023-) goes into the backstory of Bill Randa and the origins of Monarch. An animated series Skull Island also is set fully on the titular island twenty years after the events Kong: Skull Island.
SEE ALSO
Primitive War (2025) One of the few movies that has the same genre profile as Kong: Skull Island this is another Vietnam era monster movie only in this case a squad of soldiers finds themselves in an inexplicably dinosaur-jungle. Filled with fantastic dinosaurs and over-the-top action and gore.
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