Kong: Skull Island

Think of the classic telling and retelling of King Kong; a team on an expedition to the last uncharted spot on the map winds up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then a blonde screams and gets taken prisoner by the ape.

In this age of the heroine, we needed a Kong film fit for a queen. Like most of the remakes/reboots, Kong: Skull Island has our blonde, but she’s a dirty blonde! Strides! Also, there’s ANOTHER WOMAN in the film. And she’s a Chinese scientist! Literally everyone else is a man.

Baby steps, I ‘spose.

After Government Agent, Bill Randa (John Goodman), receives the go-ahead and the funding to journey to the ominous yet aptly named, Skull Island — cause it looks like a skull — he enlists former British Special Air Service Captain, James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), as well as the Sky Devils — a helicopter outfit led by Lt. Col. Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson). Randa quickly gets the mission underway before anyone can change their minds.

Along for the ride is peacemonger and photojournalist Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) who is wary of the operation and suspects that Randa may have ulterior motives. Why would Randa need a super-savvy guy like Conrad just to see an island and investigate whether the ground is hollow or not?

Much like entering the ocean and then being surprised that you got bitten by a shark, treading on Kong’s turf proves quickly to be a big mistake. With good reason — i.e. helicopters dropping bombs all over the island — the titular primate swats the choppers out of the sky like mosquitoes.

The survivors — being split up after getting batted to the jungle floor — are now mostly in mutual agreement that they need to find the others and get to the pick up point in time to GTFO. Only now Lt. Col. Preston Packard has a personal and largely maniacal vendetta to settle with Kong for the loss of his men.

Somewhere on the other side of the island, Conrad, Weaver, and a smattering of folks who probably just haven’t been killed by any number of the island’s monstrous inhabitants yet, stumble upon something remarkable; Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly), an American pilot who crashed on the island in 1944, and is now living amongst the Iwi locals. Marlow gives the group the low down on Island politics, revealing that Kong isn’t the one they need to be worried about.

Skullcrawlers — as he’s named them — are the true beasts on the island, and Kong manages to protect his home and its native people/critters from them, earning him the King title. He works for it, and I, for one, am proud of him.

Marlow, like the rest of the group, just wants to make it home in one piece. The poor guy just wants to head home to Chicago and catch a Cubs game with a hotdog and a beer. Packard, however, has a debt to settle, and his abusive power trip may just spell the end of their beautiful lives.

It is around this time that Mason works out some facts and figures and discovers that she was right and her worst fears are confirmed. One thing though; being right means literally nothing if you are dead.

For as much as I didn’t give this movie a second thought before its release, I sure did enjoy it. It’s a departure from the previous films, painting Kong as a hero, not a villain. I wish he had a Megalodon sidekick. How incredible would that be? They just meet up every so often and give each other a nod. So neat.

This movie is an unexpected treat. Much like the others, we get a glimpse of the real Kong; he’s a pretty chill guy as long as you’re not throwing explosives at his face. Historically, this franchise imparts a message topical at literally every stage of our existence which is that men think they either own or can just take whatever they please.

So you found this creature who was minding his own business, just eating stuff and scratching himself — essentially YOU on the weekends — and you take it upon yourselves to remove him from his home so you can show your idiot friends. That, or you determine you have no choice but to kill him.

Skull Island is gratifying in many ways. It’s always fun to see what lives on the island with Kong, and this one delivers creepy crawlies and then some. Visually, the film exceeds expectations; cinematography in a film so reliant on effects can be spotty at best, but they really nailed it.

Also, there is no damsel in distress. The blonde dame gets roughed up just like everybody else but she handles herself and stands on her own two. We even get a nod to the previous installments in which we see the softer side of Kong in regard to Mason.

As your resident score junkie, I’m pleased to report that Henry Jackman composed music fit for a King… Kong. (please send help)

All in all, it’s an enjoyable film. Fun, exciting, and John C. is laugh we all need throughout. I imagine he improvised 90% of his lines in this film, and the other actors deserve accolades just for holding character in scenes with him. The best part of the experience was hearing my mom gush about how “hot” Tom Hiddleston is. I know, mom. I know.

Pro tip: stick around after the credits.

King Kong

When one thinks of iconic films that shaped and molded the way cinema would grow and change, many films might come to mind. The movie that spearheaded a movement in the film industry for greater and more advanced special effects that holds a special place in my heart is King Kong. Using stop motion and animatronics, the filmmakers brought King Kong to life. Kong, or Megaprimatus Kong that is rumored to have evolved from Gigantopithecus, lives on Skull Island. Skull Island is located in the Pacific Ocean and can only be found in the Kingdom of Shadows. A film that would alter the way audiences saw movies was in the works when Merian C. Cooper created this massive eighth wonder of the world.

An idea thought up by the first director, Alice Guy, to tell a story with film was brilliantly illustrated in this creative endeavor. The film is a love story according to some, and a scary story according to others. In the original King Kong (1933), A film crew led by Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) goes to a tropical island to have an exotic background for a film Denham needs to finish. The lovely Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) falls into this crew almost by accident and is swept into a world unknown. When she is kidnapped by the natives of Skull Island, she is offered as a sacrifice to the mighty Kong. Kong takes the girl and retreats into the wilderness.

What happens next is unexpected and quite strange indeed. Kong falls in love with his beauty. Wrapping his giant fingers around her, he carries her like a doll. The bond between beauty and the beast grows stronger as they spend more time together. When she is rescued, she is taken to the ship to leave Skull Island, but King Kong isn’t ready to let her go. The pursuit is on. Kong chases Ann back to the ship only to be captured by Denham and his crew. Kong is transported back to New York to be put on show. One thing leads to another and we have a giant ape on top of the Empire State Building.

This story has all the winning characteristics of a blockbuster. There have always been monster movies, but King Kong does something that none of those movies did: it gives the monster of the movie human traits. He becomes relatable to the audience and is even regarded by some as the protagonist. This idea spawned several other films that used Kong: The Son of Kong (1933), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), King Kong Escapes (1967), King Kong (1976), King Kong Lives (1986), and King Kong (2005).

The King Kong of 1976 altered the story but had the same basic facts: crew goes to island, girl gets taken, girl gets rescued, Kong is taken to New York. In that movie, it is a petroleum exploration expedition that takes the crew to the island. On the way, Dwan (Jessica Lange) washes up in a dinghy. Along with Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) and Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin), the crew find the island and go ashore. Dwan falls into the giant hands of Kong only to be saved by the crew and taken back to New York with Kong. In this version, the eighth wonder of the world climbs the World Trade Center instead of the Empire State Building.

The 2005 version of the film, Directed by Peter Jackson, is my favorite. I am a slave to CGI and I adore Naomi Watts. In this version, Ann Darrow is back and being portrayed by the radiant Miss Watts. Girlfriend can scream like nobody’s business. Carl Denham is played by Jack Black and Adrien Brody plays the love interest of Miss Darrow, Jack Driscoll. Driscoll is writing a story for Denham to finish shooting his movie that is, eh-hem, filming in the far east. His funding is cut off and his starlet pulls out at the last moment. As a last resort, he searches the starving New York streets for a size 4. One of those movie magic twists of fate brings him to Ann. Upon convincing her to join him in the making of his film, they rush to the ship and set sail just in time.

On board the ship, Jack Driscoll writes, star Bruce Baxter (Kyle Chandler) looks down his nose at everyone, Ann tries to catch the eye of Jack, and Carl makes up excuse after excuse to keep the ship at sea for just one more day. He knows they’ll find Skull Island, and sure enough, they do. Just as the old stories told, Ann is snatched from the ship. The Skull Island natives have their sacrifice ceremony with drums banging, dancing, shouting, and a remarkably advanced offering mechanism. Ann is tied up and in a dramatic climax the singing, shouting, and banging stops. A distant rumble and a movement in the trees is ominous enough to frighten Ann, but the initial appearance of Kong is terrifying.

The relationship between Ann and Kong in this film makes the audience want them to be together. The viewers almost don’t want Ann to be rescued by Jack and the crew because Kong saves her life again and again. He’s a lovable Kong and one that Ann is safe with. But this love between beauty and the beast can not last forever. Driscoll sets out on his own after a gruesome scene in which many of the crew are eaten by giant bugs and other nasty, awful things.

Side note: In the 1933 version of King Kong, there was originally a scene in which the crew are attacked, and many eaten, by giant spiders. Audiences were so disturbed by this scene that people were running from the theater. The scene was removed from the film and hasn’t been seen since. Peter Jackson included his version of the scene as a sort of homage.

Driscoll finds Ann sleeping peacefully in the palm of Kong’s hand. He takes Ann, much to the chagrin of King Kong, and rushes her back to the ship. Little do they know that Denham has a little surprise planned for Kong. Chloroform and a one-way ticket to New York. Once back in New York, an endearing scene occurs when Kong is released on the streets of New York City. Kong and Ann meet once more and he is instantly calm, bringing to mind the old Arabian proverb that was actually written by Kong creator Marian C. Cooper “And lo the beast looked upon the face of beauty, and beauty stayed his hand. And from that day forward, he was as one dead.” An ice-skating scene in Central Park is particularly charming. Ice-skating is nice, but once more, the giant ape who is now being pursued by the military takes his love to the top of the Empire State Building.

When fighter planes eventually take him down, people on the streets crowd around the massive monkey who now lays lifeless. When someone says the planes got him, Denham says with a glassy stare, “It wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast…”

Roll credits.

I love King Kong because it is an action-packed, heart-pounding love story. It is so easy to get sutured into the story and feel the emotions of the characters in their individual stories.

Any good film score will give you chills if it is constructed properly and added at the right moments. The King Kong of 2005 does it just right with James Newton Howard. The score is beautiful, the scenery takes us to a place we can only imagine. That’s the magical thing about movies. As Carl Denham said “There’s still some mystery left in this world, and we can all have a piece of it… for the price of an admission ticket.”