Kong: Skull Island (2017) Legendary (Potential Spoilers!)

[Westfalia Chris]

Oh, something else I meant to ask you all.......the advert here in the U.K. For the film has John Goodman saying "the nuclear tests on the island weren't tests.....they were trying to kill something!" That bit IS NOT in the film!

IIRC, he is not directly referring to the island, but to the Castle Bravo test of 1954. But that reference was in.

As for continuity, I think it could be considered an alternate take on the original story in that the 1933 expedition didn't make it off the island (hence, the wreck of the "Wanderer").

The heli thing bothered me as well. I mean, two large pads for the CH-47 and HH-53, and the four UH-1s on the main deck, that looked plausible, if a bit cavalier with regards to proper load-securing protocols. But that large sweep was, IMHO, unnecessarily over-the-top to bluntly evoke the Apocalypse Now imagery.

[Manchu]

Oh, something else I meant to ask you all.......the advert here in the U.K. For the film has John Goodman saying "the nuclear tests on the island weren't tests.....they were trying to kill something!" That bit IS NOT in the film!

I remember hearing this. Maybe when he was talking to the senator at the beginning?

[vodkafan]

I just watched a review on TV with lots of clips and the reviewer practically gave away the whole plot.....the ape looks too big to me to be honest in the clip I saw....I don't think the film will be as visually imaginative as the Jackson film was. All the weird plants and big insects and dinosaurs were great..does Kong fight a dinosaur in this one?

[Westfalia Chris]

I just watched a review on TV with lots of clips and the reviewer practically gave away the whole plot.....the ape looks too big to me to be honest in the clip I saw....I don't think the film will be as visually imaginative as the Jackson film was. All the weird plants and big insects and dinosaurs were great..does Kong fight a dinosaur in this one?

Something that looks vaguely saurian. I would have preferred a proper Tyrannosaurus, possibly mutated by H-bomb radiation for good riddance, but nooo...

[Manchu]

The reviewer practically gave away the whole plot.....

There's not a lot of plot TBF.

I don't think the film will be as visually imaginative as the Jackson film was.

Disagree. I found Jackson's film insufferable. After seeing K:SI, I rewatched some scenes from PJ's KK and ... ugh, a whole lot of missed opportunity.

[SotF]

IIRC, he is not directly referring to the island, but to the Castle Bravo test of 1954. But that reference was in.

As for continuity, I think it could be considered an alternate take on the original story in that the 1933 expedition didn't make it off the island (hence, the wreck of the "Wanderer").

The heli thing bothered me as well. I mean, two large pads for the CH-47 and HH-53, and the four UH-1s on the main deck, that looked plausible, if a bit cavalier with regards to proper load-securing protocols. But that large sweep was, IMHO, unnecessarily over-the-top to bluntly evoke the Apocalypse Now imagery.

It's the same nuclear tests referred to in the Godzilla 2014 movie, and is shown in the comic prequel to that movie (Godzilla: Awakening) where it's revealed that the atomic bombs at hiroshima and nagasaki woke something else up and the later nukes were to try to kill it and Godzilla who were duking it out in the south pacific.

Godzilla is MUTO 02, the thing from Japan was MUTO 01, Kong is 03...the ones in the Godzilla movies were 04 & 05 (There is another that popped up in one of the Godzilla trailers that is also a MUTO and is provisionally 06 and is a gigantic centipede thing)...

The skull crawler might be fit into the numbers as well, but might be a bit to small for that.

[vodkafan]

Disagree. I found Jackson's film insufferable. After seeing K:SI, I rewatched some scenes from PJ's KK and ... ugh, a whole lot of missed opportunity.

I sort of see the Jackson KK as a re-imagining of the classic black and white movie. I am interested, what didn't you like exactly? It was perhaps a tad slow paced and overlong, I grant, but you must agree that the setting was much more pulp, being in the 20's  with the tramp steamer and all....the new one looks (to me, just based on the trailers) like a mash up of Jurassic Park 2, Predator and Platoon. I just can't get excited about it.

[The_Beast]

Okay, already admitted SO much wrong, and I can actually agree with both sides of several of these arguments, but I did have fun.

I've obviously missed SOME of the intervening Kong and Gojira flicks, because I had NO idea some of this actually fits. 

Now, quick question: The beasts unnamed. Did anyone have a sudden deja vu for Sammael?

Doug

[Manchu]

The first time I sat down to watch PJ's film, I couldn't even make it through. This was the same guy who did the LotR trilogy? But then I remembered watching the "special editions" of those films ... a very good way to fall asleep! Suffice it to say, I was not surprised by the overindulgence of Unexpected Journey, &etc., years later.

I will also freely admit to having no special devotion to the RKO picture. It's a very fine film but doesn't amount to - as far as I'm concerned - some kind of sacred text that can only be reverently ... er, aped. I think pulp is less a specific period and more of an attitude. The well-named Pulp Fiction is not set during the 20s or 30s, after all. In that sense. I think the 2017 Kong film easily out-pulps the 2005 one.

[mweaver]

Saw it this evening and quite liked it. King Kong smashing stuff and punching other giant critters - what's not to love?  While there were some nice scenes in the PJ version, overall it was too sloooooooow.  The crew behind Kong: Skull Island took to hear Tripod's advice: "Get to the f***ing monkey"!(1)

-Michael

(1)

[vodkafan]

 One thing I didn't see in the trailers, is there any inter-species love interest in this movie? Does Kong fall head over toe-thumbs for a little blonde woman? Or is it more politically correct

[mweaver]

A hint of that theme is there, but much downplayed.  Kong and his now-departed relatives set themselves up as the protectors of the native population, and the LBW is a human. Also, first time he sees her as an individual, she was trying to help a trapped critter, so he identifies her as Good Human.

The basic setup seems to be the Gigantic-but-otherwise "normal" creatures (the apes, the water buffaloes) vs the Hollow Earth creatures that come to the surface. 

[DivisMal]

I'm just back from the cinema with my wifey and I must say we both quite enjoyed it. The final fight is awesome and I started to cheer when the final scene after the credits hinted at seeing Mothra, Rhodan, Big G and...King Ghidora soon!!!!

[dadlamassu]

Saw it last night with son and grandson.  We all enjoyed it.  The multiplying helicopters, the fights, the giant spider and the biggest monkey we ever did see.  Lots of fights and bullets flying about with no soppy bits.  Reality suspended.  

Wanted to see the giant ants - maybe in the Director's Cut?

Grandson even got the tribute to centenarian Dame Vera Lynn at the end.  

[Alxbates]

I thought it was great fun, it had everything I wanted in it, although I wouldn't have minded seeing a Skull Crawler fight a T Rex or a Triceratops.

Kong actually seemed a little too big, but I suppose if they want to have him fight Godzilla in an eventual sequel, they've got to make him larger.

I absolutely adore the RKO picture, it's one of my all time favorite films - and I liked PJ's version.  I didn't think of that as a remake, just as a flowery love letter to the original.

The less that's said of the 1976 version (or the 1986 sequel, King Kong Lives), the better.

... OK, maybe we can briefly mention that Jessica Lange makes a decent stand-in for Fay Wray, but that's about it.

I think that the new Skull Island picture is a solid entry in the franchise - it has some cool monster fights, a giant ape punching helicopters, and Samuel L Jackson running around Samuel L Jackson-ing all over the place.  I thought it was a hoot, and I'll be buying it on DVD.