Kong Skull Island Review

 Hello everyone. Welcome to part 2 of The Godly Dragon Reviews The Monsterverse. Today I want to talk about one of the most famous monsters in cinema history, King Kong. Now, King Kong is a franchise that I only recently got into. Jurassic Park and Godzilla were my first exposures to the monster movie genre, and it wasn't until February of 2021 that I took the time to watch almost every King Kong movie in anticipation of Godzilla vs Kong later that year. Actually, my first exposure to the King Kong franchise was with Kong: King of the Apes on Netflix. The show didn't get good reviews, but I actually thought it was really cool. I also got to experince the King Kong 360 3-D attraction at Universal Studios in Hollywood. I would say my favorite King Kong movies are the original from 1933, Godzilla vs Kong, the 2005 remake directed by Peter Jackson, and Kong Skull Island, the subject of today's review. There was also a crossover back in 1963 called King Kong vs Godzilla, where the two most famous monsters would cross paths and fight for the first time. It was a joint production between Universal Pictures and Toho. There were also a couple other King Kong cartoons, one of them being Kong: The Animated Series, which was an exciting cartoon about a boy with a cyberlink to a clone of the original King Kong that fell off the empire state building, where they try to stop a professor from getting Primal Stones to take over the world. It was made to compete with Godzilla: The Series from the late 90s. 

But now let's get on to reviewing Kong: Skull Island, the second film in the Monsterverse to be produced, which chronologically takes place before Godzilla 2014. Kong: Skull Island is the first movie in the franchise since King Kong Lives to be an original King Kong movie instead of just another remake of the original classic. The plot of the movie is that an organization called Monarch plans to search for creatures on a newly discovered land called Skull Island. They drop bombs on Skull Island to map out the island in attempting to try to prove the Hollow Earth theory. As a result, their plane is attacked by King Kong, scattering the cast across the island. One group of people comes across the local tribe as well as a pilot named Hank Marlow, who had parachuted onto the island after a dogfight. He explains that Kong protects the island from predators, such as Skullcrawlers, which were apparently responsible for wiping out Kong's entire species. This results in the main conflict of the film, with one group of people wanting to kill Kong and the other group urging them not to kill Kong or else something even worse will happen. 

That's basically the plot of the movie. So, what did I think of this movie? Well, I thought it was pretty decent and very exciting. I saw this movie at the cheap theater and it was my first King Kong movie, so I thought it was really cool. I honestly enjoy this movie more than the Godzilla movie from 2014, despite liking Godzilla as a franchise more than King Kong. It follows the traditional King Kong formula of explorers on an uncharted island, coming across the island's strange creatures and natives and coming across King Kong. I really enjoyed the Monsterverse's take on the formula. My only real complaint is that I'm not the biggest fan of the Skullcrawlers. I don't know, they just seem ugly looking to me. I don't dig the design. I would have liked the movie better if the film had some really cool dinosaurs like the original King Kong and the 2005 remake did. 

Overall, your enjoyment of this movie depends on your taste in cinema. If you are a big fan of the King Kong franchise like I am, or if you like exciting monster movies with action, this movie is for you. It's just a mindless but decent entry in the King Kong franchise and nothing more. Join me next time and I will revisit the next film in the Monsterverse, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. God bless.