Kong: Skull Island - Review, Spoilers, Discussion

I seen KONG: SKULL ISLAND this Friday.

And it was awesome! One of the most entertaining movies that I have seen in a long time. If you haven't seen it yet, please do so. Otherwise you'll be missing out on a highly entertaining film.

I enjoyed it FAR more than GODZILLA (2014), which was a decent film in some aspects but lacked in terms of monster action, story and characters that're actually memorable/entertaining. Sure, they're not the most layered or have a ton of depth, but then again... that doesn't matter. The personalities of the characters more than made up for it.

John C. Reilly's Marlow is superb. His character is very humorous, but at the same time he's smarter and filled with a wisdom than most probably wouldn't notice at first. I was very glad that he survived the experience and made it home by the end of the film. I swear, I would have been irked if he died (which was one of my main gripes with Godzilla when Bryan Cranston's character died, thus killing off one of the few enjoyable characters of the film).

Samuel L. Jackson's Colonel Packard is engaging as the human antagonist, who's a bit crazed and hungry for war/redemption. He's a man who needs to fight, who needs a war. He finds that in Kong. Unfortunately for him, it's a battle he cannot win, regardless of how much firepower he can bring to the table. For we all know that when Man and Nature clash, Man always loses. And while some may not like his demise, I found it quite fitting and justly deserved.

Brie Larson's Mason Weaver was a strong and very beautiful leading lady. She definitely isn't a damsel in distress, that's for sure. I liked her connection/chemistry with Hiddleston's Conrad. And it was great to see her have a connection with Kong that wasn't the repetitive formula role that's seen with most female characters in past Kong films.

Tom Hiddleston's James Conrad was solid. He's a man who knows what to do in a fight and how to survive. He has good chemistry with Larson's Weaver, which will hopefully be explored in a potential sequel.

But the biggest star of the film truly was KONG himself.

In appearance, personality, intelligence and power, he truly is a King and a God among monsters. He's a wrathful god, yet at the same time he's also a benevolent, noble guardian/protector. A powerful, cunning adolescent warrior who has yet to reach the pinnacle of his size and power.

If Kong is this powerful and this deadly in this film, even as a pre-teen adolescent male of his species, I can only imagine how powerful and formidable he will be as an fully-grown adult. I can see him doing serious damage to Godzilla in a fight, even outright overwhelming him in an altercation. I cannot wait for that inevitable altercation and hopefully a team-up between my two favorite daikaiju Kings/Gods.

The Skullcrawlers were frightening, deadly, fast and cunning predators. Ramarak (the Alpha Skullcrawler) was quite a formidable opponent that can take quite bit of punishment. And the smaller juvenile Skullcrawlers were also deadly and fierce. I much prefer them over the Mutos, who weren't all that impressive in design or likable as I felt better original kaiju could have been created for Godzilla to battle.

The other creatures of the island - The Mire Squid, the Sker Buffalo, the Psychovultures/Leaf-Wings, and Bamboo Spider, etc. - were all interesting creatures. I just have a feeling that we only seen a small fraction of all the fauna and flora that exists on Skull Island. I would love to see a sequel where a team is sent to document all the wildlife & plants that exist there, especially if we see more dinosaurian beasts and maybe Legendary's version of Gorosaurus, Varan, Anguirus, Manda or other notable Toho kaiju.

I also like how the natives were handled. They were unique. It's just a bit of a shame that we couldn't have spent more time with them. But much like the fauna and flora of Skull Island, there's only so much one can fit into a single movie.

The musical score was surprisingly good. It fit the film well and it was better than I expected.

This movie had a ton of great action. Lots of battles to enjoy.

The final battle between Kong and Ramarak was incredible, fierce and just plain awesome! I especially loved the maneuver Kong used to completely rip the guts out of the titanic Skullcrawler. I think I'm gonna call the maneuver... Intestinal Riptitude. Then again, how about... a Fistful of Guts?

It was also great to see Kong quickly dispatch the massive Mire Squid, rip off and devour one of the still moving tentacles, and then drag the carcass with him to consume it later. It was a cool, wicked homage to the scene from 1962's KING KONG vs. GODZILLA.

Then, of course, there's the fight between Kong and the helicopters & the soldiers fighting the Skullcrawlers in the boneyard. These scenes were intense, violent and wicked cool. Marlow was right. They should have never came to Skull Island. XD

Now there is a few things I would like to discuss about KONG: SKULL ISLAND.

The first is revolves around Kong's parents and how they may have died. Now, given the fact that Kong alone was more than a match for Ramarak/Alpha Skullcrawler, I find it impossible for his parents to have died at the claws and teeth of Ramarak alone. I have a couple of theories.

One is that Kong's parents died of old age, but that doesn't seem likely as we're uncertain as to whether Kong's parents were even fully grown adults when they perished. Unless, of course, Kong placed them there after they had already died or his parents ventured there and then died, much like a elephant graveyard.

Then again, Kong's parents could have been attacked and killed by an army of Alpha Skullcrawlers/Ramaraks and the adolescents. They could have also fought the army of Alpha Skullcrawlers and adolescents, managing to kill many of them or send them into retreat before later succumbing to the wounds they received in the conflict. This seems like the most logical conclusion of how his parents died.

This also brings up another interesting theory. Could Kong and his parents be the reason why there's only one Alpha Skullcrawler/Ramarak left? Kong alone might be the one responsible for eliminating the remaining Alpha Skullcrawlers on Skull Island. It wasn't certainly touched upon by the paintings and what Marlow said about Kong killing the Skullcrawlers and instilling fear in the "Big One". It was also touched upon that, without Kong, the alpha/apex predator of Skull Island, all the adolescent Skullcrawlers would eventually grow and mature into Alpha Skullcrawlers/Ramarak, overpopulate, conquer and overrun the entire island, and then spread like a sickness upon the world.

And that would not good for anyone. Thus, Kong killing and wiping out the Skullcrawlers is necessary. Given enough time, he'll most likely render the entire Skullcrawler species extinct. And that is a good thing for all the natives, the wildlife, the island, and ultimately the world.

It'd certainly explain why Ramarak was fearful of Kong and didn't dare venture up to the surface while Kong was still patrolling the island. It'd also explain why some of the adolescent Skullcrawlers went to the surface, as they had to escape from being eaten by Ramarak. Quite a Scylla and Charybdis situation for the adolescent Skullcrawlers, wouldn't you say?

Now, that brings up the question as to why Ramarak chose to chase the humans instead of attacking the dazed Kong? It could be that Ramarak determined that Kong was still too dangerous and formidable to risk it's life fighting, thus why it decided to pursue the humans. Then again, Kong may have recovered enough to send Ramarak into retreat, who decided to pursue easier prey with Kong in hot pursuit. It would be cool if we get a extended edition DVD/Bluray edition where a scene like this takes place, or perhaps the explosives that Colonel Packard set finally go off when Kong & Ramarak are fighting, with Kong taking the brunt of the blast where as the force of it sends Ramarak soaring back and causing the giant Skullcrawler to pursue the humans.

Now let's talk about something else a few people are overlooking. Kong being hurt in the film and the fact that the giant ape is only a pre-teen adolescent. Some people are saying that the weapons and tactics used against Kong severely hurt him. This is not true, at least to an extent.

The armor piercing bullets had no effect and merely annoyed him. The rotor blades of the chopper only inflicted minor tiny wounds on his hand. But what made Kong bleed, between the forearm and shoulder, was the massive point-blank explosion of that he endured by smashing the larger weapons supply transport (which carried many, many of those seismic bombs, napalm, armor piercing bullets, and god knows whatever powerful explosives within) into one of the helicopters. And even then the wound wasn't that severe. It made him bleed, yes, but it also healed up pretty quickly. It could even be a combination of the massive point-blank explosion and his altercations with the many adolescent Skullcrawlers who emerged after the army started dropping those powerful seismic bombs on the island.

Colonel Packard's napalm inferno assault didn't do anything damage to Kong's flesh but it did singe his fur. So what made him collapse? It can be explained due to the fact that napalm burns with such intensity that it burns the very oxygen out of the air. The napalm inferno, combined with the chemicals and smoke, asphyxiate/suffocate Kong to the point where he lasped into unconsciousness and collapsed from lack of oxygen.

What I cannot fathom is why Colonel Packard would believe detonating the explosions would kill Kong, because the point-blank detonation of many of those explosives on the other weapons transport carrier only managed to leave a large gash/wound on Kong's arm.

Another fact that some are missing is that Kong is only a 104 foot tall pre-teen adolescent who has yet to reach the utmost pinnacle of his size and power. I am more than willing to bet that if we had an adolescent, 100 foot tall Godzilla facing these kinds of assaults, the outcome would be very similar. I believe it is these facts that everyone needs to take that into consideration.

If Kong more than doubles or triples in size, you'll see his durability, power and strength increase infinitely more than what it is in KONG: SKULL ISLAND. That's a pretty scary thought given to how powerful and formidable Kong already is in his adolescent state. And, as it's been said, Kong is a highly intelligent, thinking animal.

All in all, it's a great monster movie and a solid entry in the MonsterVerse.

Highest rating I can give it?

9.5 out of 10 and/or 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Lowest rating I can give it?

8 out of 10 and/or 4 out of 5 stars

Believe the hype. All hail the King. Kong is King. Kong is God.

KONG: SKULL ISLAND.