Trailer Review 042 Kong Skull Island
Kong Skull Island
Chance of Success = well over 90%
Trailer Effectiveness = 100%
Set during the Vietnam War, the military has been dropping explosives on the Skull Island to map the surface, certainly questioned on the unnecessary roughness the method was using without taking into consideration how it would actually affect the inhabitants.
Led by Samuel L. Jackson's character, an expedition research team was sent to firsthand explore the island, although the huge storm clouds could be a huge obstacle as the next scene saw (albeit briefly) only a handful of helicopters compared to the full convoy before.
As the (remaining) oblivious passengers enjoying the scenery, the one pilot (Toby Kebbell) noticed just a bit too late where they're heading: into the territory of a giant ape and the lethal consequences they would suffer. The pinpoint throw of a palm tree into the leading helicopter certainly took them by surprise and let them know what they were really dealing with.
Visible clearly from over the horizon and from far away at the other end of the lake, it directly walked towards the survivors on the ground and maybe emphasizing his intention in asserting his dominance by pummeling down the remnants of the downed helicopter.
Surprised by this sudden turn of event, the leader of the accompanying soldiers that more or less crash landed safely wanted to find out the truth from the John Goodman's character, possibly an agent of Monarch (tying into the secret government agency from 2014 Godzilla movie that keep tabs on the global monsters phenomenon and even possibly play major parts in their creations and awakening, with the most important role of bringing these two monsters together in a Versus movie down the line) who was the only person knowing the truth behind it all. In the end, they're forced to work together to go back home with viable evidences of monsters exist in the world.
Journeying deeper into the jungle, they came across some ancient ruins and surprisingly human natives and their initial trepidation was quickly snuffed by an apparent survivor from possibly outside of the island, treated as their leader (notice the unusual tribal pattern they used to visibly colored their own territory and themselves and how John C. Reilly's character doesn't have any on him).
Going back to their tribal base, it was revealed to be inside a huge carcass of a possibly downed army cargo plane and converted into their tribe's holy site with the torches and the banners and then the drawing on the rocks of them worshiping the almighty giant ape, Kong, foreshadowing their peaceful relationship spanning possibly decades before the volatile arrival of the army or even Monarch.
A quick and quiet moment between the titled characters and the two human leads teased us on its more subdued and emotional side, although how much it would be seen in the movie is still up in the air but maybe it won't be on the level of Peter Jackson's take on it.
Visiting the vast boneyard possibly multiple times in the two trailers, they walked carefully through the fogs and scattered remains of prehistoric dinosaurs and even a couple of huge gorillas laying side by side, reminiscing of the size of Kong earlier and might be its deceased brothers or even parents.
Learning of the habitat of these skeletal predators or "Skull Crawlers" were in the bowels of the earth, they came out of nowhere and almost caught Brie Larson's character as the others raised their weapons at the ready, guns and a sword alike, with one of the soldiers resting his minigun on top of triceratops's skull and blasting away on the pack.
The trailers shown a diverse set of monsters: a massive spider towering over the bamboos with its long legs, a moss-covered giant ox coming out of the water after a long swim and the unidentifiable wooden creature in the third picture above. It's important to mention that they weren't shown approaching aggressively toward the soldiers as that scene of them shooting against the 'eight-legged freaks' probably out of shock and fear since it blended seamlessly into the floral background. The remaining two might be dormant and not hostile at all towards them unless provoked to do so.
Possibly in the third act, they were ready for the advancement of the skeletal predators with the bone fire and the scattered fire around the field although one of them approached the single hapless soldier and the king of the jungle wasn't fazed by the huge wall of fire as it swept the water against the heat and also the soldiers (the soldiers appeared to be feeling hostile against Kong whether out of fear or just under command by their officer, surely after heated debates with the two leads on the threat it presented against them.
This particular scene that could happened at the start of their journey into the island, effectively showing the massive size of the beast and scaling it appropriately to the surroundings, making the jungles appeared small and even blocking the sun on the horizon.
As I mentioned in my previous review, this approach to the icon would surely be in line of the current iteration of Godzilla and with them looked to have the same size, the wait for the eventual meeting between them would surely be more unrelenting when this debut movie comes out early next year.
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+ Highlights +
The appropriately throwback soundtrack, the initial feeling of travelling into the past, the joy between the crew before the expedition,
the first bloody and explosive encounter with Kong, the unleashed unrestrained strength of the beast,
the realistic-looking of the beast with its flowing messy fur and the effective framing scale to show its massive size,
the diverse type of creatures present on the island and how they reacted against the wary humans.
? Points of contention ?
The oblivious nature of the explorers of the consequences of their actions with the one in the know letting the casualties piling up,
the natives being led by John C. Reilly's character would play into how they learn of the ape and how to appeal to his better nature,
how the balance between action and comedy would be carefully kept throughout the movie,
the relationship between Kong and the hostile creatures could be the main throughline of the storyline,
the background of Kong's family line with the two skeletal remains of massive apes,
the fight between two humans interrupted by the livid ape might force an altercation between two opposing sides of the humans.
- Lowlights -
There is worry on how much the movie would be about Kong compared to other aspects such as the other monsters and the humans.
! Scenes to Admire !
the inevitable convoy into the giant storm clouds, the explosions reflected on the soldier's aviator glasses, the beautiful panning scene of the natural horizon, the surprising palm tree through the helicopter, the panning around Kong, the slow-motion pounding down with the wreckage inside the hands, Samuel L. Jackson staring down the eyes of the King who rose over the explosion, the remains of the helicopter with the smoke bombs going off, the scene in the cargo plane remain, Kong walking through the lake, the two skeletons of huge apes, the face to face confrontation between the two leads and the beast and her attempt to reach up to it, the massive and majestic ox, the swiping by Kong in front of the fire, the shooting of the spider on top of them, one of the soldiers holding the grenades with their safety pins out in front of one of the Skull Crawlers, the iconic bumping of the chests by the icon,
Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman,John C. Reilly, Toby Kebbell, ...
- Synopsis -
Explorers (Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman) encounter a gigantic ape and other monstrous creatures after traveling to an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean.
(Director - Jordan Vogt-Roberts [the Kings of Summer], Budget - $190 Millions, Genre - Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Legendary Monster Universe)
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