Kong: Skull Island - In theaters March 10, 2017

[tridon]

[CONTAINER][MOVIE1]Title: Kong: Skull Island (2017)

Genre: [GENRE]Fantasy[/GENRE], [GENRE]Action[/GENRE], [GENRE]Adventure[/GENRE]

Director: [DIRECTOR]Jordan Vogt-Roberts[/DIRECTOR]

Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Toby Kebbell, John C. Reilly

Plot: An action/adventure story centered on King Kong's origins.[/MOVIE1][POSTER1]

[/POSTER1][/CONTAINER]

Spoiler: Old Infos

Legendary just announced at SDCC that they're releasing a prequel to KING KONG called SKULL ISLAND!

Legendary surprised the Comic-Con crowd today in Hall H with a new take on the classic monster realm known as Skull Island. The announcement came in the form of a short trailer depicting a harsh, stormy, green land that culminated in the reveal of King Kong howling into the night. The king is back!

Skull Island is of course King Kong’s home, a realm of mystery and monsters. So while Kong is clearly going to be a big part of this film, the approach looks to also be an exploration of the island.

Does it exist in the same universe as Godzilla? It better!

This was the rare true Comic-Con surprise. We don't even know who's writing or directing the film yet, but we do know it has a release date: November 4, 2016.

Courtesy IGN

Spoiler

 

[DADDYCOOL187]

Absolutely loved it, Kong is a total Bad Ass Can't wait to own this. Also loved the post credit scene

Spoiler

Loved it when Hank says that Kong is still growing

 

[tridon]

I just got back from seeing Kong on IMAX. I thought it was a good, fun flick. Kong looked great and definitely bad-ass. Here's my thoughts...

PROS

Spoiler

- I liked the look of Kong and especially liked the way he moved. I think his agile, quick movements will look awesome next to Godzilla's bulkiness during their battle.
- The standout actors for me were Shea Whigham's Cole and Jason Mitchell's Mills. I especially enjoyed the chemistry between the two of them. They outshone everyone during each scene.
- Visually, Kong: Skull Island is breathtaking. The scenery was beautiful, the cinematography was great, and the creature designs were great fun. Just gorgeous!!!
- While nowhere near as emotionally interesting as Andy Serkis' Kong from 2005, Toby Kebbell did an amazing job portraying this new, more primal Kong (and that's on top of also starring as Jack Chapman).
- The scene after the end credits was brief and just enough to get everyone in the crowd excited. I can't wait for 2019/2020!
- Kong is still growing!!! That made me smile from ear-to-ear. If he was that big in the '70s, he's going to be an absolute monster when he battles Godzilla in 2020.
- The spider scene was awesome and equally horrifying.
- The giant octopus vs. Kong match was so much fun! Probably my favourite scene in the whole film.

CONS

Spoiler

- The main stars all played forgettable characters. The supporting characters were all better and way more fleshed out. I didn't care for John Goodman's character at all; Brie Larson's character didn't have any real backstory; Tom Hiddleston played a tracker who really didn't track anything; Samuel L. Jackson played the same character he always plays (he even says, "*****, please"); and John C. Reilly just seemed very out of place.
- Henry Jackman's score was also quite forgettable. It reminded me of Ang Lee's Hulk a little often and didn't really display much of a theme for Kong himself.
- It was too short. Some of the scenes were so beautiful and then they just end. More than once I said to myself, "Huh? Why'd they cut that so soon?" I seriously hope there's a Director's Cut on Blu-ray.
- Ants. John C. Reilly mentions giant ants in the trees (you even hear one), but they never show you.
- While I liked the scene during the end credits, it should've been a de-aged Ken Watanabe that talked to both Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson.

All-in-all, I enjoyed Kong: Skull Island, but perhaps not as much as I thought I was going to. They showed too much in the trailers, for one thing. They literally showed nearly every scene in those trailers.

The 2005 King Kong is still my favourite Kong, but this is an all-new version that's not connected to the original 1933 film. As far as new versions of Kong goes, this is the best. It easily trumps the 1977 Kong. I highly recommend seeing this on the big screen. I can't wait to see the return of this Kong!

 

[kaw]

@tridon did you get a poster? I was able to grab one!

 

[tridon]

@tridon did you get a poster? I was able to grab one!

I did! Very happy to have one! I looked on eBay for a Logan poster, but I don't know who to trust. Seems like a lot of sellers are just printing their own posters and selling them. Tough to find a legit one.

 

[tridon]

 

[DADDYCOOL187]

I just got back from seeing Kong on IMAX. I thought it was a good, fun flick. Kong looked great and definitely bad-ass. Here's my thoughts...

PROS

Spoiler

- I liked the look of Kong and especially liked the way he moved. I think his agile, quick movements will look awesome next to Godzilla's bulkiness during their battle.
- The standout actors for me were Shea Whigham's Cole and Jason Mitchell's Mills. I especially enjoyed the chemistry between the two of them. They outshone everyone during each scene.
- Visually, Kong: Skull Island is breathtaking. The scenery was beautiful, the cinematography was great, and the creature designs were great fun. Just gorgeous!!!
- While nowhere near as emotionally interesting as Andy Serkis' Kong from 2005, Toby Kebbell did an amazing job portraying this new, more primal Kong (and that's on top of also starring as Jack Chapman).
- The scene after the end credits was brief and just enough to get everyone in the crowd excited. I can't wait for 2019/2020!
- Kong is still growing!!! That made me smile from ear-to-ear. If he was that big in the '70s, he's going to be an absolute monster when he battles Godzilla in 2020.
- The spider scene was awesome and equally horrifying.
- The giant octopus vs. Kong match was so much fun! Probably my favourite scene in the whole film.

CONS

Spoiler

- The main stars all played forgettable characters. The supporting characters were all better and way more fleshed out. I didn't care for John Goodman's character at all; Brie Larson's character didn't have any real backstory; Tom Hiddleston played a tracker who really didn't track anything; Samuel L. Jackson played the same character he always plays (he even says, "*****, please"); and John C. Reilly just seemed very out of place.
- Henry Jackman's score was also quite forgettable. It reminded me of Ang Lee's Hulk a little often and didn't really display much of a theme for Kong himself.
- It was too short. Some of the scenes were so beautiful and then they just end. More than once I said to myself, "Huh? Why'd they cut that so soon?" I seriously hope there's a Director's Cut on Blu-ray.
- Ants. John C. Reilly mentions giant ants in the trees (you even hear one), but they never show you.
- While I liked the scene during the end credits, it should've been a de-aged Ken Watanabe that talked to both Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson.

All-in-all, I enjoyed Kong: Skull Island, but perhaps not as much as I thought I was going to. They showed too much in the trailers, for one thing. They literally showed nearly every scene in those trailers.

The 2005 King Kong is still my favourite Kong, but this is an all-new version that's not connected to the original 1933 film. As far as new versions of Kong goes, this is the best. It easily trumps the 1977 Kong. I highly recommend seeing this on the big screen. I can't wait to see the return of this Kong!

Have to agree in regards to the trailers....it's becoming the norm to literally show you most of the action or best bits in these so there's not any surprises

 

[Samurainl]

Just got back.

Bunch of people you know (or get to know) next to nothing about, a big ape and big lizards fight with each other on a pretty island. That's the whole movie right there.

5/10, not worth the admission price for IMAX 3d.

 

[doblbj2k]

I saw this last night in IMAX 3D and got the collectible ticket that was also pretty cool. I should also note, besides the post credit scene, my IMAX theater had a special, remixed IMAX countdown with a Kong theme before the movie and we also got the special IMAX preview of the upcoming Dunkirk movie.

Overall I enjoyed the movie, but it's far from great. I wish there was a hybrid of this movie and the 2005 movie. The 2005 movie was way too long but did have an action scene (Kong versus the multiple T-Rexes) that was better than anything in this current movie. Kong Skull Island is actually too short and not having a good human connection to Kong (like Jane to Kong) hurt the overall core of the movie. Comparing this with the 2014 Godzilla movie, I think this Kong Skull Island is an better overall movie, with Godzilla having higher highs and lower lows.

Kong Skull Island is very well directed with enough action to make it very entertaining, but as other have mentioned, the script and dialogue made for very bland or one dimensional characters. The script is so uninspired that it made the normally very charismatic Tom Hiddleston very dull. Personally the only character that was memorable was John C Reily's character.There were quite a decent amount of shocking human deaths in this movie was well.

But the real reason why you'd watch Kong Skull Island is for Kong himself and he looks great. I do wish we saw Kong more in non action scenes to develop more personality with him. But his look and size were great. I wouldn't say this is a must watch movie, but if you are interested in seeing it, I do think my experience was enhanced with the true IMAX screen size and sound. I'd rate this about the same or slightly above the 2005 movie. About 3 1/2 Ninjas. Both solid movies, but for different reasons.

 

[tridon]

I saw this last night in IMAX 3D and got the collectible ticket that was also pretty cool. I should also note, besides the post credit scene, my IMAX theater had a special, remixed IMAX countdown with a Kong theme before the movie and we also got the special IMAX preview of the upcoming Dunkirk movie.

The IMAX countdown remix was actually very, very cool. Thanks for reminding me of that. The Dunkirk preview sounded great, but meh... nothing special (not for me, anyway).

 

[DADDYCOOL187]

Loved the Kong IMAX countdown

 

[doblbj2k]

The IMAX countdown remix was actually very, very cool. Thanks for reminding me of that. The Dunkirk preview sounded great, but meh... nothing special (not for me, anyway).

Totally agree with you on the Dunkirk preview. The sound was the best part of the preview. The shifting between multiple scenes without any context behind the movie really hindered it. They should have just stuck with the one good scene from start to finish ala Dark Knight / Dark Knight Rises.

Back to Kong, I still think IMAX is the way to go with movies like this that empathize heavily on scope and scale. You just can't replicate that type of experience at home even with the best projector/sound set up.

 

[bloodsnake007]

 

[bloodsnake007]

Watched it last night and I absolutely loved it! KONG is back baby! And he kicks so much fu**ing ass! Godzilla vs Kong in 2020, BRING IT ON!

Can't wait to go apesh*t with my new Collection!

 

[bloodsnake007]

2 New Posters

 

[Flloydo]

Just got back from seeing this and overall I enjoyed it

I did think it was too short though

I did love that they went straight into this one and not a bullsh*t hour before anything happens like jacksons.
Kong was epic, loved everything about him. Loved his geezer bowl after he rucks too

Spoiler

Although he was hugely out of place I still enjoyed Reilly and I didn't think I would tbh, I'm convinced he's crazy in real life

Not sure about Sam jacksons personal vendetta against Kong but everytime they did a close up of his fiery eyes i wanted the kill bill music to play (you know the chilling one that sounds like psycho stabbing) would of been hilarious

I'm Gona be honest as I see loads mentioning the characters and although yeah they ain't great in terms of getting to know them but also its a Kong film, there's only one thing I'm here to see and it's not character development when most will die and the one character they decided to start to flesh out got killed which I wasn't expecting

I thought Hiddleston and Brie was fine IMO

Felt sorry for Shea when he goes to blow the lizard dino up, that explosion would of probably killed it

Octopus scene was incredible, when they arrive, the spider, final scene and some of the imagery of Kong standing in the fire was epic

I like how it went against the previous films and story and he didn't steal the woman and then the team go after him and rescue her, liked he was a ally too and I'm glad they never brought him back to main land and kept it all on the island

Cool to hear he's a younglin still

But it was far too short

So was goodmans ship wrecked by Godzilla? Is that why it looked like claws had ripped through

Also what's with the storm? Why does it protect the island? Did I miss that or is that something we just nod to and accept? Some mystical thing

@tridon damn I didn't know there was a after scene. I'll have to look that up now

Good point about the ants - but Reilly did make me laugh "they sound like birds, but they're f*cking ants" lol
And your right, there's one scene that stood for me that cuts very odd, you hear the next scene about to start with some weird tribe music but it's a split second and cuts again to a Birdseye view of something or possibly the camera going over the island. Just over an hour in I think so I hope of a directors cut too

As much as I enjoyed it I did say to my mate that parts reminded me of the new Jurassic world, like the attacking birds who tare the guy up (still holding on to his briefcase which made me laugh) and some other moments.
Shame no actual dinosaurs though apart from the triceratops skull

All fights were excellent but as a personal favourite I'll always love peter jacksons multiple T. rex's vs Kong fight

 

[psychoscot]

Just watched this in 3D, meh! It was ok but don't honestly think I'll sit through it again. Kongs great, the rest of it is just boring and one dimensional 2/5

 

[bloodsnake007]

 

[bloodsnake007]

 

[bloodsnake007]

 

[jcm]

Finally got around to seeing this today and despite some of the negative reviews it has gotten if you go into it knowing what it is you'll be able to enjoy it as the fun popcorn flick it is.