In 1944, two World War II fighter pilots, American Hank Marlow (Will Brittan, and later John C. Reilly) and Japanese Gunpei Ikari (Miyavi), parachute onto an isolated island in the South Pacific and continue fighting until they learn that the island is ruled by a 104-foot-tall giant ape (Terry Notary and Toby Kebbill in motion-capture).
In 1979, Bill Randa (John Goodman), head of the U.S. government organization Monarch, is sent to search Skull Island for the rumored primeval creatures there. With him is Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson), British Special Air Service tracker Captain James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), and photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson).
They drop the seismic explosives of Houston Brooks (Corry Hawkins) for mapping purposes. Brooks has a theory about the Hollow Earth and thinks there might be a portal there on the island. Quickly, they are attacked by Kong and the few survivors are scattered throughout the island. Basically, there is a group of researchers and a group of soldiers, their helicopters all too easily totalled by Kong. Colonel Packard is searching for the crashed helicopter piloted by Major Jack Chapman (Toby Kebbell) which has weapons aboard that can kill Kong.
Conrad’s group finds the local Iwi natives and Marlow, who has survived there since World War II. He warns them of the skull-crawlers that the bombing has awakened. They had nearly killed off Kong’s species. The natives believe Kong is the only thing keeping them from being overrun by skull-crawlers. Chapman is ambushed and devoured by one of the disgusting creatures. Marlow has been trying to build a boat from parts of his and Ikari’s planes—the latter was killed a while ago—and Conrad’s group help Marlow finish it. They ride down the river to where the rescue copters will meet them. Nieves (John Orwitz) is torn apart by birds, and they communicate with Packard’s group. Searching for Chapman, they are led by Marlow through a mass grave of dinosaurs and giant apes. Randa and others are killed by a skull-crawler until Weaver blows it up with flammable gas.
Learning of Chapman’s death, Packard renews his plan to kill Kong in revenge. It is pointed out to him that they would soon be overrun with skull-crawlers, but Packard will not listen. The two groups argue and separate. Packard’s troop lays a trap for Kong and the others return to the boat. Conrad and Weaver meet Kong, believe he is a peaceful creature, and decide to defend him. Kong is injured by napalm. The other soldiers are persuaded to back off, and Kong himself kills Packard. The humans are attacked by a skull-crawler and, together with Kong, they defeat it. Eventually, the humans leave the island and Kong watches them depart. Marlowe finds his family. At the end, Monarch shows the team cave paintings of Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah battling Godzilla. This is to set up the sequel and in this case there really was a sequel.
The film was directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, and was announced at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con. It began with Universal Studios and then moved to Warner Brothers for a shared cinematic universe. It was generally praised by reviewers—the action and the contributions of Samuel L. Jackson and John C. Reilly particularly. It was a box-office success and was nominated for a visual effects Oscar. A sequel, Godzilla vs, Kong, was released in 2021.
Writers Max Borenstein and John Gatins were inspired by Apocalypse Now and it is obvious from the movie. Dan Gilroy and Derek Connolly did re-writes. Industrial Light and Magic created Kong as a lonely god somewhat more human than gorilla-like. There was also inspiration from Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke. The skull-crawlers came out of the 1933 Kong. Much of it was filmed in Vietnam. Henry Jackson wrote the music, which included lots of cool rock and roll from the Seventies. There were toys and comic books galore.
Brie Larson also appears as a spear-toting native. The outfit worn by John Goodman was similar to the one worn by Robert Armstrong as Carl Denham in the original Kong. This is the tallest Kong of all, at 104 feet, so he could duke it out with Godzilla in the sequel without looking ridiculous. The names Marlow and Conrad are references to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, which inspired Apocalypse Now. John Goodman’s character, Bill Randa, has been compared to the shark-hunter Quint from Jaws: survivor of a shipwreck, stranded at sea, friends killed by sharks or Godzilla, obsessed with the creature. And Packard becomes obsessed with killing the thing, like Captain Ahab in Moby Dick.