Kong: Skull Island

Annotation for KRRR! 2022 by Martin Kos

Kong: Skull Island (2017) eloquently illustrates how the most important players in the contemporary audiovisual industry try not to miss any opportunity to use an effective business model when developing their own multimedia portfolio. Warner Brothers has made Kong a part of its so-called MonsterVersa project, in which it wants to follow the strategy of connecting the stories and fictional worlds of audience-favorite characters from separate films into joint team spectacles. Kong: Skull Island with the famous gigantic ape thus followed three years after Godzilla (2014), in which people are mostly mere witnesses watching the destructive abilities of monsters. It is not surprising that the two title monsters should meet at the end of this year in a common fictional world and a joint film: Godzilla vs. Kong (2020).

The premise of the film Kong, which takes place during the Vietnam War, is the discovery of a previously unknown and mysterious island, located not far from the area of ​​the fading military conflict. A mission is initiated, the declared goal of which is to explore the space for scientific purposes. The whole event brings together a diverse group of characters with very different professions (scientists, American soldiers, an investigative photographer and a retired British captain), and the mission, as it later turns out, does not mean exactly the same thing to its participants. The scientists, led by Randa (John Goodman), are trying to prove the validity of their theories, for the commander of the American unit Packard (Samuel L. Jackson), it is just another combat mission, the photographer Weaver (Brie Larson) wants to reveal the secret behind the officially presented government version, and Captain Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) provides the team with his jungle experience in exchange for American dollars.

The film develops and intertwines a number of genre patterns, which, like most characters, have a clearly assigned function in the overall narrative structure – and, like them, suddenly disappear after fulfilling their purpose. However, the filmmakers still manage to hold the film together, mainly thanks to the framework narrative arc that is connected to the titular Kong. The characters gradually get to know him, begin to understand his role in the entire ecosystem of the island and reassess his importance. Although from a narrative point of view, Kong: Skull Island may seem slightly clumsy, especially in the action scenes it achieves an impressive and engaging atmosphere, which, together with a number of funny lines, turns watching the film into a truly entertaining experience.