Kong: Skull Island
Movie, 2017, Discovery, Set in 1973
Kong: Skull Island is #2 of 7 in release order and #1 of 7 in chronological order in the MonsterVerse.
The story
Explore the mysterious and dangerous home of the king of the apes as a team of explorers ventures deep inside the treacherous, primordial island.
Kong: Skull Island recap
In 1973, as the United States pulls out of Vietnam, Monarch official Bill Randa gets an escort to survey an uncharted island in the South Pacific. Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard's helicopter squadron, the British tracker James Conrad and the photographer Mason Weaver go with him. They drop seismic charges on Skull Island, and a giant ape, Kong, smashes the helicopters and kills many of the soldiers. Randa admits he came to prove monsters exist. The survivors are split up. Conrad's group meets the Iwi, a native people, and Hank Marlow, an American pilot stranded since World War II, who explains that Kong is the island's protector against the Skullcrawlers, reptiles from underground that killed the rest of his kind. Packard, who lost men to Kong, wants revenge and leads his soldiers to kill him.
Kong: Skull Island ending explained
Packard's napalm trap brings Kong down, but Conrad and Weaver stop him, and Kong crushes Packard. The largest Skullcrawler attacks; Kong fights it, saves Weaver from a lake, and tears out its tongue and organs. The survivors leave on Marlow's rebuilt boat, and Marlow returns home to the wife and son he has never met. Kong is left as the island's guardian.
Post-credits scenes
Yes. After the credits, Conrad and Weaver are held by Monarch, who show them cave paintings of other Titans: Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah. "Kong is not the only king," they are told, setting up Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Where to watch Kong: Skull Island
Kong: Skull Island is streaming on YouTube TV, TNT, TBS, and tru TV in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 6.7/10, Rotten Tomatoes 75%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Godzilla, before Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
- Chronological order: first, before Godzilla.
What to watch before Kong: Skull Island
Godzilla (2014), which Kong: Skull Island (2017) continues.
Cast
- Tom Hiddleston as Captain James Conrad
- Samuel L. Jackson as Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard
- John Goodman as Bill Randa
- Brie Larson as Mason Weaver
- Jing Tian as San Lin
- Toby Kebbell as Maj. Jack Chapman / Kong Mo-Cap Services
- John Ortiz as Victor Nieves
- Corey Hawkins as Houston Brooks
- Jason Mitchell as Glenn Mills
- Shea Whigham as Earl Cole
- Thomas Mann as Reg Slivko
- Terry Notary as Kong Mo-Cap Services
Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts.