King Kong as depicted in the 1933 film that bears his name is one of the most enduring screen icons, especially among film makers and critics. The combination of monster spectacle in the action scenes and intimate sympathy in the close-ups inspires many blockbuster directors, even eighty years later. I remember when Peter Jackson finished the Lord of the Rings trilogy and announced that his next film would be a remake of King Kong. He said that as much as he loved the Tolkien books he was a much bigger fan of Kong.
That was twelve years ago. Now, a new creative team goes back to the well for Kong: Skull Island. Other than the two elements of its name – Kong and the island – they’ve made the rest anew. As the Vietnam War comes to a close, a crew of crackpot scientists with a string of wild goose chases on its ledger convinces a senator to allow one final expedition. They believe that cavities in the Earth’s core house great monsters, and that one such hollow is underneath a remote island in the South Pacific. So they conscript a helicopter crew to fly them through the perpetual storm that has kept the island hidden.
There, they find Kong. The 125-foot gorilla looms over everything. Angered by the seismic test bombs the scientists drop to investigate the earth cavities, Kong attacks and destroys the helicopters. The team thus faces a dilemma. The military commander wants to round up the scattered weapons and kill the beast to avenge his fallen comrades, while the scientists want to get to the rendezvous point, escape the island, and warn the world. Along the way, they discover more. Kong isn’t the only giant animal on the island; giant, deadly lizards attack from the underground hollow; an aboriginal tribe lives there, worshipping Kong as a god because he protects them from the lizards; and another American soldier is there, stranded since World War II.
That old soldier is Marlow, played for great comedy by John C. Reilly. He’s gone a little crazy in his years with the natives, who never seem to speak, and he’s overjoyed with the chance to talk to someone again. Marlow is a welcome addition to Kong: Skull Island – the creatures are fun but the characters are flat until Reilly’s mad mirth livens things up. His experience provides the knowledge the team needs to escape. And his name provides the key to understanding the film. In Joseph Conrad’s novel The Heart of Darkness, Marlow is the journalist who travels into the jungle to investigate Kurtz, who has given up his English identity and joined an indigenous tribe. It’s a classic exploration of the meaning and worth of civilization. Here on Skull Island, it’s Marlow who has “gone native,” but, unlike Kurtz, he wants to go back.
The Heart of Darkness features one of the greatest endings in literature, as Marlow returns to Kurtz’s former home. Having read that novella adds depth and meaning to Marlow’s last scene here.
So we have Marlow, but where’s Kurtz? That question demands another: which Kurtz? The Kurtz of the novel cared a great deal for his adopted tribe and tried to protect them from the colonialism of his former nation. Kong himself plays a similar role, though fighting not against “civilization” but against nature, “red in tooth and claw.” But there’s another Kurtz, of course. Marlon Brando’s character in Apocalypse Now is a U.S. Army officer in Vietnam who has left America behind because he considers it a nation of cowards, unwilling to commit to the war. Samuel Jackson’s character Packard, who leads the soldiers against Kong to avenge the dead, mirrors Brando’s devotion to violent victory. So, in a sense, Kong: Skull Island pits Kurtz against Kurtz.
But who am I kidding? Kong: Skull Island is about the monsters, not the literary references. And the monsters are pretty magnificent. This is the biggest version of King Kong to ever appear on screen, five times as tall as Jackson’s. A smaller giant would be more believable, but the spectacle was worth the sacrifice. Seeing the ape tower over his island is quite a thrill, and seeing him eat is… hugely disgusting, but fascinating. And when you go to the movie, be sure to stay through the credits for a preview scene – more monsters are coming.