Kong: Skull Island is a joyful roller coaster ride

Kong's 70s return is a template for an entertaining blockbuster.

TMC continues its cycle dedicated to Godzilla and King Kong. While Godzilla X Kong is currently a hit at the cinema, the channel yesterday offered the public the opportunity to catch up on Godzilla vs. Kong by Adam Wingard, released in 2021 (directly to VOD due to the Covid-19 epidemic). Tonight, place Kong: Skull Island, an opus directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts in 2017. Première recommends it.

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Sometimes all it takes is a slight change in context to refresh a concept that we thought was completely outdated. In this case, the legendary King Kong was accustomed to the 1930s, the date of its creation, and had only ventured into modernization in 1976 (with the reboot by John Guillermin starring Jessica Lange). By fulfilling his fantasy of remaking Kong, Peter Jackson had respectfully set his film in the 1930s. But the thinking heads of the Legendary studio, by imagining a Marvel-style franchise integrating Kong into the universe sketched by the Godzilla by Gareth Edwards, felt that they could not apply the same treatment to the Monkey King as to the big radioactive lizard.

A change of context was necessary, a bit like the Elseworlds from DC Comics who imagined Batman as a cowboy or Superman raised in the USSR. Place, therefore, King Kong version 1973. The seminal image is this: army helicopters against a backdrop of the setting sun facing the titanic silhouette of Kong. King Kong more Apocalypse Now. The kind of pitch that is immediately exciting, like X-Men The Beginning (Mutants in the sixties), one of the best films of the saga.

The creatures of Kong Skull Island are inspired by Miyazaki

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (the lovely 80s tale The Kings of Summernoticed at Sundance) then enjoys considering his Kong: Skull Island as a playful and monstrous spin-off of Coppola's classic, with its helicopter soldiers carrying out bombing missions to the sound of 70s rock classics (see our study of the playlist here). A sensation accentuated by the names of the characters, which refer to In the heart of darkness (Tom Hiddleston plays a certain Conrad, John C. Reilly is called Marlow…).

But the opening scene of the film, a duel between a Japanese pilot and an American stranded on Skull Island during the Pacific War before being interrupted by Kong himself, concentrates well this playful energy which animates it from the beginning until 'at the end. Cinema like a big amusement park: welcome to Skull Island. Giant spiders! Animated fossil dinosaurs! Lost Tribes! Titanic storms! Majestic landscapes! Joyful roller coaster ride, Kong: Skull Island is closer to Jurassic World (it's a compliment) than a boring reflection on war as a monstrosity. Throughout its monumental fighting scenes (Kong is visually stunning), the film reminds us that giant monsters are the most amusing thing in the world.

Trailer for Kong: Skull Island :

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