A league of giant super-species
If you happened to sit through the end credits of "Kong: Skull Island", then your patience would be rewarded. A video footage showed a painting of Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. Monarch, a secret government organization, would be looking for the giant monsters of the world. They were part of a multi-million franchise by Toho, which provided a staple of entertainment for Japanese audience and (foreign) moviegoers who couldn't get enough of Godzilla. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) inspired Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. to reboot of the same franchise that thrilled Godzilla fans during the 1950s.
The opening credits of "Kong: Skull Island" would be similar to Gareth Edwards's "Godzilla", of how the Second World War and the nuclear arms race brought out the apex predators from antiquity. The lion and crocodile would be puny creatures compared to Godzilla, and the opening credits of "Godzilla" suggested that there was a valid reason to drop the atomic bomb in Bikini Atoll. The US government knew its existence. The bomb was supposed to exterminate this humongous creature, but Godzilla turned out to be a resilient species. The same creature would defend mankind from Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism (MUTO), and Frisco became their battleground.
Edwards was alluding to "It Came from Beneath the Sea", where the Mariana Trench turned out to be a lair of a gigantic octopus. The same (sea) creature almost brought the Golden Gate to its destruction. "Kong: Skull Island" opened with a scene from World War II, where an American pilot and his Japanese counterpart found themselves on this mysterious island. Bitter enemies turned into reluctant allies after they find themselves in the middle of a very complex ecosystem. Bill Randa, a government agent for many years, knew of the existence of such thing. In fact, he was part of a scientific crew that first witnessed it. He became Uncle Sam's zealot, and he wasn't the only one.
Dan Gilroy and John Gatins, who conceived the story, stripped off the mystery surrounding Skull Island. Some viewers might be thinking of Isla Nubar, where Michael Crichton imagined cloned dinosaurs (and Steven Spielberg vividly recreated it for the big screen). They were close to the mark, as Houston Brooks would explain to the members of the Sky Devils helicopter squadron. He was a (geeky) Yale graduate recruited by Monarch, who believed in the Hollow Earth theory. And it could be found in the South Pacific. Gilroy and director Jordan Vogt-Roberts kept up with the King Kong legacy, as they used the Vietnam War as the backdrop for this latest monster thriller. As a matter of fact, Skull Island resembled the famed Ha Long Bay.
Members of the audience who enjoyed "Them!" and "Tarantula" would be quite disappointed at the seeming lack of other creatures who were as big as King Kong. Vogt-Roberts focused on how man became the ultimate apex predator, with apparent reference to "Apocalypse Now" and "Heart of Darkness". The filmmaker wasn't cheeky in including both classics, not even trying too hard to capture the spirit of the 1970s. (If you have seen some episodes of "M*A*S*H", then you have an idea about how the decade influenced this latest monster thriller.) The final scene was a teaser, and those who knew too much couldn't wait to see Godzilla and King Kong facing each other one more time. But they rather come face to face with the Mothra, a colossal caterpillar turned giant moth, Rodan, a kind of Pteranodon, and King Ghidorah, a three-headed flying monster who looked like a distant relative of the hydra.
Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. may be thinking of a prehistoric counterpart of the Avengers, which seemed to be too fantastic to be true. Then again, nothing would be illogical in (Hollywood) filmmaking.
