10 Greatest Monster Movies Of The 21st Century
6. King Kong
Without Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake, it’s unlikely Kong: Skull Island would even exist. It’s perhaps because of that film that this reboot takes its name from King Kong’s place of origin, as Skull Island itself was one of the best parts about Jackson’s film.
Yet another excuse for a brilliant Andy Serkis motion capture performance, King Kong saw Peter Jackson using everything he learned from The Lord of the Rings about big budget movie-making, in order to pay his respects to one of the industry’s longest-surviving characters.
In a clever act of meta-film-making, Jackson effectively told the story of a wayward film crew getting lost in the treacherous jungles of Skull Island, faithfully recreating the 1933 film whilst updating it for modern audiences. It's a meaty, effects-heavy blockbuster, and still holds up well over a decade later, despite considerable advances in CGI technology since 2005.
Skull Island certainly has big shoes to fill, as King Kong is arguably the catalyst that led to such renewed interest in the monster movie genre.