10 Reasons Kong: Skull Island Might Be 2017's Most Surprising Success

1. It's Throwing It Back To Original King Kong

Kong Skull Island
Warner Bros.

These days, when a lot of people think about King Kong, they imagine an enormous, feral gorilla, stooped over using all four limbs to travel. What they're actually recalling is Peter Jackson's 2005 interpretation of the character. Before then, Kong was actually bipedal, standing on two legs like a human. It's in this form we see Kong in the trailer for Skull Island.

Why does this matter? Well, it's a clear indicator that director Jordan Vogt-Roberts is harking back to the original Kong films. Jackson's 2005 interpretation was interesting, but many criticised it for playing it too safe with the material. Skull Island, on the other hand, bares basically no similarity to Jackson's version, but little details like the way Kong walks prove he intends to respect the source material.

The same can be said for Kong's fur, which is brown in the trailer rather than black like in Peter Jackson's film - another sign of an increased emphasis on colour.

Contributor
Contributor

Commonly found reading, sitting firmly in a seat at the cinema (bottle of water and a Freddo bar, please) or listening to the Mountain Goats.