Kong: Skull Island - 25 Easter Eggs & References You Must See

16. Apocalypse Now

And since Apocalypse Now was clearly on Vogt-Roberts' mind just as much as the text that inspired it, there are a few tonal and spiritual links to the film. The orange sun-soaked aesthetic and extreme usage of harsh light and deep pitch blacks follows the film's visual clues, and Packard has some traits recognisable to Marlon Brando's Colonel Kurtz.

Marlow too shares his disassociation with reality and the exalted status among a tribal community (though he's obviously not a God). He and Kong share the role evenly in that respect.

And to highlight the similarities further, Kong's IMAX poster is a direct redo of Bob Peak's legendary Apocalypse Now poster, with Brando's head swapped out for Kong's.