Among the Classic Monster Movie Landscsape, King Kong Remains an unflappable hero
There's a wealth of "King Kong" related films available on streaming services these days. I only mention this because, in general, they are awesome. A lover of classic Monster Movies that my father had recorded off of TV station broadcasts (black and white and gray and worn to the nub), I came of age on these types of films while waiting in the summer afternoons of my adolescence for my mother to prepare my lunch. The more modern takes on these films, while imperfect, can certainly prove to be undeniably interesting. Particularly, I am referring to 2017's "Kong: Skull Island" and "King Kong" from 2005.
If there is a contrast to be found between the poignant and otherwise wordless death of The Mighty Kong in Peter Jackson's misguided 2005 spectacle "King Kong," and the militant savagery of 2017's "Kong: Skull Island," it might lie in the way the two films mythologize the famous gorilla's perceived heroics. While one concerns itself with making Kong the defender of some ancient realm, the other paints the picture of an alpha male, heart-broken and out of time in a world that, perhaps, moved too quickly out of his perception.
For both of these portrayals of classic films, there is something to be said about the way that Kong is brought to the screen, after all. Obviously, this is one of (if not the) most important aspects of the films. In classic Kaiju fashion, "Kong: Skull Island" doesn't find itself so interested in the emotional beats of the gorilla's inherently tragic story as it does with the hard-lined heroics of his methods. Conversely, Jackson's year's earlier counterpart looked to balance an over-the-top "Lost World" homage with the more traditional elegance of the "Beauty and the Beast" tale.
For all intents and purposes, "Kong: Skull Island" is quite obviously and specifically a Vietnam film that kinda/sorta actually lifts from the original "Predator." Though not nearly as gory or misanthropic as that film, "...Skull Island" concerns itself with soldiers left to the meat-grinder by the powers that be on a systemic level that flirts with a historically social message. While this aspect is eventually abandoned in favor of more traditional extravaganza, "...Skull Island" proves to have a mind (even if a scattered one) towards a certain type of relevance, both lionizing and demonizing Kong's methods in overtly fascistic ways.
"King Kong," which concerns and presents itself as a more straightforward remake of the 1930's original film, is a softer take, but certainly not without its hard edges. Unfortunately, the blend is off from the start. However, when the film plays to its strengths--which involves a doe-eyed Naomi Watts charmingly and sometimes petulantly interacting with a motion-captured Andy Serkis as Kong himself--it can be as classic and effective as anything that came before it.
In both films--imperfect, impetuous and ill-mannered, though he may be--Kong's motivations are portrayed as basically elemental and true. The juxtaposition of Kong removing those pitiful sailors from that ill-fated log, with him also heroically saving Anne from the T-Rex moments later remains an important part of the Kong philosophy. It should be mentioned that these aforementioned sequences, so ingrained in both the original and 2005 remake's DNA, are not included or attempted in "Kong: Skull Island."
While effective in its bluntness and straight-forward nature, "...Skull Island's" lack of nuance or...subtlety can be off-putting when placed against the more graceful aspects of any other Kong story. However, while presenting itself in such a traditional Hollywood, Monster Movie fashion, forgiveness can not only me handed out, but explained away fairly easily. Ultimately, both approaches can be somewhat (if not totally equally) effective. Like anything else, it generally depends on your expectations; are you looking for romance or to watch otherworldly nonsense be wonderfully romanticized? The many iterations of Kong strangely still fully cover these aspects. Here are two as stark representations as can be mustered.
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