Kong: Skull Island (Blu-ray)

Product Description

Kong: Skull Island (Blu-ray)

When a scientific expedition to an uncharted island awakens titanic forces of nature, a mission of discovery becomes an explosive war between monster and man. Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman and John C. Reilly star in a thrilling and original new adventure that reveals the untold story of how Kong became King.

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Top Reviews

Giant monster movie fans! The eighth wonder of the world makes his triumphant return!
by THowerton (5 out of 5 stars)
July 30, 2018

"Kong: Skull Island" had difficult tasks: (A) stay true in an important way to the spirit of the original "King Kong" (B) deliver an updated and closer to contemporary version of the Kong mythos and make it more compelling than an average giant-monsters-amok movie (C) shoehorn the film into a developing "monsterverse" that will include Godzilla and lead up to a titanic tussle in an upcoming crossover between the two behemoths and (D) make the human drama palpable enough to ground and drive the movie. "Kong: Skull Island" succeeds on all of these accounts (and maybe then some).
(A) Stay true in an important way to the spirit of the original "King Kong". Check. "Kong: Skull Island" is a very different movie than the 1933 original. The original (which is fantastic; if you haven't seen it check it out!) was a straight up jungle adventure movie that turned into a three-way romantic triangle with King Kong being given heart and motivation in his clinging to, protecting, and ultimately dying for Ann Darrow. This Kong has no romantic inclinations (despite the callback to the original in one scene) but he is given heart by way of being discovered to be an orphan, a youngling still growing but overseeing and protecting his world, from the monstrous denizens of Skull Island and curious but painful man and their machines. He has empathy and oversight for the gentler inhabitants of Skull Island but shows himself a fearsome fighter against the menacing and hideous skull crawlers. In "King Kong" Kong delivered the beat down to many prehistoric monsters and thus demonstrated his kingly title. In "Kong: Skull Island" he is not yet king but instead is its prince. His parents have been killed and his reign is challenged. He's on his way to becoming king and though he doesn't tussle with as many monsters (though there are a lot in this movie) he displays his heart, his courage, and his ingenuity. And this makes him just as compelling as the original Kong.
(B) Deliver an updated and closer to contemporary version of the Kong mythos and make it compelling. Double check. While some might criticize that this is set back in the late 1960s/ early 1970s and should be set closer to now in anticipation of the coming conflict with Godzilla they miss the point that this Kong is still growing, still a junior. By overtly addressing his lineage and recognizing that he is still developing the filmmakers have contemporized Kong while giving him "time to grow". The Vietnam background is also blended exceptionally well into the film with significant firepower that was able to be brought against a young version of Kong who was still able to decimate man's war machines without being overwhelmed by them prematurely. The initial contact with Kong and the army and survey forces is a visceral tour-de-force that allows the audience to encounter Kong for the first time in a terrifying maelstrom of unexpected violence and puts us squarely into the same survival mode that our hapless protagonists find themselves in. Compelling? Oh,yeah!
(C) Tie this movie into a developing "monsterverse" that will include Godzilla. Check. This is done by giving Kong a backstory that sets him up as a juvenile giant ape who is still growing, still getting bigger and stronger. Almost 50 years down the road when the two will meet (in 2020) Kong will probably look much the same but just be incredibly, impossibly bigger. The film also gives you a sense of this two when an older Kong is encountered at the beginning of the movie and it is as tall as a mountain. This Kong isn't the same one that we encounter later in the film, a fact that is easy to miss amidst all of the action.
(D) Ground the story in a palpable human drama. Double check. This movie doesn't just have characters struggling to keep alive against giant beasties. They have conflicts of interest with each other (the army vets versus the anti-war photojournalist; Samuel L. Jackson's Lieutenant Colonel Packard realizing that his officers just got butchered by a giant animal that John Goodman's Randa knew about; Packard feeling it's his duty to rid the world of Kong because humanity shouldn't have to be presented with such a reality; ancient natives who speak without verbal language; the internal split amongst the GIs regarding who they should support; and on and on) that play out naturally and purposefully. You may see and feel both sides as the character present them and then find yourself rooting for one and against the other, just as they do. And I think that there are some strong story parallels with Joseph Conrad's "The Heart of Darkness", as also seen woven into "Apocalypse Now". The acting, too, especially from Jackson and Goodman is great and though the action overshadows the drama, there is drama, drama aplenty.
"Kong: Skull Island" may have outdone itself in probably in every conceivable way. It is a fantastic rousing adventure. It is a timely stamp on one of the most divisive periods in America's history though it exists as a fiction. It is incorporates compelling human conflict and challenges the way we work and think a little. It is big, brash, and the animal star is something you can root for. And it takes us one step further into the "monsterverse".
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It is action adventure and entertaining.
by Ger (5 out of 5 stars)
June 20, 2018

I'm tired of people expecting every movie to change their lives. This movie is not meant to be academy award winning or lead you to some great epiphany. It is meant to entertain. It succeeds completely on that. I was thoroughly entertained. It was great quality and great acting. The characters aren't meant to have some great character arc, but there were several that I really wanted to survive.

I will never understand why people downvote this type of movie for not being deep and meaningful. It's an action adventure movie. You know what you're getting when you decide to watch it. So why do you give it a poor score for not changing your life?
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Great visuals, forgettable story
by home2wa (2 out of 5 stars)
January 13, 2018

These people come across what would be a natural wonder and their first instinct is to kill it, not to study it? They arrive in helicopters and confront a giant ape from so close up, that he wipes all of them out of the sky in minutes, without anyone even considering to pull back to a safe distance?

Great visuals, annoyingly unintelligent story telling.
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Mega-Sized Monster Action
by PennWriter (4 out of 5 stars)
June 21, 2017

Remember in 2005, when Peter Jackson made King Kong the biggest, baddest ape ever by having him go toe-to-toe with three T-rexes? Well that big gorilla better move over, because THIS Kong is the new king.

A monster movie and proud of it, "Kong: Skull Island" really lives up to its name, as we follow a group of likable - if not slightly underdeveloped - characters to an uncharted island, where they are quickly introduced to the BIGGEST Kong ever put to film, along with a harrowing variety of other giant monsters. Split up and with a few days to go before planned rescue arrives, our tiny human visitors find themselves on the menu for just about everything in sight, and their only hope to survive may rest with the very beast that stranded them. With Samuel L. Jackson as a war colonel with a thirst for revenge, John Goodman as a ridiculed lone survivor, Brie Larson as an adventurous photographer, and John C. Reilly as a WW2 veteran, the star-studded cast makes for a fun ensemble, and though the storytelling and characters may only ever feel secondary . . . . well, that's because they ARE secondary. This is Kong's movie, and in case you're not convinced of just how badass he is, believe me, he makes DAMN sure you're convinced by the end.

Brimming with spectacle and amazing special effects, this new entry in Legendary's planned "Monsterverse" wisely avoids making itself an obvious setup piece, instead taking its chance to deliver nothing less than what you want from a Kong film . . . . . mega-sized monster action. There are some truly imaginative creature designs here, none of which you'd be too keen on encountering, and although the film at times seemed a bit brisk and casual with its presentation, there are some big payoffs after the first act - the biggest being the film's triumphantly thrilling climax, which is just about one of the most brutal fight club monster match-ups you will ever see, and by itself makes this movie an absolute must-see.

If you're expecting an Oscar-winning story with groundbreaking performances, you're looking in the wrong genre . . . . if you're expecting to see an ape the size of a building brawl with monsters the size of a ship, then you will be left VERY satisfied.
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Good action,
by Oremo Ochillo (5 out of 5 stars)
August 30, 2017

Pleasantly surprised with this movie. I know it is meant to kick off a monster movie franchise along with Godzilla, but even with that they still told a story. Outstanding performance by dare I say Samuel Jackson. I also appreciate that they didn't make the entire movie about King Kong's facination with a girl. Good action, ,good story, good lead in for future movies.
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An original adventure instead of just another remake. Thrilling fun for the 8-year old in all of us.
by Jinzo Ningen (formerly Hose Knows) (5 out of 5 stars)
January 16, 2019

BOTTOM LINE: A brand new adventure for the Skull Island Kid. The first completely new cinematic outing for Kong since Toho gave us 1967's wild & woolly KING KONG ESCAPES; (I don't count KING KONG LIVES, which is a direct, albeit decade-belated, sequel to the '76 remake - plus it just sucks. LOL). A talented cast heads to the mythic, mist-shrouded South Seas island and encounters exactly what we would hope for: a buttload of crazy-ass monsters and the young Prince Kong, in all his furry fury. A slick, satisfying addition to Legendary's ever-expanding MonsterVerse. I really enjoyed the hell out of this movie; far, far more than I ever expected. So just hobble your high horses and unleash your inner child... you'll have a blast. 5 STARS

THOUGHTS: I honestly didn't know what to think (or expect) when I first learned they were going to do another Kong film... and an all-new story to boot! It was cool that they were actually going to try something new but it was scary, too. It could easily have been a fiasco of the highest order, but it had major backing from Warner Bros. and over at producing studio Legendary Pictures, diehard comic & monster geek CEO Thomas Tull was squarely in the driver's seat... so I went in with hopes high and fingers crossed. What I got was a wild ride that kept me on the edge of my seat, eyes agog, rooting for its scrappy simian star. Sure, K:SI is by no means a perfect picture; the human characters are kinda flat and not very well developed, there are script inconsistencies, plot contrivances, leaps in logic and whatnot but cryin' out loud this is constructed like all those great Saturday afternoon matinee adventures designed to entertain kids (and kids at heart), not some dry stuffy drama like Chariots of Fire! So shut up all you stuffed shirt whiners!! ;-)

The CGI is pretty good and really helps sell the Lost World look of the film. Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (who!?) comes from out of nowhere and hits a home run that goes screaming over the bleachers and right out of the park for this kid at heart. He peppers the film with some terrific iconic shots of both Kong and his island friends & enemies and stylishly sets up some of the most frenzied fights in giant monster movie history. He does this without getting too full of himself; wisely pulling his camera back, moving slowly and only when needed, to let our eager eyes fully drink in the lush scenery and gape slack-jawed at the brutal beastly battles. And while the editing is paced a little faster than I'd personally prefer, at least Vogt-Roberts & his cinematographer avoid assaulting our eyes and/or inducing nausea by resorting to the super close-up, hyperfast-edited, Michael Bay-styled action garbage that is so commonplace in these kinds of blockbuster F/X-heavy films nowadays. The final battle with the giant Skull Crawler features a fantastic tracking shot that slowly follows Kong in a sweeping 360 degree circle, but at such a leisurely pace that you hardly even notice that the camera is moving; giving us a bird's eye view of the pulse-pounding action without drawing attention to itself. Very slick & satisfying.

Kong's design is a blend of the classic '33 look, with some slight updates; an iconic cinematic creature who is most definitely a movie MONSTER... NOT just a great big whimsical Gorilla (I'm looking at YOU, ice-skating Peter Jackson Kong. Meh.) The monstrous animals of Skull Island are also a real treat. Loved those Princess Mononoke-inspired Water Buffalos. The spider was nasty and scary, while the huge walking stick was surprisingly lovable and cute. Even the Skull Crawlers were a nice tip of the hat to the bipedal lizardy thing that threatened Jack Driscoll in the '33 original movie. Cool.

The actors here are all quite good, with Shea Wigham being a stand-out. Samuel L. Jackson does his typical macho badass shtick, (which I'm really getting rather tired of, to be perfectly honest). John Goodman is sadly underused but does the most with his small-ish part. The always good, always off balance John C. Reilly pretty much steals the whole show in his role as the WWII pilot who crashlands on the island during the opening scene, acting as our (and the Vietnam-era soldiers') guide to Skull Island; amusingly laying down the Rules of Survival for both us & them. And for the record resolution of his character's arc during the end credits sequence was something I wasn't expecting, and the emotional power of it brings tears to my eyes, every single time I watch it. Seriously. It's a sweet, touching sequence yet is essentially a brief throwaway piece. But those few bittersweet minutes give the film a surprising resonance, and cements Reilly's character as the de facto heart of the film (along with junior Kong himself, of course). And for heaven's sake, be sure to stick around through the end credits! ;-)

THE BLU-RAY: As one would expect from a new motion picture from a major studio, this hi-def release looks & sounds fantastic. The video portion of the hi-def transfer is crisp, clear & clean, with no junk (pixelation, edge enhancement, artifacting, or any kind of dirt or debris whatsoever) to ruin things. The audio portion is equally strong, with an even, fully immersing soundmix. A decent amount of bonus content adds fun & flavor to the movie. (Although it's no where near enough for a hardcore moviephile & giant monster fan like myself. LOL) All-in-all, KONG: SKULL ISLAND is highly recommended for movie goers in general and doubly so for monster movie lovers & Kong fans. I can't wait to see him duke it out with Godzilla in 2020!
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Interagency U.S. government team encounters King Kong in 1973.
by Jeff Ryan (5 out of 5 stars)
February 6, 2019

KONG:SKULL ISLAND:SE is so much better than I thought it would be. I first watched it a couple of years ago at a local cinema. I recently watched it again on the DVD I purchased. It's a very good action film.

Bill Randa, an entrepreneur of questionable government studies and projects (played by John Goodman), "piggybacks" onto a satellite mapping team already earmarked for Skull Island in the South Pacific region. Based on certain facts gleaned from WW 2 and afterward, including the loss of a US Navy warship just off Skull Island, Randa requests a military escort for the team. The direct U.S. military involvement in Vietnam has just ended, so an elite Army Aviation helicopter assault company, commanded by Samuel L. Jackson, is assigned to the expedition just as the unit is about to stand down at the huge DaNang air base in the former South Vietnam. (This is a bit of stretch, since only administrative US Army troop units were actually in Vietnam--based in Saigon-- in early 1973 when Nixon signed the treaty ending American military involvement in the war, but it makes for a fairly plausible plot element.) Jackson's character --Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard, US Army-- is actually regretting the end of the war and is thankful to be commanding his troops and aircraft in what is supposed to be a quasi-combat transport assignment. He's a career soldier who admits to himself that he doesn't know how to cope with the impending peace. An American female photojournalist in Saigon gets permission to accompany the mapping group because she senses that something is being hushed up on Skull Island, although she doesn't know what it is.

Randa also hires a consultant tracker to guide his people on the island's largely unmapped terrain. This man is a former captain from Britain's SAS Regiment, their premier special operations force. He's an expert in survival techniques in hostile tropical environments in Southeast Asia and has rescued downed American pilots in Vietnam and Laos.

Nobody in the expedition, except for Goodman's character, is prepared to encounter "Kong" on Skull Island.
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Great Movie......
by RAYBO (5 out of 5 stars)
August 22, 2017

This was a fun movie with a great story. My friends and I enjoyed the movie and we liked how the action picked up pretty fast and then just kept on going. The movie has some great actors who really add to the enjoyment of watching this, and they have a pretty rough ride in the movie with their interactions with Kong and other monsters that lurk about. I don't want to add any spoilers so I won't say anymore, so if you like action and like King Kong in anyway this movie is worth the money to watch multiple times.
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A series of movie cliches strung together with improbable events
by Tim Burke (2 out of 5 stars)
July 17, 2018

The movie would actually be three stars, but I am deducting a star because there is no option to rent.

The movie itself is really well made. Cinematography is excellent, the CGI and effects are great, and the acting is also well done. The problem for this movie is the script, which is essentially a series of movie cliches strung together with improbable events. I mean I can suspend disbelief, but there are many things in this movie that just strain credulity and distract from the overall movie. Mostly it is characters behaving in illogical ways that no one ever would.

My family (particularly my boys) wanted to watch this movie which is why I bought it after pushing back because there was no rental option. My boys said they were "never watching that movie again." Needless to say, I wish I could give the copy of this movie away to someone, like I could if it was on DVD. Digital era certainly screws the consumer.
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No Spoilers Review
by Consumer (4 out of 5 stars)
July 22, 2017

I didn't go into this with any expectations, as I have been disappointed by the last several years of big budget Hollywood titles. I watched the movie based on a recommendation from a friend and was not disappointed. This was a surprisingly good remake of a story that has been told countless times. There's a new twist to this story with the introduction of a post-Vietnam War setting mixed in with tones of the 1930's adventure and science fiction. John Goodman and Samuel Jackson play major roles in the storyline, but it's nice to see them supporting a new age of younger talent.

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