By Travis Johnson
The elevator pitch for Kong: Skull Island is “Apocalypse Now is Kurtz was a giant ape” and you’re either on board with that or you’re not (we so, so are). This final, frantic, rather beautifully edited trailer leans into the Vietnam-era chic by throwing The Animals on the soundtrack. And it works a treat.
Kong is worth keeping an eye on simply because it’s weird. Peter Jackson’s 2005 run at the big ape had the ring of prestige about it, but this one feels a little nutzoid – nobody asked for a ’70s set guys-on-a-mission version of King Kong, with added shades of Moby Dick. Hell, it’s hard to believe it’s been made in the current era of studio conservatism. And that, of course, is what’s cool about it, even if it does remind us of the rather terrible Dino De Laurentis 1976 version, if only because of it’s period setting. But let’s face it, the presence of a giant buffalo and John C. Reilly more than makes up for that.
Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kings of Summer – go track that one down) and starring Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly, Tian Jing, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, John Ortiz, Thomas Mann, Shea Whigham, Toby Kebbell, Eugene Cordero and Terry Notary, Kong: Skull Island roars into cinemas on March 9, 2017.
