The new Trailer 2 for Kong: Skull Island finally explains what this new King Kong is about and it looks absolutely unlike any Kong movie that’s come before. So Kong is the king of an island of monsters, who faces off against subterranean demons that cuckoo John C. Reilly refers to as Skullcrawlers? Sure, okay.
It’s really impossible to say whether Kong: Skull Island will be a mess of noise and CG beasties or a self-aware funhouse of giant monster face-offs. This one could really go either way, but director Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ excellent previous movie, The Kings of Summer, gives me hope that all this monster mayhem will be counterbalanced by the kind of character investment it takes to sell the silliness on display in this insane trailer for Kong: Skull Island.
While this trailer is heavy on the action, there are signs that Kong: Skull Island may be shooting for something like a debased Princess Mononoke . This is about humanity interfering in nature’s last place of power. Though King Kong himself looks great (that full-body shot of Kong walking in a lake is a perfect demonstration of how dissimilar this will be from Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla), the most intriguing monster is the giant water buffalo. Everything is big and mystic on this island. And in addition to Kong and the Skullcrawlers, we catch glimpses of giant spiders and a very strange-looking tree monster.
There’s no doubt that, at the very least, Kong: Skull Island is swinging for the fences. This is already in the running for 2017’s strangest mainstream release.
Allow me to introduce you.... #kongskullisland pic.twitter.com/kLGFBdPKFQ
— Tom Hiddleston (@twhiddleston) November 16, 2016
Kong: Skull Island stars Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly, Corey Hawkins, Tian Jing, Shea Wigam and Jason Mitchell. It’s out in theaters March 10, 2017.
