New TV spots for Kong: Skull Island reveal a lot more of the plot, including previously unseen monsters. Not only do the spoiler-loaded Skull Island promos reveal significant character and plot points, they also shed light on a key part of King Kong’s background: somehow, he survived a nuclear attack.
“This island is notorious for the number of ships and planes that have gone missing,” John Goodman says in the Kong: Skull Island TV Spot #3 “All Hail the King” promo. “The 1954 nuclear tests weren’t tests, they were trying to kill something.” Here the TV spot cuts from stock footage of the Castle Bravo test, the United States’ largest ever nuclear detonation (which accidentally irradiated nearby islanders and the Japanese crew aboard fishing vessel Lucky Dragon No. 5), to Kong himself. Somehow that big, hairy goon survived.
Or, it could just be incredibly misleading editing. Maybe instead Goodman is talking about Godzilla (a more plausible nuke survivor), laying the groundwork for the two monsters’ big tussle in 2020’s Godzilla vs. Kong.
While King Kong vs. a nuke is maybe the most interesting spoiler in the new Kong: Skull Island TV spots, another TV spot may be our clearest sense yet of the plot. It seems like there will be two different human factions, one pro-Kong and one anti-Kong. Captain James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) and Weaver (Brie Larson), side with Kong in this TV spot, which emphasizes Kong’s gentle side:
On the other side is the machine gun cavalry, embodied by Samuel L. Jackson, because who else?
While some of us here at iDigi are skeptical, I remain hopeful that Kong: Skull Island will be as playful and monster-mashing as these TV spots promise. Replace the CGI monsters with some rubber suits and Skull Island looks worthy of a 1990s slumber party: the heyday of Godzilla’s landmark Heisei period streak.
