The newly dropped trailer for next Spring's "KONG: SKULL ISLAND"...
I like the beginning (who doesn't dig a little CCR) as a way to set the era this supposed to take place in (in the '70s, I believe). The first scene we see of the guys all sitting in the darkened room being told about Skull Island has shades of De Laurentiis' introduction of the mythical island written all over it, only the names have been changed and it appears these dudes are all military (or Monarch) of some sort. Bombing the island to "map" it seems a little---weird, but when we see the pilot being all smiley about it and the black science guy schmoozing "scientific instruments", it lets us know this is another show of humankind's hubris. After that, the the trailer starts zig zagging all over the place. The helicopter guy's quasi-hick delivery "Is that a monkey?" falls pretty flat knowing that, if you see a creature standing upright at that size and issue forth such a comment, you're probably going to realize that it's not a "monkey. Perhaps someone thought it was clever...
Then we take another turn back towards the serious, getting our first good look at this humongous new Kong and the chaos he's able to cause. The very dramatic, fire-heavy (leading many people I've seen on Youtube "react" to the trailer come to the conclusion that this Kong is in some way fireproof; very handy when battling a 500 foot lizard with radioactive halitosis) Samuel L. Jackson/Kong face off and the subsequent dire words of John Goodman about the people who've already died and the tense face off with the native denizens of Skull Island. But wait, all of a sudden here comes John C. Reilly to save the day and deliver some jokiness at the same time. It's this intersplicing of dark, heavy and monstrous with humour that lends the trailer an unevenness that even the most casual of observers has latched on to. You can't take a story like Kong's and try to make it serious and heavy while at the same time injecting it with broad humour; it's that aspect that will yank you out of a picture pretty quickly, no matter how much disbelief you're willing to suspend.
Kong himself almost looks like he's going to be sidelined in his own movies by the abundance of other, ginormous creatures inhabiting Skull Island. And lets talk about the big ape (or, technically gorilla) for a moment. Is it cool to see him towering at---let's say 400 feet high---but those of us who know the story of Kong, know that he's not considered a monster purely by means of his size. O'Brien's, Rambaldi's and even Jackson's Kong never went above 40 or fifty feet. Having a Kong big enough to take on 'Zilla in 20, defies every law of nature known to man. As many scientists and biologists would likely posit, a homo-erectus, that is as creature standing upright and on two independent legs, would likely have issues with the Earth's gravity working against it. Godzilla, in virtually every carnation of the Big G we've seen, has always had the huge massive legs and feet, and that huge tail, to not only balance his weight out, but to actually spread his mass more evenly, allowing him freedom of movement. Kong, on the other hand, has likely almost as much mass as 'Zilla, but that weight and mass would likely be compromised by the relatively small legs which have to support it,
From this trailer, it looks like the writers, producers and the director have little understanding of the Kong mythos and have instead chosen to make a movie based on Kong that will (possibly) provide an explanation regarding his massive size, thereby enabling him to have a thowdown with the King of ALL Monsters in 2020.
Those are just a few of my opinons. Feel free to post your own, as well...
I like the beginning (who doesn't dig a little CCR) as a way to set the era this supposed to take place in (in the '70s, I believe). The first scene we see of the guys all sitting in the darkened room being told about Skull Island has shades of De Laurentiis' introduction of the mythical island written all over it, only the names have been changed and it appears these dudes are all military (or Monarch) of some sort. Bombing the island to "map" it seems a little---weird, but when we see the pilot being all smiley about it and the black science guy schmoozing "scientific instruments", it lets us know this is another show of humankind's hubris. After that, the the trailer starts zig zagging all over the place. The helicopter guy's quasi-hick delivery "Is that a monkey?" falls pretty flat knowing that, if you see a creature standing upright at that size and issue forth such a comment, you're probably going to realize that it's not a "monkey. Perhaps someone thought it was clever...
Then we take another turn back towards the serious, getting our first good look at this humongous new Kong and the chaos he's able to cause. The very dramatic, fire-heavy (leading many people I've seen on Youtube "react" to the trailer come to the conclusion that this Kong is in some way fireproof; very handy when battling a 500 foot lizard with radioactive halitosis) Samuel L. Jackson/Kong face off and the subsequent dire words of John Goodman about the people who've already died and the tense face off with the native denizens of Skull Island. But wait, all of a sudden here comes John C. Reilly to save the day and deliver some jokiness at the same time. It's this intersplicing of dark, heavy and monstrous with humour that lends the trailer an unevenness that even the most casual of observers has latched on to. You can't take a story like Kong's and try to make it serious and heavy while at the same time injecting it with broad humour; it's that aspect that will yank you out of a picture pretty quickly, no matter how much disbelief you're willing to suspend.
Kong himself almost looks like he's going to be sidelined in his own movies by the abundance of other, ginormous creatures inhabiting Skull Island. And lets talk about the big ape (or, technically gorilla) for a moment. Is it cool to see him towering at---let's say 400 feet high---but those of us who know the story of Kong, know that he's not considered a monster purely by means of his size. O'Brien's, Rambaldi's and even Jackson's Kong never went above 40 or fifty feet. Having a Kong big enough to take on 'Zilla in 20, defies every law of nature known to man. As many scientists and biologists would likely posit, a homo-erectus, that is as creature standing upright and on two independent legs, would likely have issues with the Earth's gravity working against it. Godzilla, in virtually every carnation of the Big G we've seen, has always had the huge massive legs and feet, and that huge tail, to not only balance his weight out, but to actually spread his mass more evenly, allowing him freedom of movement. Kong, on the other hand, has likely almost as much mass as 'Zilla, but that weight and mass would likely be compromised by the relatively small legs which have to support it,
From this trailer, it looks like the writers, producers and the director have little understanding of the Kong mythos and have instead chosen to make a movie based on Kong that will (possibly) provide an explanation regarding his massive size, thereby enabling him to have a thowdown with the King of ALL Monsters in 2020.
Those are just a few of my opinons. Feel free to post your own, as well...
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