In 1933, during the Great Depression, actress Ann Darrow has lost her job and is hired by film director Carl Denham to star in his new movie. Ann signs on when she learns her favorite writer, Jack Driscoll, is the writer. As their ship makes the journey to what the cast believes is Singapore (actually Skull Island), Ann and Jack fall in love.
Deep in the southern waters, the ship receives a radio message informing the Captain that there is a warrant out for Carl's arrest due to his defiance of the studio's orders to cease production. The message instructs Englehorn to divert to Rangoon, but despite his attempt to comply, the ship becomes lost in fog and runs ashore on the rocky shore of Skull Island. Carl and his crew explore the island to film and are attacked by vicious natives. Ann screams as she is captured, and a loud roar is heard beyond the wall. The matriarch of the tribe vows to sacrifice her to "Kong" due to her blond hair, which they have never seen before. The ship’s crew break up the attack and return to the ship. Hours later, Jack discovers Ann has been kidnapped by natives off the ship. On the island, Ann is offered as a sacrifice to Kong by the natives. The crew returns armed, but is too late as Kong takes Ann and flees into the jungle.
The captain puts together a rescue party which includes Jack Driscoll, Carl Denham, Jimmy, Bruce Baxter, Preston, Lumpy, Herb, Choy, and several sailors. The rescue party is caught in the middle of a pack of Raptors hunting a herd of Brontosaurus, and five of the rescue team is killed, including the camera man. The rest of the rescue party come across a swamp where actor Bruce Baxter and two others leave the group. The rescue party makes their way across a giant fallen log, when Kong attacks the rescue party. Hayes, Choy and several other crewmen are killed after being thrown off the log by Kong to the bottom of the cliff, and the rest of the crew is shaken off the log into a ravine; Carl's camera is destroyed as well. Kong returns to Ann and rescues her from three T-rexs. Kong then takes her to his lair in the mountains. The remaining crew wakes up to find themselves in a pit full of giant insects. This scene is just as gross and hard to watch as I remember it. If you have Anything against insects, I strongly recommend skipping this scene.
Englehorn, Baxter and the rest of the crew returns, and save the last four members of the rescue party (Jack, Carl, Jimmy, and Preston) from the pit. As Jack continues to search for Ann, Carl decides to capture Kong to make the trip worth something and so he can pay his debts. Jack goes to Kong's lair, accidently waking him up. As Kong fights a swarm of flying bat creatures, Ann and Jack escape. They arrive at the wall with the angry Kong following them, and Ann becomes distraught by what Carl plans to do. Kong breaks through the gate and attempts to get her back, killing several sailors in the process, but is knocked out when Carl throws chloroform into his face.
Back in New York, Carl presents "Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World" on Broadway, starring Baxter and an imprisoned Kong. Ann is played by an anonymous blond girl, and Kong becomes enraged after realizing that the girl on stage is not Ann. After breaking free from his chrome-steel chains, he wrecks the theater. Kong wreaks havoc around the city, searching for Ann. Kong climbs with Ann onto the top of the Empire State Building, where he fights off six planes. Kong is mortally wounded by the gunfire and gazes at Ann for the last time before falling from the building to his death. As Ann is reunited with Jack, civilians, photographers, police and soldiers gather around Kong's corpse. Carl takes one last glimpse at him and says the iconic line, "It wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast."
Overall a very entertaining movie. The fight scenes are great and the fact that all the dinosaurs had evolved in new species (65 million years, something had to change) is a big plus for me. Even after all these years I still can't watch a specific part of the bug scene though.
edit: don't know why the font keeps changing. looks normal when I type it up:
The scene when king kong ripped open the jaw of the dinosaur gave me nightmares as a kid
ReplyDelete