Kong Skull Island (2017) Saturday Monster Movies

In 1973, a team of scientists, soldiers, and adventurers embarks on an expedition to an uncharted island in the Pacific, codenamed Skull Island. Under the guise of geological research, they attempt to uncover evidence of massive undiscovered creatures. Right away they encounter Kong and they are stranded. As the group struggles to survive, tensions rise between the military bent on revenge and those merely trying to escape.

This is one of the better Kaiju movies, and a good development for the Legendary Monsterverse. The choice to make it a period piece adds to the entertainment and visuals, if possibly complicating the larger storyline interconnecting the movies. (However, continuity and coherence is less of a concern for Legendary going forward.)

The main message here is the folly of human militarism and drive for vengeance. The characters would likely all escape without too much problems if they just focused on getting out. The military hubris and obsession with vengeance (and winning?) leads to their doom. Surely no one was thinking of Vietnam (or Afghanistan) when writing this story!