History Characters / KingKong2005

* DoingItForTheArt: InUniverse, and it eventually becomes [[DeconstructedTrope a rather dark example]]: He wastes a lot of studio money (in the middle of ''the Great Depression'', mind) in stuff like location shooting (he even tries to convince the executives to help fund an expedition to Skull Island just because it's a location nobody's ever filmed on) because the movie must ''be'' "right", he gets so outrageously pissed that he gives an executive TheReasonYouSuckSpeech (which gets him fired) because he will not accept even the suggestion to add nudity to his film (which obviously will make more men come see the film, but it will ruin it from an artistic point of view) and he steals the incomplete film to do it himself even if that means swindling everybody he meets (and risking their lives). The novelization also makes mention that the reason [[spoiler:Herb had a wooden leg in the film is because he was mauled by an animal in an earlier location shooting of one of Carl's films.]]

* GoMadFromTheIsolation: This may explain why he's so attached to Ann, and why he took it very personally when Ann at first made him feel welcome in her heart but then angrily lashed out at him for playing with her too rough. It may also explain why he kills his sacrifices and was going to do the same to Ann had she not fought herself free at the last minute; gorillas, like humans, are social animals, the lack of meaningful communication with his or any other sentient species caused him to go feral.

* AdaptationalVillainy: While the original natives did kidnap Ann as an offering, that was really their worst act, otherwise just yelling at the crew to go away after they interrupt their ceremony, and when Kong is trying to break through the wall, they come to help the protagonists keep the gate closed. In this movie, the natives are extremely violent and hostile, and are quick to attack the crew when they come ashore (though admittedly, Carl did inadvertently provoke it by frightening one of their children).

* TheRemnant: They are the descendants of a once extravagant, prosperous civilization, but after Skull Island began to break apart, and the wall used to keep the dinosaurs at bay was breached, they were forced to retreat behind what little of their world remained, which ended up being the barren catacombs on the fringes of what was once their capital. They've since severely regressed.

!Creatures of Skull Island

* AllThereInTheManual: Most of them are not named in the film, but instead in promotional material and the companion book. Additionally, the book reveals numerous animals that never made it into the film.

[[folder:''Vastatosaurus rex'']]
!!''Vastatosaurus rex''
[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vrextemplaterep.png]]

A descendant of the ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', these huge carnivores are the apex predators of Skull Island and are what happens when Nature goes a bit crazy and pumps a metric fuck-tonne of steroids into a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' over sixty five million years...

* GoMadFromTheIsolation: This may explain why he's so attached to Ann, and why he took it very personally when Ann at first made him feel welcome in her heart but then angrily lashed out at him for playing with her too rough. It may also explain why he kills his sacrifices and was going to do the same to Ann had she not fought herself free at the last minute; the lack of meaningful communication with his or any other sentient species caused him to go feral.

* DirtyCoward: Subverted. Jack calls him this, but he willingly returns to save Jack and the others, and he doesn't exactly take a backseat to do so either. Played straight when Kong starts his climactic rampage in New York, in which he silently skedaddles as soon as he notices the chains are beginning to strain. To his defense he knows first hand how he has zero chance to do anything if Kong breaks free.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After the dinosaur stampede, he gaps it for the ''Venture''. Subverted, since he returns in a BigDamnHeroes moment.
** Played straight when he sees that Kong is about to break loose during the whole showcasing of Kong.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Denham is driven to complete ''his'' film in accordance with ''his'' vision. Even the eulogies he gives for Mike and Herb circle back to Denham finishing the picture, coming across very disingenuous.

* SenselessSacrifice: He largely fights off the Carnictis to prevent them from devouring Choy, but gets eaten himself.

* DireBeast: Kong looks very similar to a common gorilla, but is much much bigger than any living or extinct primate.
* DiesWideOpen: As he looks at Ann one last time, the lights literally go out in his eyes as he succumbs to his wounds.

* GlassCannon: Despite their size, they're hardly as durable as they appear - when the Venture Crew led by ENgelhorn and Bruce comes to the rescue, a scant handful of machine-gun rounds is enough to put them down. Bruce swinging on a vine and firing a Tommy-Gun one-handed easily took down a dozen of them.

[[folder:''Carnictis'']]
!!''Carnictis sordicus''
[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ayow0eb_700b.jpg]]

Giant, repulsive worms that live in the abyssal caverns of Skull Island.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: Gigantic, abominable worms.
* EatenAlive: They bestow this fate upon [[spoiler:Lumpy]] and anything else unfortunate enough to fall into their lair.
* EyelessFace: Like most worms. They're basically undulating stomachs.
* LampreyMouth: Their faces are nothing more than this.
* ScavengersAreScum: Disturbing massive parasitic worms that evolved into active predators feeding on whatever dead or dying animals fall into the crevices of Skull Island. The tie-in mockumentary describes them as "one of the vilest creatures known to man".
* ZergRush: Punches can drive them back, and they're easy enough to kill with a machete, but they slowly overwhelm Lumpy.

[[folder:Weta-rexes]]
!!''Deinacrida rex''
[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wetarex.jpg]]


Huge insects that attack in swarms.

* AscendedToCarnivorism: Real giant wetas are herbivores, but these are vicious meat-eaters that swarm like piranhas.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Cricket-like bugs the size of dogs. Real-life wetas can get to be as big as mice.
* CompanyCameo: The New Zealand-based studio Wētā FX did the effects for the film; their logo is a weta, a type of giant cricket native to New Zealand, and they included a giant carnivorous weta species on Skull Island for the bug pit scene.
* ZergRush: Their method of attack.

* PrehistoricMonster: The island is full of creatures from a prehistoric world, and nearly all of them are big, ugly, smelly, and a ravenous craving for human flesh. Even the herbivorous species are hazardous to humans due to their size and being territorial or prone to panic, namely ''Ferracutus'' and ''Brontosaurus'', respectively.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Zigzagged. While he still dies in the game, he survives the log scene and dies in pursuit of Kong by a stampeding ''V. Rex'' instead.

* DetrimentalDetermination: He's determined to make film on Skull Island and while he mourns the loss of his team, saying he will complete the film and ensure their families are financially supported through the film's success, he really should have just left Skull Island at the behest of the more experienced sailors and adventurers. [[spoiler: Carl's history of filmmaking has also cost Herb his leg during a previous nature documentary and it eventually costs his life on Skull Island. Carl is beyond infuriated when he realizes that his camera broke during his journey, meaning his friends and team have ultimately died for nothing and there's nothing he can do to compensate their families.]]

* NonMaliciousMonsters: Unlike most of the other creatures shown, these are more or less inoffensive. They seem more curious of Ann than predatory or territorial, which is a lot more than can be said for basically everything else. They're just scary because, well, they're centipedes the size of pythons.

* PrimalChestPound: When he defeats the last snaggle-toothed Vastatosaurus, Kong stands triumphantly over its corpse and gives out an almighty roar of victory while pounding his chest. All hail the King. He does it again during his last stand against the military airplanes, albeit with defiant desperation in his body language rather than triumph.

* EverythingIsTryingToKillYou:

* {{Expy}}: It stands in for the ''Stegosaurus'' attack in the original film.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: They're hideous.

* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: The Skull Island book describes ''Foetodon'' as a notosuchian, which is a prehistoric relative clade to modern crocodilians. It also has the formidable attitude to fit this trope.

* WhosLaughingNow: According to the companion book, baby Foetodons are frequently eaten by herons, but the tables are turned when the little reptiles are grown.

* CompositeCharacter: Of the Brontosaurus and the giant snake from the 1933 ''King Kong'' film.

* DetrimentalDeterminator: He's determined to make film on Skull Island and while he mourns the loss of his team, saying he will complete the film and ensure their families are financially supported through the film's success, he really should have just left Skull Island at the behest of the more experienced sailors and adventurers. [[spoiler: Carl's history of filmmaking has also cost Herb his leg during a previous nature documentary and it eventually costs his life on Skull Island. Carl is beyond infuriated when he realizes that his camera broke during his journey, meaning his friends and team have ultimately died for nothing and there's nothing he can do to compensate their families.]]

* LivingDinosaurs: Many of them are the evolved descendants of dinosaurs which survived the Cretaceous extinction by hiding on Skull Island. This would indicate that Skull Island was immune to the extreme changes in temperature brought on following the end of the Mesozoic era such as the ice age, which today's scientists believe have contributed greatly to the non-avian dinosaurs extinction.

* {{Jawbreaker}}: The third and last ''V. rex'' was killed by Kong from having it's mouth forced open, and it's jaws shoved backwards. And as a MythologyGag, Kong then toys with it's broken jaw a bit before beating it's chest in victory, just like in the 1933 version.

* InformedSpecies: It looks more like a carnosaur than a raptor. The fact that it's hunting sauropods only cements this.
* ItCanThink: Implied to have caused a stampede on purpose to pick off the ''Brontosauruses'' who leave the safety of their herd. Confirmed in the ''World of Kong'' companion book, which explains that this is typical hunting behavior of the venatosaurs and, seemingly, they're the only predators of the brontosaurs because of this and in spite of the sauropods' size.

* TemperCeratops: An aggressive, extremely territorial ceratopsian.

* GiantFlyer: The lord of the skies over Skull Island.

* MythologyGag: No surprises that they'd be included, as it's ''Weta'' Workshop that designed and animated the island's creatures.