History Film / KongSkullIsland

** Dinosaurs and other surviving extinct creatures are noticeably absent in this film. In contrast to previous iterations of Skull Island, the eponymous place is now largely inhabited by BigCreepyCrawlies and huge mammals. That being said, the Leafwings' larger cousins, the Psychovultures, are claimed to be the evolved descendants of [[PteroSoarer pterosaurs]] in supplementary material of the film. While pterosaurs are not dinosaurs, they are nonetheless creatures from the Mesozoic. On the other hand, the presence of a ''Triceratops'' skeleton at the Valley of the Fallen Kings may suggest there may have been dinos at some point in Skull Island's history, or instead live on other unseen locations of the island. WordOfGod says their absence was to differentiate itself from ''Film/KingKong2005'', as well as ''Film/JurassicWorld'' (which came out less than two years prior).

* PteroSoarer: The Leafwings and their larger cousins, the Psychovultures, are said to be evolved descendants of pterosaurs in supplementary material.

Initially a co-production with Creator/{{Universal}} (who own the rights to the King Kong character), [[ChannelHop the film was]] co-produced by Creator/{{Warner Brothers}} and is part of the Film/MonsterVerse, a Kaiju-based SharedUniverse with Legendary's ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'' (with that film's Monarch organization serving as the link), with the two meeting in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' in 2021 and again in ''Film/GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire''.

Initially a co-production with Creator/{{Universal}} (who own the rights to the King Kong character), [[ChannelHop the film was]] co-produced by Creator/{{Warner Brothers}} and is part of the Film/MonsterVerse, a Kaiju-based SharedUniverse with Legendary's ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'' (with that film's Monarch organization serving as the link), with the two meeting in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' in 2021.

Initially a co-production with Creator/{{Universal}} (who own the rights to the King Kong character), [[ChannelHop the film was]] co-produced by Creator/{{Warner Brothers}} and is part of the Film/MonsterVerse, a Kaiju-based SharedUniverse with Legendary's ''Film/{{Godzilla|2014}}'' (with that film's Monarch organization serving as the link), with the two being set to meet in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' in 2021.

* AdaptationalExpansion: The novelization considerably expands on, or deviates slightly from the film. A lot more of the main human characters' backstories are explained in much greater depth, like how Weaver had a strict father whose misguided parenting led her to become a photographer so she could just live in the background of the world, Conrad used to be a British Special Forces soldier until a mission in Indonesia in which his squad was set up to fail resulted in him [[CynicismCatalyst losing faith in his country]], and that Gunpei was killed when he was tricked by a Skullcrawler that was [[VoiceChangeling imitating the sound of an Iwi child in distress]] (an ability not mentioned in the film). The novel also adds in a giant snake which nearly kills and is killed by Conrad, a large carnivorous plant with a giant dead wasp inside, and includes many more monsters depicted in the artwork within the Iwi shipwreck and the slideshow at the very end.

** Dinosaurs and other surviving extinct creatures are noticeably absent in this film. In contrast to previous iterations of Skull Island, the eponymous place is now largely inhabited by BigCreepyCrawlies and huge mammals. That being said, the Leafwings' larger cousins, the Psychovultures, are claimed to be the evolved descendants of [[PteroSoarer pterosaurs]] in supplementary material of the film. While pterosaurus are not dinosaurs, they are nonetheless creatures from the Mesozoic. On the other hand, the presence of a ''Triceratops'' skeleton at the Valley of the Fallen Kings may sugest there may have been dinos at some point in Skull Island's history, or instead live on other unseen locations of the island. WordOfGod says their absence was to differentiate itself from ''Film/KingKong2005'', as well as ''Film/JurassicWorld'' (which came out less than two years prior).
* AdvertisedExtra: In China, San Lin was given her own character poster, even though her role in the film is pretty minor. The reason for this has to do with the fact that her actress is from mainland China, where local stars are given tremendous amounts of publicity regardless of their actual role. However, San Lin has a fairly larger role in the novelization, where she gets involved in a incident with a sacred Iwi well, and helps defeat a Mire Squid that attacks Slivko.

* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: The seismic charges are not "bombs", they're "scientific instuments". Slivko quips that makes the soldiers scientists.

* BloodierAndGorier: Despite being LighterAndSofter with humor, the film is more graphic in its violence than ''Film/Godzilla2014''. There are far more on-screen deaths and most are pretty gruesome. Hell, compare the [[spoiler:Female MUTO]] from ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'' having her head cleanly to torn off to [[spoiler:Ramarak]] having his eye blown out, getting slashed with a boat propeller, and dying when his guts are ripped out through his mouth.

** Marlow was shipped out prior to his son's birth, and shot down shortly after getting a letter about it, so they never got to meet before his rescue twenty-eight years later.
** Conrad's father's plane went down in WWII and he was never found after months of searching.

** A soldier with a machine gun gets caught and swallowed whole by a Skullcrawler. We got an absolutely ''visceral'' close-up of it's open mouth as he's dragged helplessly down its throat by the Skullcrawler's tongue.

* VertigoEffect: The jungle in the background changes proportions in the scene where Conrad and Weaver reach the bay with the ship wrecks.

** Kong attempts to [[SignatureMove snap a Skullcrawler's jaws apart]] at one point in the climax, much like he did with the T-Rex in the original and the V-Rex in the 2005 remake. In general, the final fight between Kong and the Alpha Skullcrawler appear to take some cues from ''Film/KingKong2005''[='=]s fight between Kong and the V-Rexes. Both fights have a very swampy setting with Kong holding and protecting the female protagonist from the enemy who is trying to eat her. Kong also happened to use a rock in both fights, but while it was fatal to a V-Rex in ''Film/KingKong2005''; it only did minimal damage to the admittedly much larger Skullcrawler.

** Marlow was shot down prior to his son's birth, so they never got to meet before [[spoiler:his rescue twenty-eight years later.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Kong defeats Ramarak, and Conrad and the others manage to escape the island unharmed. However, most of the expedition team, including Randa, Packard, both Landsat scientists, and all but three of the Sky Devils are dead. And while Marlow is safely reunited with his family, Conrad and Weaver are recruited by Monarch, with Brooks and San reminding them that [[TheStinger the worst is yet to come...]]]]

* BigCreepyCrawlies: Packard and his men encounter the Mother Longlegs, an enormous spider-like creature, and Chapman accidentally awakens a Spore Mantis, a beast that resembles a humongous stick bug. Marlow also makes reference to tree-dwelling ants that sound like birds, but none actually appear in the film.

** Packard's unit is called an assault helicopter battalion, which in 1973 should consist mostly of AH-1 Cobra gunships and OH-6 Loach scout choppers. [[EveryHelicopterIsAHuey Instead, it is made up almost entirely of UH-1 Hueys]], only a few of which are in gunship configuration. Once downed, the surviving pilots and door gunners simply operate as infantry and are even geared up accordingly. In a real-life Vietnam-era Air Cavalry battalion, the helicopter crews were just that, with the infantry they carried (who ''couldn't'' fly the choppers) to and from battle being a separate formation (at least company-size) within the same battalion. For a better representation of the real thing, see ''Film/WeWereSoldiers''.

* ActionizedSequel: Rather, an actionized ''prequel'' to ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'', which had [[NothingIsScarier long scenes without any action or monster fighting]]. The final trailer shows not only Kong fighting the Skullcrawlers, but the humans getting in on the action as well. Kong also shows up two minutes in instead of waiting half-way through the movie.

* AcrophobicBird: Par for the course in a King Kong film, the helicopters spend most of the fight within Kong's melee range. And despite the fact that the Sky Devils are a bunch of {{Ace Pilot}}s and war veterans, they're completely out of their depth with Kong, making it almost too easy for him to swat them out of the sky with a bunch of well-aimed trees and his own bare hands.
* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: A significant number despite the below trope. Good examples include [[ShellShockedVeteran Cole]] talking with Randa about his gun that he took from a Vietnamese soldier, Marlow mourning at the grave of his fallen enemy-turned-comrade, Conrad showing Weaver his father's RAF lighter, and the both of them having a peaceful moment with Kong.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: Skull Island is a LostWorld where non-avian dinosaurs survived the K-T Extinction and continued to thrive alongside other prehistoric creatures. However, no dinosaurs themselves appear, outside of an oversized ''Triceratops'' skull.

-->'''Chapman''': (''[spoiler:as his last words before being eaten]]'') Dear Billy, life sometimes just punches you in the balls.\\

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: The killing of the [[GiantSpider Mother Longlegs]]. First Mills slices off the tendrils that are dragging him into its mouth, then the others [[AnArmAndALeg slice off its legs]], then once Mills is out of the way, the entire squad ''[[MoreDakka unloads]]'' their entire clips into its exposed underside, and after it's fallen to the ground, Packard [[UpToEleven shoots it five more times at point-blank range]], just to be sure.

* SpiritualSuccessor: A lot of fans compare it favorably towards the first ''Film/JurassicPark'' movie, with some even calling it a worthy successor in terms of creature mayhem.

** A soldier with a machine gun gets caught and swallowed whole by a Skullcrawler. We got an absolutely ''visceral'' close-up of it's open mouth as he's dragged helplessly down it's throat by the Skullcrawler's tongue.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There are about 13 characters in the group that journey to the island, including the Monarch-Landsat science team of Randa, Brooks, San Lin, Nieves, Woodward; the military team of Packard, Chapman, Mills, Cole, Slivko, Reles; photographer Weaver; and escort Conrad. There's also Hank Marlow, but he was already stranded on the island when the film properly starts.

*** Averted with Chapman's scene at the lake. As he refills his canteen, Kong comes lumbering into view, causing him to run out of the water and behind a giant rock. Afterwards, Kong roars in Chapman's direction ... and pulls the Mire Squid out of the water -- in the exact same spot Chapman had been standing in less than a few minutes ago. The "oh, shit, that was there this whole time?" look on his face says it all.

** The creatures on Skull island are all giant sized even though normally animals on islands typically adapt to the less available space by becoming smaller over generations, a phenomenon called “Island Dwarfism”.

[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kongskullislandposter2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:''[[{{Tagline}} We don't belong here.]]'']]

* The creatures on Skull island are all giant sized even though normally animals on islands typically adapt to the less available space by becoming smaller over generations, a phenomenon called “Island Dwarfism”.