When Conrad and Weaver come face-to-face with Kong as he emerges from the fog, Kong cuts an intimidating figure, but as soon as Weaver touches him, he becomes calm and peaceful, and even looks teary-eyed. Weaver is openly crying as she looks at Kong with awe. Conrad is on the verge of tears himself as he stars at Kong, completely mesmerized. It’s noted in the novelization that Conrad sees a glimmer of his former self as he looks into Kong’s eyes.
It makes sense given that Weaver had made a connection with Kong through their mutual respect for the creatures on the island, especially since Kong's first real look at her was when she tried to save a Sker Buffalo trapped under a fallen helicopter.
After reading the tie-in comic, Skull Island: The Birth of Kong, one can speculate that Kong gets emotional from Weaver touching him because he is reminded of his mother, as he briefly bonded with her before she and Kong's father were killed by Skullcrawlers.
In the novelization, after meeting Kong, Conrad reveals to Weaver why he left the SAS, something he hasn’t told anyone else therefore making Weaver the first person he tells. Then Weaver tells him about her father, who was a good man but because of unintentional emotional abuse, she felt she was never able to impress him and was a disappointment to him; the reason why Conrad believes Weaver lives in the background behind a camera so she can’t fail at anything, and follows all the bad stuff that goes on in the world because they make her feel like a good person, something Weaver feels her father still wouldn’t be proud of her for, so Conrad tells her to start pleasing herself instead of her father.
When you consider that most previous versions of Kong don't live past their debut movie, this moment is especially heartwarming.
Conrad: We're going to save Kong.
Marlow: Not without me, pal.
During Kong's battle with the alpha Skullcrawler, Ramarak, Weaver is knocked off a cliff and she falls into the marsh. Kong saves Weaver from drowning and looks at her tenderly as he holds her unconscious form in the palm of his hand. Later, after killing Ramarak, Kong gently sets Weaver down and walks away before turning back to look at her and Conrad, with Weaver shedding a tear as she and Conrad watch Kong leave before the two embrace each other.
Weaver falls because of Kong throwing Ramarak into the rock outcropping Weaver was standing on, and the look on Kong's face as he sees her fall is pure My God, What Have I Done?.
In the novel, Conrad runs over to Kong after Ramarak is killed. Then Kong kneels before Conrad, lowers his fist to the ground, and opens it to reveal an unconscious Weaver to Conrad.
The soldiers planning to send Chapman's letters to his kid after he's killed.
The overall friendship between the soldiers as, despite their jabs and jokes, they really do care for one another. Case in point, the "Dear Billy" jokes they had.
Conrad tells Weaver that Skull Island will change once the word gets out. She then ensures him that even if it does, then it definitely won't come from them, prompting the two of them to smile at each other.
It's touching when one considers that Weaver went from a journalist looking for another big score that would further her career to one swearing herself to secrecy for the sake of Kong, seeing him as something precious in need of protection and knowing he's better off with the rest of the world unaware after everything that's happened.
The last picture Weaver takes on Skull Island: Marlow, knowing he will soon be reunited with his family after 28 years.
If one looks closely, Kong looks at the group to make sure they are out of harm's way before continuing the battle.
Additionally, while the others observe the battle with looks of horror on their faces, Marlow is smiling with tears in his eyes. With nearly three decades of his life spent on Skull Island, he's clearly grown fond of Kong, despite the fact that the giant gorilla doesn't even know who he is, and treats with him all the respect a god should be afforded.
Conrad consistently acting as the peacekeeper amongst the group, actively discouraging a panicked Slivko from shooting the otherwise peaceful Sker Buffalo or the island natives, and raising his arms in self-defense when talking an unhinged Packard down. For someone who was only in it for the money, he sure has a lot of heart.
Also, despite the fact that Packard tried to kill Kong—and was completely willing to kill him and Weaver to do so, Conrad still offers him one last chance to escape with the group.
Weaver smiling at the Sker Buffalo as it walks away after she takes a picture of it.
As they watch an aurora australis, Conrad opens up to Weaver about how he lost his father in World War II, implying that it led to him picking up his profession as a tracker. Right before that, we're shown Kong sitting underneath the same pretty sight, watching it with an expression of loneliness and wonder on his face.
In the tie-in comic, Skull Island: The Birth of Kong, it's revealed that under an aurora, the newborn Kong wept beside his dead parents' bodies.
There's something strangely endearing about watching Kong tend to his wounds in the river. It's a reminder that despite the carnage he wrecked on the military crew, he's still just an animal. He isn't a bloodthirsty, murderous monster, but an ordinary, if bigger, living creature. He rests, he feels, he gets hurt, and he takes breaks to eat and drink, just like any other creature would.
Weaver bonding with the Iwi natives by taking their photos, letting them take pictures of her, and even teaching them the peace sign.
Marlow has been living with the islanders for almost thirty years, them being his only human companions. Through facial expressions, Marlow is capable of understanding what the natives are saying and they accept him as one of their own. When it is time for him to leave, he bids them farewell and they bow to him in return.
Regardless if he'd been living with the Iwis for the entire duration of his stay, he's clearly lived there long enough that he knows their language and culture by heart. He even calls the place "home" when he meets the stranded civilian group for the first time.
It's revealed that Marlow and the Japanese pilot he was marooned with, Gunpei Ikari, eventually became close friends while trying to survive together on Skull Island, building a boat out of scavenged parts from their planes before Gunpei was killed by a Skullcrawler. Before Marlow departs the village, he pays a tribute to his fallen friend, verging on tears. He is shown with a picture of a Japanese woman, presumably Gunpei's wife, and will probably seek her out to inform her of her husband.
Marlow: This man's name was Gunpei Ikari. But you take away the uniforms and the war, and he became my brother. And we swore we'd never leave each other behind.
Marlow outright refers to Gunpei as his brother. His skill with a sword and saying "Death before dishonor" in Japanese in one scene implies that Gunpei had taught him these things during their time together.
In the novelization, just before Marlow reunites with his family, he recalls a night with Gunpei where they each talk about their most frightening moment on Skull Island following a Skullcrawler attack on the Iwi village. Gunpei’s answer: "The one just before [Kong] appeared, when I almost murdered my best friend."
In the end scene where Marlow returns to his family, you can see that he brought Gunpei's sword with him, not as a trophy he took from an enemy, but as a reminder of his fallen friend.
"Dear Billy—your dad was one of the best to ever do it."
Marlow and Slivko bonding over music and baseball. In a way, Slivko is filling in for the son Hank has yet to meet, with Marlow even openly calling him "son" during the standoff with Packard's men over Kong's unconscious form.
The fact that Marlow doesn't even seem to consider the idea of being angry at his wife and son if ever they have moved on without him; he just wants to see them one last time. It's then followed by Weaver solemnly promising that they'll get him home.
The entire time Marlow talks about his wife, Weaver and Conrad are already shown to be listening intently. But when Marlow mentions the fact that he has a son, the two of them immediately smile warmly, clearly happy for their newfound friend.
At the end of the film, Marlow manages to go back home against all odds and finally reunites with his family, meeting his now-adult son for the first time. His wife's shocked reaction seals it - this was a reunion long overdue. He even brought flowers for her. D'awww!
If you look closely when his wife appears, she's only holding two glasses—one for her and the other for their son. Clearly, Conrad was right; people really are willing to wait for their loved ones, even when there's no reassurance that they will ever be back.
And afterward, in a scene as hilarious as it is adorable, Marlow finally gets to have a hot dog and a beer and watch the Cubs play.
TV Announcer: The impossible dream just became the possible dream!
In the novel, instead of Weaver, Conrad throws his father’s RAF lighter and kills the Skullcrawler in the Boneyard, after which Weaver says to him that his father would be proud.
That Kong's ancestors decided to start protecting humans, even at the cost of their own lives, is heartwarming in and of itself.
The gravesite of Kong's parents is also covered in human bones. One gets the impression they made their last stand defending a group of humans.
If one looks closely, the two even appear to have died holding hands.
The tie-in comic Skull Island: The Birth of Kong expands on it and makes this moment even more heartwarming (and also a tearjerker)as it is revealed that Kong himself was born the day the Skullcrawlers overcame his parents and their last act was to make sure their only son was safe by hiding him in a cave where the crawlers couldn't get to him before they were killed as Kong watched it happen.
The comic tie-in, Skull Island: The Birth of Kong reveals that Brooks and Lin got married and had a son named Aaron. Sadly, Aaron disappeared on a secret mission to Skull Island in 1995 and became estranged from his father while doing so by the present day.
After learning Kong's backstory in issue 3, Aaron begins to see Kong in a different light as a grieving orphan instead of the savage brute he initially believed Kong to be.
In issue 4, it's revealed that Aaron is the Sole Survivor of the secret mission. He finally gets to meet Kong in a fashion similar to that of Weaver and Conrad decades before, and comes to realize that Kong has an instinct to protect humans when they need him most. Stuck on Skull Island, he chooses to remain with the Iwi natives to help them rebuild after the death and destruction he feels they suffered because of him, and is now waiting for the day to reunite with his dad. Learning of his son's survival, Brooks plans to reunite with Aaron in the future now that he's retired from Monarch.
from Ramarak.