Over the years, there have been many weird and wonderful odd couple romances on the silver screen yet one of the most enduring on-screen trysts is between a very large ape and a young actress named Ann Darrow in Merian C. Cooper’s 1933 classic King Kong. The movie launched the big-screen life of Kong who has since been the star, or co-star, in a number of movies, from follow-ups like Son of Kong, Kaiju flicks such as King Kong vs Godzilla and King Kong Escapes, the 1976 remake King Kong and its sequel King Kong Lives to the more recent monster mash-up Godzilla vs Kong.
However, for this episode, we’re pitting Peter Jackson’s 2005 dino-bashing epic King Kong against the Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ 2017 reboot Kong: Skull Island. Jackson’s version stayed true to the original’s narrative of a film crew setting out to the mythical skull island to shoot a movie with an all-star cast consisting of Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Colin Hanks, Jamie Bell, Kyle Chandler, and Andy Serkis bringing the titular ape to life via mo-cap. 2017’s Kong: Skull Island took the story in a different direction with a team of scientists and military personnel venturing to the island against a post-Vietnam War backdrop. That film assembled its own stellar roster of talents such as Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman, Corey Hawkins, and John C. Reilly along with Terry Notary and Toby Kebbell sharing mo-cap duties on Kong himself. Both films achieved commercial and critical success, but which of these giant apes will swing off with the girl and which will get swatted from the sky like an unfortunate bi-plane? There’s only one way to find out: FACE OFF!
This episode of Face Off is written by Adam Walton, narrated by Shawn Knippelberg, and edited by Matthew Hacunda. Watch previous episodes below and let us know in the comments what you prefer – 2005’s King Kong or Kong: Skull Island! Watch previous episodes of Face Off below!
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