Kong: Skull Island (2017)

After crash-landing on Skull Island in 1944, American fighter pilot Hank Marlow and Japanese pilot Gunpei Ikari engage in a fight to the death. After Ikari gains the upper hand and prepares to fatally stab Marlow with a dagger, a colossal ape appears over a cliff, leading the two shocked men to end their struggle.

In 1973, the United States is about to end its involvement in the Vietnam War. One of its more obscure organizations is on the verge of ending as well. Monarch agents Bill Randa and Houston Brooks visit Senator Al Willis in a last-ditch attempt to convince him to secure funding for an expedition to mythical Skull Island, which has just been photographed for the first time by Landsat satellite. Landsat is already planning to visit the island, which Randa believes to contain an ecosystem of incredible creatures, similar to the monster the United States tried to kill with a hydrogen bomb test in 1954. Willis dismisses it as a fairy tale, but Brooks persuades him with the possibility of the island containing precious new resources like medicine or alternative fuels - and a reminder that the Soviet Union will soon be aware of its existence as well. As a precaution, Randa asks for a military escort as well.

That escort takes the form of the Sky Devils helicopter squadron, led by the intense Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard, a man clearly unhappy with the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. Randa and Brooks travel to a bar in Saigon to recruit former British SAS tracker James Conrad, who they watch prevail in a fight against four men. He opines that an uncharted island would be impossibly dangerous, but their money persuades him. Meanwhile, anti-war photographer Mason Weaver signs onto the voyage as well, believing it has a hidden purpose. She quickly butts heads with Packard. Once aboard the Athena Landsat field supervisor Victor Nieves explains to the expedition that Skull Island is surrounded by a perpetual storm system. Once they clear it, the helicopters will drop seismic charges, allowing Landsat to map the island's subsurface. Radio communication through the storm will be impossible, so they must meet a refuel team north of the island three days later.

The next day, Nieves is ready to call off the mission in the face of the storm, but Randa and Packard overrule him. As promised, his Sky Devils reach Skull Island safely, and waste no time in dropping the seismic charges. The explosions draw out Kong, the giant ape who Marlow and Ikari had seen years earlier, who announces his presence by throwing a tree through one of the helicopters. Chaos ensues as Kong knocks the remaining choppers out of the sky one by one, taking only minor damage from machine gun fire, and a cut to his hand after he attempts to grab a CH-53 Sea Stallion out of the air by its rotors. Two groups of survivors form up: one led by Packard and including Randa, the other comprised of Conrad, Reaver, Brooks, Nieves, Monarch biologist Lin San, and Warrant Officer Reg Slivko.

Packard contacts Major Jack Chapman, who is alone with the downed Sea Stallion containing the last of the seismic charges, and leads his men there so they can use the explosives to kill Kong. The second group encounters an enormous water buffalo. Slivko raises his rifle, but Conrad convinces him to hold his fire, and the creature leaves them unharmed. Holding Randa at gunpoint, Packard demands he explains what they just experienced. Randa reveals that he joined Monarch after his ship, the U.S.S. Lawton, was destroyed by a sea monster during World War II, leaving him the only survivor. He agrees with Packard that Kong should be destroyed, but thinks they should withdraw for now and leave him to a more prepared force. Packard insists he is that force. Traveling through a bamboo forest, they face a giant spider who impales a Sky Devil through the mouth with one of her legs before seizing Warrant Officer Glen Mills with her tendrils. After Mills cut himself loose, Captain Earl Cole realizes the monsters' legs are vulnerable. After they slice off the tips, forcing her to the ground, Packard kills her with his pistol.

Conrad's group finds signs of civilization, then find themselves surrounded by camouflaged islanders with spears. A fight seems inevitable, but Hank Marlow, still living on Skull Island 28 years later, rushes in to break the tension. Chapman has a close encounter with Kong, who ignores him while drinking water from a river. Suddenly, he realizes that a Mire Squid is in the water and grabs one of the creature's tentacles, prompting it to attack. Kong is able to crush the creature's head under his foot and kill it, then proceeds to eat several of its tentacles and drags it away. Marlow brings Conrad's group them inside the Iwi village, a utopian society free of crime and possessions. He explains that Kong is the last of his kind, a benevolent god of the island unless angered. The Iwi revere him for his never-ending struggle against the Skullcrawlers, voracious reptiles who live in tunnels beneath the island. The largest of them, the Skull Devil, killed Kong's parents. Conrad and Weaver offer him a chance to escape with them, prompting him to unveil the Grey Fox, a boat made out of his and Gunpei Ikari's planes, along with a B-29. They planned to use it to escape the island themselves, but a Skullcrawler killed Ikari before they could finish it. They resume work on it. Weaver finds another buffalo pinned under a crashed helicopter. She tries to rescue it, only for Kong to suddenly pick up the chopper. After staring at her, he walks away. Chapman, after warding off a giant stick insect, meets his end at the jaws of a Skullcrawler. Conrad gives Weaver his father's lighter.

The Grey Fox sets off the following morning. On its way to reunite with Packard, a flock of Leafwings carry off and dismember Nieves. Marlow tries to convince Packard not to continue west, as he'll be crossing into the Skullcrawlers' territory, but he is undaunted. They soon reach a massive boneyard containing the remains of Kong's parents. A Skullcrawler attacks them as they pass through, eating Randa and killing many of Packard's men. Slivko's gas canisters go off during the battle, causing a flock of Leafwings to attack the humans as well. Conrad rescues Slivko, carving up Leafwings with Marlow's katana, while Weaver throws the lighter at the Skullcrawler just as it passes over a gas vent. The ensuing explosion finally kills it.

Conrad recovers Chapman's dogtags, which the Skullcrawler spat up, but Packard is still determined to use the seismic charges against Kong. Marlow is outraged, pointing out that the Skullcrawlers will overrun the island if Kong is dead, and draws his katana, but Packard knocks him over with the butt of his rifle. Conrad resolves the standoff by leading Weaver, Marlow, Brooks, and San back to the Grey Fox. After nightfall, Packard prepares his trap, instructing his men to pour napalm into a river. Scaling a hill as they attempt to relocate the boat, Conrad and Weaver have a moving encounter with Kong, with Weaver even touching his face. Distant explosions suddenly catch his attention and he stalks away. Conrad and Weaver realize they can't let Packard kill him, and Marlow joins them. Face to face with Kong once more, Packard wait for him to charge into the river, then lights the napalm with a torch. Wounded by the fire, Kong still mounts a brief offensive before collapsing, leaving Packard, Mills, Slivko, Cole, and Reles as the only survivors. Packard places leftover seismic charges around Kong, preparing to finish him, but Conrad and Marlow arrive and hold him at gunpoint, while Weaver urges him to stop. Slivko turns on him as well. Packard refuses, and is prepared to detonate the charges and blow them all sky high, when suddenly the Skull Devil erupts from the lake. Everyone except Packard flees, while Kong regains consciousness and promptly smashes Packard under his fist. The Skull Devil easily bests Kong, but pursues the humans instead of finishing him off.

The following morning, as the surviving expedition members near the extraction point on the north side of the island, they are confronted by the Skull Devil. Cole sacrifices himself to buy time, but the monster tail-whips him into a cliffside before his grenades can go off. Fortunately, Kong arrives and smashes the monster in the face with a boulder. The weakened Kong is overmatched by the Skull Devil, who traps him in the chains of an old shipwreck. The humans return the favor, with Brooks distracting it with the Grey Fox 's machine guns and Weaver taking its right eye with a flare gun. Kong breaks free of the chains and rejoins the fight, attack a boat propeller to a chain to serve as a makeshift flail. He slams the Skull Devil into the same hill Weaver is standing on, causing her to fall into the water below. He rescues her after seemingly slitting the Skull Devil's throat, but the monster returns with a vengeance. Kong tries to keep Weaver away from its mouth, but the beast uses its prehensile tongue to pull Kong's hand, with Weaver held in it, down its throat. Mustering all his strength, Kong pulls his hand free of the Skull Devil's gullet, ripping out the beast's innards and killing it instantly. Kong gently sets Weaver down on the ground. As she regains consciousness and embraces Conrad, Kong looks back at the two of them before walking away. Once the survivors are finally rescued from the island, Kong stands triumphantly in his domain, beating his chest and letting out a mighty roar.

Marlow reunites with his wife in Chicago and finally meets his son. But before Conrad and Weaver can go home, they are interrogated in a Monarch facility. Brooks and San enter, presenting them with a slideshow of old cave paintings depicting Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, proof that Kong is not the only ancient monster who still walks the Earth.