Warner Bros. wasted no time in releasing this 2017 movie to home video, as it landed on DVD, Blu-ray and digital the same year as it was in theaters. Thankfully, the quality of this Blu-ray release is excellent. It offers fantastic video and audio quality while having a vast and rich array of extras as well, being a good example of what the format should represent for the home video market.
As a side note, this is a dual format release containing both a Blu-ray and a DVD. This review will focus on the Blu-ray. For those looking for information on the DVD, it's the first disc found on the two disc Kong: Skull Island DVD. This means it doesn't contain the extras, besides the director commentary track, but features the same video and audio quality.
| Video: |
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Warner Bros. has done an excellent job with the video quality here. This includes a very sharp looking video track, with a lot of rich detail in each frame. Colors are also pitch perfect, given the production. There is a lot of color tinting, often to make the movie look more brown or yellow than it is. On scenes without a lot of tinting, like the white house demonstrations, the colors look great like the vibrant yellow on the taxi cab. Some of the jungle scenes, like with the helicopters flying over a lush green jungle, also show off the colors very well. As expected, the movie features no source or print damage as well. The black levels here are also generally good, hitting the right level of darkness, although there are some scenes where they have been brightened a bit too much. That said, it's overall an excellent demonstration of what the Blu-ray format is capable of.
Kong: Skull Island is presented in its original 2.40:1 aspect ratio.
| Audio: |
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There are five audio tracks found in this release. Three of these tracks are English, and include a 7.1 Dolby Atmos track and a loseless 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. The third track is a descriptive track, that explains what is happening on screen for those who are sight impaired. The disc also offers surround tracks dubbed in both French and Spanish as well.
In terms of the quality, both the Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround tracks are excellent. Clarity in dialogue is fantastic while the tracks do a great job of creating a "sound stage". This is obvious to the viewer right away as the movie opens with an aerial dogfight between World War II planes that fly throughout the listening space, immersing the viewer. The movie really takes advantage of the directionality at every turn, making most of the movie feel more alive as the animal life in the Skull Island jungle surrounds the viewer throughout.
The 2017 film can be accompanied by removable English, French or Spanish subtitles. For English, the track is a closed caption track that also offers additional cues to aid those who might be hard of hearing.
| Extras: |
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There's almost an hour of bonus material on this disc, or over an hour depending on how one counts the commentary track.
Speaking of, we'll tackle the commentary track first with director Jordan Vogt-Roberts. To be frank, this is a great commentary track as the young director doesn't shy away from going in-depth but also talking about his various inspirations, including nods to Toho films like King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) and Princess Mononoke (1997). Overall found this one of the more enjoyable commentary tracks in some time.
Next up we have two features called Creating a King. This first, " Realizing an Icon", is about 12 minutes and features interviews with the cast and staff of the movie that is set to footage and concept art. This one focuses on the film as a whole, and while it's good it doesn't provide much insight. The second, "Summoning a God", is 13 minutes long and talks about the special effects element. This one is much better, hitting lost concepts and other detail that is below the surface level.
Moving on we have some based on the filming location used for much of the film: Vietnam. The first of these, literally called "On Location: Vietnam", runs about five minutes and goes over the country and location. However, it feels like it tries to sell the viewer a bit too hard on the location, to the point it comes off as a tourism infomercial. The second feature, "Tom Hiddleston: The Intrepid Traveler", is also based on the location but has the actor walking the viewer through it while they start off this time in Hawaii before hitting Vietnam. This feature, about seven minutes long, is better as it shows the locations used in shooting without coming off too strongly as a tourism ad. Following this is another actor-led feature: "Through the Lens: Brie Larson's Photography". Essentially, during filming, actress Brie Larson was taking real photos and this bonus feature, narrated by director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, walks the viewer through the various photos.
Next we have the "Monarch Files 2.0", an 8 minute bonus feature done in the same in-continuity style as those found on the Godzilla Blu-ray. This mockumentary uses film footage, adjusted to look damaged and dated, along with concept art to tell a story explaining the Iwi villagers and monsters of Skull Island. This includes beasts that were not seen in the movie but that appeared in the comic sequel, Skull Island: The Birth of Kong.
Finally we get to the last extra which are four deleted scenes. These are short, and don't involve any special effects work. In total there is:
- An introduction to Colonel Preston Packard
- A scene where James Conrad first meets Packard
- A sequence where Packard wakes up Reles after the crash
- Extended scene in the bamboo forest before the Mother Longlegs attacks
As a side note, the extras are all in English although have options for English, French or Spanish subtitles. Worth noting that these are different from the English, French, Chinese and Thai subtitles that are found on the two disc Kong: Skull Island DVD.
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There isn't a weak aspect to this release. It boasts excellent video and audio quality while having a large collection of extras. For fans of the movie, this is a highly recommended release. The only reason one wouldn't go for it is electing to get one of the other versions, such as the 4K UHD version or the exclusive Target release that has one additional bonus feature that clocks in over ten minutes.
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