Kong

In 1944, during World War II, two fighter pilots—one American and one Japanese—crash on an island in the South Pacific after a close-range dogfight. They engage in a fierce hand-to-hand battle until a giant gorilla interrupts the fight.

In 1973, during the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam, Bill Randa (John Goodman), head of the Monarch organization, and his assistant Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins) obtain government permission to investigate the recently discovered Skull Island. To do so, they hire former British Special Air Service (SAS) Captain James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) to guide an expedition to map the island. Randa also recruits the Sky Devils, a squadron of Vietnam veterans led by Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson), his right-hand man Major Jack Chapman (Toby Kebbell), and Captain Earl Cole (Shea Whigham), to escort them to the island. Packard sees this mission as an outlet for the frustration of his defeat in Vietnam, determined to overcome any danger to achieve a victory before returning to North America. The group is joined by pacifist correspondent Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), who plans to expose them, believing it to be a secret military operation.

Upon reaching Skull Island, Packard's men bombard the island with seismic charges in an attempt to prove the Hollow Earth theory, despite Conrad's objections. The helicopters are suddenly attacked by the giant gorilla; many are destroyed, and the survivors are split into two groups. Their only hope for rescue is a resupply team scheduled to meet them at the island's northern tip in three days. Randa reveals to Packard that he was a marine in his youth and is the sole survivor of his ship's encounter with an unknown sea creature. He explains that the expedition's true purpose is to gather evidence of the monsters' existence, as he is convinced they will return to reclaim the planet from humanity, and they must prepare to exterminate them.

Packard and his men begin searching for Chapman, who crashed on the other side of the island, facing numerous dangers along the way. Meanwhile, Conrad, Weaver, Brooks, biologist San Lin (Jing Tian), Private Reg Slivko (Thomas Mann), and Landsat employee Victor Nieves (John Ortiz), among others, encounter the island's natives, the Iwi, and Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly), the American pilot who crashed in 1944.

Marlow explains that after he and Gunpei Ikari, the Japanese pilot, crashed, they put aside their differences to try to escape and became best friends until Ikari's death. He also tells them how he formed a friendship with the Iwi people and the truth about the giant primate: despite his size, the gorilla is a young, still-developing creature named Kong, the last of his kind. He is seen as the guardian of the island and worshipped as a god by the natives because he protects them from gigantic creatures that Marlow calls "Skullcrawlers," which live underground. Marlow reveals that Kong attacked the helicopters to prevent the bombs from awakening the most colossal creature.

Chapman witnesses Kong defeat a giant octopus, causing him to flee into the forest, where he is devoured by a Skullcrawler. Meanwhile, Weaver encounters a giant buffalo trapped under a downed helicopter and unsuccessfully attempts to rescue it until Kong arrives and saves the creature without harming Weaver, who is deeply impressed by his compassion.

Conrad's group travels upriver after repairing a boat that Marlow and Gunpei built years earlier from parts salvaged from their planes, when they are suddenly attacked by winged creatures that kill Nieves. The survivors manage to meet up with Packard, who insists on searching for Chapman. Marlow reluctantly leads the group to the Forbidden Zone, a burial ground of Kong's ancestors where the air is flammable due to vapors released from the ground. The Skullcrawler that killed Chapman attacks the group, devouring Randa and killing several soldiers before Weaver kills it by triggering an explosion. Packard blames Kong for the deaths of his men and retrieves seismic explosives to lure Kong into a trap and kill him; however, it becomes clear that Packard's priority was never rescuing Chapman but rather recovering the weapons from the helicopter that transported him to fight Kong. Meanwhile, Conrad decides to take the non-military personnel to the ship to wait for the resupply team. While exploring the way, Conrad and Weaver spot Kong nearby and decide to save him, a sentiment that Marlow shares.

Packard's trap incapacitates Kong, and he orders his men to plant explosives around the fallen creature. Before he can kill the gorilla, Conrad's group arrives and convinces the other soldiers to spare Kong, but Packard arrogantly refuses, implying that his efforts to kill Kong are actually an attempt to assuage his frustration over his failure in Vietnam.

Kong ambushes Ramarak near a ship that had sunk on the island decades earlier, leaving the gorilla chained to the ship's anchor. Ramarak tries to attack the humans, but they distract him long enough for Kong to free himself and use the ship's propeller to knock him off. During the fight, Weaver falls unconscious into the water and is rescued by Kong, whom the reptile then attacks by surprise, swallowing his right hand along with Weaver. Kong rips out the Skullcrawler's entrails, killing it and rescuing Weaver. With the Skullcrawler defeated, Kong allows the survivors to leave. Some time later, Marlow returns home, reunites with his wife, and meets his son for the first time.

In a post-credits scene, Conrad and Weaver are detained and interrogated in a room by Monarch expedition members Brooks and Lin. They are informed that Kong is not the only monster in the world and that more will eventually awaken. Conrad and Weaver watch a projection with Brooks and Lin showing photographs of cave paintings depicting Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah. They are also shown a fifth photograph depicting a battle between Godzilla and King Ghidorah. As the screen fades to black, Godzilla's roar is heard.