Goofs

The establishing shot of the Athena shows a CH-47 Chinook helicopter on the bow, four UH-1 Hueys amidships, and one CH-53 Sea Stallion on the stern. In the helicopter battle with Kong later, at least 10 Hueys are shown.

During the helicopters versus Kong fight, the time of day changes multiple times, from sunset to bright sunlight.

When Brie Larson climbs the hill to fire the flare at the end of the movie, the surface of the hill changes substantially between shots. In one, it's a series of rock columns with cuts, then it becomes a rounded rock hilltop, then it's covered in vegetation, then it's back to a rounded rock hilltop.

Kong changes sizes between various scenes.

Packard uses an M14 throughout the movie. At one point you see him looking though a scope on his rifle. Later on you see him holding the rifle and the scope is nowhere to be seen.

After the several helicopter crashes, the pilots are shown slogging through the jungle in regular infantry "steel pot" helmets and fatigues. Pilots don't carry "backup helmets" and they would have had only their flight helmet or maybe a rolled up cap in their flight suit. They don't bring infantry gear to change into in case they crash.

After sitting (and breaking down) for almost 30 years, it is doubtful the aviation fuel would cause the home made boat's engine to turn over, let alone run.

When she is detailing her military experience Mason mentions she was "...embedded with MACV-SOG". MACV-SOG stood for Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Special Operations/Studies and Observations Group. It was comprised of Vietnamese and American troops (Special Operations Forces like the Green Berets and SEALs) and was a joint operation with the CIA concerned with behind the lines operations, making it highly unlikely that a journalist, especially a female photojournalist, would be attached to them.

When the dog tags of the dead soldiers are collected, they are shown on their "long" chains. In actuality, whenever tags are collected, the tag on the short chain is taken and the tag on the long chain is left of the body to aid future identification. This is a common mistake made in many movies.

When Packard looks in his box of medals, there are a couple dog tags in there with black rubber "silencers" around their edges. These were used extensively in Vietnam to keep the two tags from rubbing together and creating noise. Yet later when the dead men's dog tags are collected, not a single one has a silencer.

Mason was shown loading Kodak Plus-X film into her camera, which is, or was, a mid speed black and white film, OK for daytime shooting, but not for low light shots as she is seen taking later, at least not without camera shake and blurring or unless you use flash equipment. Also, as it is black and white, it isn't what you would use to capture the colors of the Southern Lights and a timed exposure would just be a bunch of gray blur. Many photographers carry more than one type of film and there may have been an off camera switch of film types.

Japanese pilot Gunpei Ikari attempts to use a German Mauser C96 pistol at the beginning of the film. Although Japanese forces would not have been able to obtain additional munitions at the end of WWII due to financial issues, the munitions they already had would still be in circulation.

Japanese pilot Gunpei Ikari was shown holding a German Mauser C96 pistol at the beginning of the film, even though Imperial Japanese Navy pilots were not issued with this type of gun. It would not, however, be surprising if the pistol were to be a private weapon that Ikari bought for himself. It was not uncommon for officers, including pilots, to carry their own weapons in wartime.

Several times throughout the film it sounds as if Packard is referring to Major Chapman as "Captain," which is a lesser rank. However, this is due to Samuel L. Jackson's accent/inflection in which he frequently pronounces the name Chapman as "Chap-um". This can be heard by listening carefully to the dialogue.

Although Northern Lights aren't visible in the southern hemisphere, they could have been seeing the Southern Lights. However, it is more likely that the lights and Skull Island's unique storm system are due to the 'hollow earth' characteristics which are never fully explained.

The moment Cole drops the AK47 to take on the big beast you see the 'wooden' end bend, revealing it's a rubber prop.

During the point at which the helicopters are lifting off from the boat deck, you see a shot of a helicopter cyclic (the control stick) being pulled back. This is immediately followed by a shot of the helicopter lifting off and moving forward. Unlike a fixed wing aircraft, where pulling back on the stick raises the nose and causes the aircraft to climb, pulling back on the cyclic of a helicopter makes the helicopter fly backwards.

Even if Marlow had 'gone native' and didn't wear his uniform for the 28 years he was on the island, it was still in pretty good condition and still fit pretty well.

Flipped shot: When Mason fires the flare gun at the skull crusher, she is shooting left handed. This is shown by the strap on her bag crossing left to right instead of right to left as seen in shots before and after this.

When the group enters the wreck of the Wanderer, turned into a temple, the torches are clearly fueled by gas, as they burn in a distinctive yellow and blue flame.

Mason says she can't get a long exposure of the Aurora in the night sky because her flashlight is broken. She didn't want the flashlight to help the scene lighting, which would be pointless, but to light up the camera's dials so she could set them for the exposure.

The number of helicopters taking off from the ship have had fans arguing about the numbers on various forums. However seeing the movie for a second time I could see 6 Hueys on the deck in a long sideways shot, one Chinook on the bow. And then when they start taking off we can see a CH-56 taking off from the stern, which is when we can spot a hanger with two more Hueys in it.

So there were 10 helicopters on the ship. In the close shots they don't show us more than 3 Hueys at a time. The CH-53 and the rear hanger with 2 Hueys are not shown until the take off sequence to Skull Island starts.

The aspect ratio consistently changes throughout the film.

The film depicts an anti-Vietnam War protest in 1973 and treats President Richard Nixon's troop withdrawal announcement as a surprise. In fact, the Paris Accords had been signed in December 1972 and anti-war demonstrations petered out after Nixon accepted cease-fire terms the previous May. It was no secret to anyone in January 1973 that U.S. military involvement in Vietnam was over.

The graphics on the seismic devices are far beyond the capabilities of computers in 1973, let alone portable computers.

Early in the movie, Packard reaches for a box of cigars, with a Rocky Patel cigar label, which contains his medals. Rocky Patel Cigar Company has only been around since 2002.

The cargo ship displays a giant "no smoking" sign in red letters. Smoking bans on general merchant vessels became effective only in 2009. No ship in the 70's would have had such instructions prominently painted on the deck.

When she is detailing her military experience Mason mentions she was "...embedded with MACV-SOG". The practice of embedding journalists with military units during wartime did not become a formal practice until the Iraq War of 2003. Prior to that many journalists during the Vietnam War, like Joseph Lee Galloway who was with the 7th Cavalry at the Ia Drang Valley, had to find their own way to the battlefield.

The stylus on the record player was set to 45 but playing an LP.

The opening scene starts on the beach, followed by a short foot chase through the woods. Suddenly they come to the edge of a cliff that is several hundred feet above a valley below. Since they started out on the beach at sea level, and during their short run through the woods they obviously did not climb a mountain, it is impossible for them to come to a valley lower than sea level that close to shore that is not filled with water (aka a lagoon).

The D-Day Invasion stripes on the plane during the crash in the first scene would not have been found on this plane in the Pacific Theatre.

It seems strange that as at least 2 members of the team are carrying grenade launchers, not one is fired at any of the beasts they encounter. As bullets appear to be doing pretty much nothing, a change of ordnance would probably have made sense.

Skull Island was supposed to have been previously uncharted and unmapped. However, in the briefing on the Athena, the slides shows several detailed maps. There are also labelled with locations for base camps and routes through the island, suggesting that someone was familiar with the terrain.

The Japanese soldier carried his sword in a wooden scabbard. This type of case is called a shira saya (resting scabbard). It is used to store a Japanese sword, not carry it.

As a former SAS operator, it is highly unlikely that Conrad would lead a jungle mission equipped only with a tight t-shirt and a shoulder holster.

Despite being an alleged former SAS member, James Conrad not only "sweeps" (passes the muzzle of his weapon across the bodies of someone he doesn't want to shoot) several people, he clearly fires directly over the head of Mason Weaver while she is standing within five feet of him. Any trained professional would avoid both of these as they could easily result in the friendly fire injury or death of a team member.

As the crew is first flying through the storm to get onto Skull Island, Packard says that Icarus's wings were "made of wax". Actually they were made of reeds and feathers with the feathers attached with wax and thus when he flew too close to the sun the wax melted and the feathers fell off.

As Mason is trying to lift part of the helicopter that has a buffalo trapped, Kong picks up the helicopter and throws in down, not too far from Mason. She doesn't even flinch.