Review – Kong: Skull Island

Kong: Skull Island is the fourth incarnation of the infamous giant ape, following the original classic from 1933, the 1976 version starring Jeff Bridges, and Peter Jackson’s 2005 version.  Those 1976 and 2005 versions are both remakes of the 1933 film, all being essentially the same movie with a few story changes and new technology for each film.  But in Kong: Skull Island, we get something that is both original, yet keeps the same spirit and similar tropes of the original, making for a rousing, and wildly entertaining adventure.

Kong: Skull Island takes place in 1971, where a team of explorers with a company of soldiers are following myth and legend in the Pacific amidst rumors of an island where creatures both prehistoric and monstrous are supposed to live.  When they discover the mysterious Skull Island, the group discovers Kong, along with other creatures and monsters, and try to get off the island without dying.

This movie features Kong unlike any way we’ve seen him before.  Kong has never kicked so much ass and taken so many names.  He’s bigger, badder, and more powerful than ever.  In the original films, Kong climbed the Empire State Building.  Here, Kong is bigger than buildings and is still growing.  This is also the first version where we truly see the power and magnitude of Kong as King of Skull Island.  The villagers and creatures bow to him and we see Kong destroy anything that doesn’t.  This is awesome new way to see the legendary beast.  We also get some great visual flourishes from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who shoots and edits the film like a throwback war film from the 70’s.

Where Kong: Skull Island really succeeds is in reinventing the classic story while keeping the classic plot points and tropes of the other three.  The whole origin of King Kong is he is found on Skull Island, taken by the humans back to America as a tourist attraction, breaks free, reeks havoc on New York City, climbs the Empire State Building, and is then tragically shot down.  Now not all of these things happen, per say, but we do see familiar scenes.  We see Kong save the beautiful blonde woman who bonds with the ape, we see him fight off two monsters while protecting the blonde, and it keeps the general theme of humanity and inhumanity of creatures and humans and who is worse.  We also see that Kong is more than just an ape and that he is vulnerable and has emotion, adding similar depth that we got in the other films.

Surprisingly, my biggest gripe with the film is with the cast.  This is the definition of an all-star cast, featuring dreamboat Tom Hiddleston, Oscar winner Brie Larson, the bad mother fucker himself, Samuel L. Jackson, the always great John Goodman, the hilarious John C. Reilly, the great character actor Shea Whigham, and up-and-comers Toby Kebbel, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, and Thomas Mann.  With this cast, what could go wrong?  Well, it is almost too much of a good thing.  This isn’t the greatest screenplay ever, and nobody really shines here because of it.  Goodman and Reilly are easily the best, with some powerful scenes from Jackson and fun moments from Whigham, but that’s really it.  Everybody else is expendable, especially Brie Larson, who I feel dumbed herself down for this roll as the photographer who continues to try and take pictures instead of grabbing a gun while on the island.  She’s better than this.  None of the actors give bad performances and they all look pretty, but they’re all expendable, taking some of the fun dirtiness of the movie away.

Overall, Kong: Skull Island is a blast to watch.  It has a pretty cast, thrilling action, and keeps with the spirit of other King Kong films.  It also has a really cool post-credit sequence that ties this movie in with 2014’s Godzilla, which will all lead up to the giant monster brawl between the two legendary beasts.  Until then, feast your eyes on this fantastical monster

MY RATING – 3/4

Did you see Kong: Skull Island?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.