(via Wikipedia, Kong: Skull Island is property of Warner Bros.)
Premise: In 1973, a motley crew of scientists, soldiers, and a photographer go on a mission to discovery the secrets of the mysterious Skull Island. However, as soon as they get there they’re attacked by the king of monsters (sorry Godzilla), Kong. Now our heroes brave the treacherous jungle and make their way back to the rendezvous point in time to be rescued.
I love a good monster movie, and anything with the world’s greatest giant ape will immediately catch my interest. The original King Kong is a classic, and I enjoyed the Peter Jackson-directed remake quite a bit. It’s been over a decade since we’ve seen Kong onscreen, but Kong: Skull Island looked like the perfect reintroduction. I haven’t seen director Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ debut Kings of Summer, but I hear it’s very good and I was interested in seeing how he’d transition into a blockbuster. It’s Kong’s introduction into a cinematic universe where he’ll hopefully fight Godzilla. But the most promising thing about this movie was the cast. Here’s a rundown:
-Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly, Toby Kebbell (Koba from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell of Straight Outta Compton, etc.
Great cast, right? So while my anticipation for Kong: Skull Island wasn’t on the level of something like Logan, it was definitely on my radar and I was very excited. Did it live up to my expectations? Not quite.
Pros: When going into a monster movie of this type, my number one question is “where are the monster fights and how good are they?” The recent Godzilla had great fights, but we didn’t see enough of them. Warner Bros. clearly learned their lesson here. They greatly increased the action quotient for Kong: Skull Island and did a great job making all of it exciting. There’s something to be said for a movie like Jaws with a slow build-up and very little of the shark, but for an action-oriented monster movie the Kong: Skull Island approach is the right one. You get to see the ultimate Kong vs. humans vs. other monsters throwdown, and it’s a thing of beauty.
(via ComingSoon.net, courtesy of Empire Magazine)
The filmmakers also did a good job setting up Kong and his world. Kong himself is lovingly realized, a wonderful creation played very well by mo-cap actor Terry Notary. Not only is he a cool looking monster, he’s the most interesting character in the movie. He’s not just some dumb wild animal, but the god of Skull Island protecting his turf. He may be destructive, but he’s ultimately a savior delivering the natives from even more dangerous creatures. Just don’t get on his bad side! Skull Island is also a very interesting location. The stylized visual effects might throw you off, but once you get past that it’s a great place for an adventure, one I wouldn’t mind revisiting soon.
Cons: There is not a bad actor in Kong: Skull Island. They’ve all done great work and will do great work again. However, nearly all of them are wasted in this movie. It’s not that they’re bad (they all do fine with what they’re given), but most of them have nothing to do other than look scared/badass, run around, and shoot things. Seriously, I could give most of them a one-to-five word description and that would be their entire character. The only ones with anything to them are Samuel L. Jackson and John C. Reilly. I cared about their characters and wanted to see where their stories went, but they didn’t make up for the fact that the rest of their cast got table scraps.
I’m not suggesting Kong: Skull Island be Shakespeare, but I didn’t find it that well written. There’s very little character development, with familiar faces popping in with no real reason except “we need this stock character”. Most of the humor falls completely flat, being awkward rather than amusing. To my immense disappointment, one of the screenwriters was Dan Gilroy, writer/director of the excellent Nightcrawler. I also hear that Kings of Summer was basically all about character development. Where was it here?
Verdict: Overall, Kong: Skull Island is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s great to see Kong and action’s terrific, but most of the characters are half-baked nonentities that are hard to root for, especially when Kong himself is so cool. It’s not a bad movie, but I think you can wait for Netflix.
Score: C+
Pierce at the Movies 