Kong: Skull Island (2017) Review

I have seen all the Hollywood King Kong movies, from the original 1933 classic, to the 1976 remake and the 2005 Peter Jackson remake. Every one of these films, including the new one, has the same theme; that man is the monster, not the giant gorilla. Yet, why do I like this one the best out of all of those listed above? Simple: it knows what it is and gets to the point. People pay admission for King Kong to see a giant gorilla destroying things, crushing people, and fighting other giant monsters. What the 1976 and 2005 remake get too bogged down in is spending too much screen time on the “romance” between Kong and the female lead. In the 1976 and 2005 remake, much of that is just the two staring at one another awkwardly. Rest assured, Kong: Skull Island is the Kong film we’ve always wanted, with a few minor setbacks.

Bill Randa (John Goodman) is a monster chaser who convinces the government to fund his expedition (by telling them it’s for geological research) to an uncharted island in the South Pacific. Joining them is expert tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), Photojournalist Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), and various other scientists. Army lieutenant Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) and his team are asked to escort Bill’s people during their geological tests. While on Skull Island, during their “tests” they disturb the island’s guardian, Kong, and are left stranded with only a limited window to leave…but they have other creatures besides Kong to worry about. 

First off: the bad. One thing that annoys me to no end is when any movie that takes place in the late 60’s-early 70’s, like this film, is incessant on always playing the same ten songs (usually songs from CCR and The Rolling Stones, in this case it’s both) when a group of soldiers are around. This is used to remind you it's that time period. DO YOU REMEMBER VIETNAM!? DO YOU!? DO YOU REMEMBER THE 60's AND THE ROLLING STONES!? It’s been done to death, in movies, television, and video games, and it needs to end. An editing choice was made to have a sound effect which gradually builds and cuts off right as there's a hard cut to a new scene. This happened in almost every scene transition in the entire film! It got to a point that my wife started to laugh because I was becoming so annoyed by it! Now the good. The action set pieces are amazingly choreographed, particularly the scenes of Kong taking down the helicopters, and Kong fighting the "skull walkers". It's shot and edited in a way to make you see almost everything from the human perspective. This gives Kong and the other monsters their massive appearance, and makes our human characters feel all the more helpless in a hopeless situation. Unfortunately, most of the characters are just surviving, and are not given proper arcs or backstories, so ultimately I didn't care much for their fates. The only two characters I cared for or cared what happened to them was Sam Jackson and John C. Reilly, who plays a WWII survivor who lives on the island. He has moments of comedy, drama, and has a backstory we care about. One other character who has a brief moment to shine is Brie Larson's character, who like all of her Kong female predecessors, forms a bond with the beast. What makes this one different is it's subtle and not dragged out for half the runtime.

Like I mentioned earlier, the main theme of the film (and every previous Kong adaptation) is that humans can be even more monstrous that the scariest monsters imaginable. Yet, this film exceeds at really showing how far one person can go to get revenge and destroy an obstacle. I highly recommend this film for an owner of a decent sound system. It's entertaining enough for a movie night with the family, given the kids are old enough to watch it. The action is well paced and well executed and left me cheering numerous times.