Movie Review: Kong: Skull Island

The trailer really sold this movie to me. I lost all hope for epic monsters movies until the remake of Godzilla a few years back with Cranston. But, I remember seeing the last King Kong by Peter Jackson and was complete devastated on how poor it was. But my friend convinced me to give it a shot so we went on opening night.

“Scientists, soldiers and adventurers unite to explore a mythical, uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean. Cut off from everything they know, they venture into the domain of the mighty Kong, igniting the ultimate battle between man and nature. As their mission of discovery soon becomes one of survival, they must fight to escape from a primal world where humanity does not belong.”

First off, the film boasts a decent cast coming out of the gates. Tom Hiddleston, brie Larson, John Goodman, John Reilly and of course, Samuel L Jackson. Who doesn’t like Samuel L Jackson as a villain? Whoops, spoiler ish. Anyways, John Goodman character runs a company that exists mainly to research unexplained sighting’s or events all over the world. They came across evidence that Kong Island existed but needed funding and manpower to pull this off. After pleading with a Senator, they strike a deal. Samuel L Jackson plays a war veteran who is clearly suffering PTSD and is not ready “to go home.” So once the opportunity is offered to him, he cancels the leave for his team and gets them all on a chopper. Along the way to pick up a tracker played by Hiddleston. His acting/portrayal wasn’t bad, it felt like the role just did not fit whatsoever and he was just there. Yes it is hard to look past his role of Loki, but his relationship with Brie Larson’s character is something that did fit the puzzle of the story. Once they head into Kong Island they soon meet the King himself(Clearly not Elvis) and after doing a little surveying with pulse grenades, they awakened an even bigger threat than Kong. Along the way they find a WW2 pilot played by John Reilly. Who explains the mythology of Kong and these other monsters that they awakened by accident.

Clearly, they wanted to make this as a huge homage to the movie Apocalypse now. From the movie poster, certain types of cinematography, to right down to the selection of locations, it seemed like an Apocalypse Now clone with a giant ape. Which is not a bad thing whatsoever. The movies cinematography was a masterpiece. The work they did on Kong was just breathtaking, and it should be as this is the first of many films in the newly constructed “MonsterVerse.”

I would highly suggest this film and like a Marvel film, stay to the end of the credits.

#kingkong #johngoodman #samuelLJackson #monsterverse #godzilla #TomHiddlestone