Kong: Skull Island Movie Review

Released: March 10th 2017 (United States)

Length: 118 Minutes

Certificate: 12A

Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman, Corey Hawkins, Jing Tian and John C. Reilly

King Kong is one of the most famous creations in all of cinema, having had plenty of cinematic productions over the years since his original 1933 debut. After more than a decade, the giant ape returns in Kong: Skull Island, this time on the side of Universal and Warner Bros for their upcoming Monsterverse. Much like a certain monster from Japan, it delivers on the visual level but falls very short in plot and characterisation.

Taking place against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the film follows the exploits of the Monarch organisation, as they investigate a strange island concealed from the world by raging storms and superstitions. Led by William Randa (John Goodman) and Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins), they gather together a team of mercenaries and armed escorts and venture out. Dropping seismic charges to map the island, the team is abruptly attacked by the giant gorilla (This time beefed up to the size of a New York skyscraper) who destroys their transports and leaves them stranded; separated into two main groups, the humans try to escape the island, taking on all manner of nasty creatures along the way.

The film takes place almost entirely on the island and swaps between two main teams. For most of the first half, Skull Island’s tone is all over the place, diminishing its appeal and coming off as quite jumbled. Is it trying to be a creepy creature feature? Light hearted adventure with comedic moments? Or a brooding war against man and beast? It recklessly swings back and forth between these for half of its runtime; had it kept its focus consistent, the elements that work would have had a lot more impact. Things often move a bit too quickly for their own good; there are some frightening moments to be found involving the creatures for example but because the film sees fit to toss them aside and jarringly flip back to the lighter aspects of the narrative. Much like Godzilla, it does pick up towards the end with another fiery action sequence set around a gloomy lake surrounded by the forests.

There’s a lot of talent brought to the table in Kong: Skull Island, but they aren’t utilised very effectively; once again we have a monster film where you just don’t care about the human characters, despite the ample screen-time they’re given. Almost every character is both too one-note and too under-developed with a script that doesn’t give much to go on; instead many act as fodder for the creatures to kill over the course of the film.

Tom Hiddleston is mostly along the same lines of Aaron-Taylor Johnson from three years back; square-jawed and dull while Brie Larson never adds anything to her character’s basic photography profession. We don’t learn a thing about biologist San Lin (Jing Tian) or Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins) throughout the film and their performances are relegated to bouncing off conversations at specific intervals. The soldier’s attempts at camaraderie fall rather flat, as does John C. Reilly whose comedic relief thuds with little success. The only actor who really gets his moment to shine here is Samuel L. Jackson playing a relentless war colonel who wants nothing more than to see Kong dead; the film does make a small effort to flesh out his character in the first act and his dialogue, as always, is capably engaging. Considering how the film spends most of its time on the humans, it’s very disappointing to see the cast wasted like this.

Kong’s latest big screen adventure certainly looks the part, beginning with the monster himself; he towers over the entire film, always projecting that sense of scale and Terry Notary’s great motion capture work delivers a powerful presence. The island itself looks great as well, with weather effects and hazy hues giving off that warm, sweat-filled feel of the jungle, though the environments aren’t quite as claustrophobic as you’d expect, creating a slight knock on tension. Skull Island is shot brilliantly with long distance shots flying across the island, alongside more intimate angles in the middle of the jungles and swamps. The occasional use of first person shots is a curious choice, one which almost gamifies particular scenes while showing off the creatures in closer detail. Not every aspect of the film’s presentation works fluidly; much like how the film can’t pin down a consistent tone, the music bounces in and out of sixties rock without much rhyme or reason, further disrupting the proceedings; it was as if the songs were drafted in to merely match the film’s Vietnam setting. I saw the film in 3D and it really doesn’t add anything to the film other than the occasional creature launching itself at the camera. Kong’s latest outing feels much more laid back than previous iterations, but it’s mostly well helmed overall.

Kong: Skull Island stands above Godzilla’s 2014 let-down for giving the titular monster the screen-time he deserves, but that isn’t saying much when the human characters are still so horribly bland and uninteresting. The film’s look and action are once again solid but balancing the creatures with the big-name actors hasn’t improved that much. If we’re getting a cinematic universe out of these films, they’ll need to fix these problems as soon as they can.

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars (Mediocre)