Kong: Skull Island review

Dear Billy, 

     I hope everything is going well. It seems some people thought that another film about an angry Australian man would top Skull Island this weekend. Man were they wrong. I must say it fills me with pride to see Skull Island doing so well even after the opening weekend. I fear Beauty will trounce the beast this weekend, but that does not lessen the spectacle or mean that Skull Island is a bad film. Skull Island Truly met expectations and even exceeded some. 

Sincerely,
Kaiju Kidd


Okay, but seriously though....

     For this Kidd, the hype for this movie was great. I am a long time monster movie buff and I thoroughly enjoyed the 2014 Godzilla film. One of my greatest wishes is to bear witness to another great age in monster movies and this Legendary monsterverse is leading the charge into, what could be, a whole new frontier for Kaiju films or monster movies in general. That being said, there were still some reservations before going to see this one. The intent of this movie is to introduce Kong into this universe, not necessarily retell the original Kong story. Usually movies that try and change the story of the big ape end up falling short in one regard or another so I tried to mentally prepare myself for that scenario if even just a little bit. Suffice it to say, I was surprised by how good the movie turned out in almost every aspect.

     The human cast all did their jobs wonderfully and by the end of the movie I found all of the main human characters likeable. I emphasize, by the end, as before they actually reached the island there were characters that didn't really hit the mark with me personally. At first, I found Brie Larson's character, Mason Weaver, to be, for lack of a better term, kind of a cunt. Literally everyone saw through her BS and fortunately I feel that helped transition her to being more open to the team and forthcoming when it came to heavy decision. Mason did what all good characters do, change as it is needed to help drive the story. Other than her, I don't feel that Houston Brooks, played by Corey Hawkins, and San, played by Tian Jing, had many great character moments. Sure, I liked them well enough and they were certainly key players to the story, but I don't feel as connected to them as I do other characters.
     As for the other main characters, I have to simply praise. John C. Reilly stole the show as Hank Marlow, a downed survivor from a WW2 plane crash. Mr. Reilly knows how to portray crazy. Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L. Jackson both kept this very commanding presence as the "leaders" of the group. Samuel L. Jackson's character, Lieutenant Colonel Packard, had wonderful scenes showing his descent into this hazy war-fueled madness as his men are slaughtered one by one. Bill Randa, played by John Goodman, was a representative of Monarch that set this excursion to Skull Island in motion. I love how clever he was. Whenever you see him you know he is planning something. To be honest, this movie made me wish I could've seen him as Carl Denham in the Kong reboot a few years back. No hate on Jack Black, but John Goodman showed everything Jack's character was missing. In, Short, every character was at least good.
     The story, is honestly pretty basic. People go to Skull Island on a research expedition, find Kong and have to escape the island as they encounter all the nasty creatures that inhabit the island. This simplicity, though, is honestly how it probably should be. On paper the basics of past Kong stories are there, and there is some great monster action all throughout the film. Keeping the film as basic as it is does have it's down-sides though. Since exploring Skull Island and establishing major facts about this universe are also primary goals, not as much time can go towards Kong. As such, we don't get the whole of Kong's story or have as much time with Kong as some would want. To me, the filmmakers worked around this as best they could. While not as expressive as the Peter Jackson's Kong, This Kong is still very expressive and as we watch him interact with the world around him, the audience begins to understand Kong without having to be with him throughout the whole of the movie. Much like the 2014 Godzilla movie, even when Kong is not on screen, his presence is felt along with pretty much any other creature. After the spider scene, you feel that Kong or some other monster can come out at any time. That tension only gets ramped up to unsettling at times when the Skull Crawlers begin to make their move. As far as Kong is concerned, his goal is to keep his home safe from threats, including the helicopters and the skull crawlers, so Kong is pretty much always fighting or watching over the island all film long.
     The human side of things has a pretty natural progression but I feel that some things came by to easily, or were just there for the sake of one scene and nothing else. One example is the lighter that James Conrad, played by Tom Hiddleston had. While the introduction of the lighter came out of a nice character moment between James and Mason, it seems the lighter was only there to establish a source of flame so they could blow up a skull crawler shortly after that scene. The lighter also belonged to James' father, as he explains, but I fail to see the greater necessity in establishing a special lighter when it is not exactly farfetched for a soldier to have a match, or just some random zippo as we see other soldiers have. There are other examples but there are items that are established to be relevant for the characters to some degree, but not as much to the plot. Enough griping about minor things that bug me for stupid reasons though!

     The major conflicts the humans face in this movie are threefold. The first and obvious is the various creatures that may or may not want to eat them. The second, which is the first to be resolved, is that after crashing on the island everyone is pretty scattered and must find a way to regroup as safely as possible. Finally Packard is becoming obsessed with taking down Kong in the name of revenge for his men. This drives him to insanity. The group mus find a way to a rendezvous point on the other end of the island all while dealing with the above problems. The job is made a slight easier when they run into Hank Marlow who has been stranded there for years. Because of this, Hank knows much about the island and has even been working on a makeshift boat of of plane parts, we'll call it a ploat, to help them go up the main waterway quicker so all can escape the island. Things progress just as they should in this movie and no scene is there too long, though a few scenes weren't there long enough. I would have liked to see more scenes of Kong fighting the smaller skull crawlers, and maybe another scene showing the groups of humans dealing with the creatures or natives of the island. Heck, I want to see those ants that John C Reilly warned me about!
     Any negative marks I can give this movie honestly relate to each other. I know I have been praising the movie, but it is not perfect. The characters are really good and fun to watch, but none of them give of an Oscar winning performance....except maybe John C. Reilly. The action is good and there's plenty of it, but aside from how Kong beats the big skull crawler, I don't see anything truly inventive or new. Truthfully the flaws of this movie all relate to that so many elements are good, but just miss the mark from being great.
     I shouldn't have to tell anybody, that if the worst thing I can say about a movie is that it's really good, but not great, then it truly is a good movie. I would recommend this to eve



ryone who likes giant monsters, to anybody who likes army movies and anybody who likes action in general. I had a lot of fun watching this movie and I hope that many more people go out and see it. This is the Kaiju Kidd signing off from skull Island!




     almost forgot the most important thing! That end credits scene! what else can I say...but..

LET THEM FIGHT!!!!