Kong: Skull Island – Film Review

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Companies: Legendary Pictures & Tencent Pictures
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Producers: Thomas Tull, Mary Parent, Jon Jashni & Alex Garcia
Scriptwriters: Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein & Derek Connolly
Main Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman, Jing Tian, Toby Kebbell, John Ortiz, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell and John C. Reilly
Released: March 10^th, 2017
Running Time: 118 Minutes
Certificate: 12A 

With Godzilla VS Kong (Wingard, 2021) hitting Amazon Prime recently, I found myself immersed again into the MonsterVerse. I soon found myself binge watching the most entries, choosing to skip the first Godzilla as I had rewatched it recently. I thought there would be no better installment to choose to review than the reboot of one of my all-time favorites. 2017’s Kong: Skull Island (Vogt-Roberts, 2017).

Synopsis

William “Bill” Randa (John Goodman) is the head of a U.S. government organization, called Monarch. He becomes fascinated with the newly discovered Skull Island. Intrigued he recruits a US Army unit to search the island for primeval creatures. The team is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L Jackson) and accompanied by an anti-war photographer, Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) . Upon arrival the team begin dropping seismic explosives in order to map out the island and potentially prove a seismologist’s Hollow Earth theory. Suddenly the unit is attacked by Kong (Tony Kebbell and Terry Notary), scattering the survivors into two groups. Panicked Packard searches for the transport helicopter, more importantly the firearms on board that are capable of killing the giant gorilla. The other group, led by Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) meanwhile encounter the local Iwi natives and a man named Marlow (John C. Reilly). He enlightens the group of the giant ape, Kong, and how he protects the island from the predators they donned “Skullcrawlers”.

Prophecy

Marlow tells them of the prophecy. One that depicts when Kong dies a humongous Skullcrawler will awaken only to ravage the island, presumably killing all the natives. The group leave with Marlow in an attempt to help him complete constructing his boat. Unfortunately, the group are ambushed by Skullcrawlers which climaxes in fiery last stand for of one the soldiers. The rest of Conrad’s group escape on the newly constructed boat, or at least they thought. The Skullcrawler attacks again killing more survivors before they manage to kill the monster. Chapman hears of this and decides its time to inform the rest of the survivors about his plan to kill Kong as well as avenge the fallen. Marlow and Brooks (Corey Hawkins) desperately try to explain that the demise of Kong would lead to the Skullcrawlers running rampant.

Climax

The groups then part ways with Packard’s group acquiring the firearms from the chopper before heading off to set traps for Kong. This is when Conrad and the rest flee only to witness Kong’s kind nature. Deciding to attempt to save the creature. Packard’s trap works incapacitating Kong. However, the groups stand off each other, leading to Packard’s soldiers deciding to spare Kong. Yet the action is not yet over, as a giant Skullcrawler appears and initially overpowers Kong as the survivors escape. Luckily Kong manages to better the Skullcralwer, killing it. A watchful Kong then keeps an eye on the survivors as they leave the island.

Digital Effects

The fights between Kong and the Skullcrawlers are jam packed with adrenaline filled action. With big fists being exchanged with snarling, snapping jaws and razor-sharp claws. The choreography of the fights are astounding. Which is important as when you watch a monster movie, you expect the monstrous encounters to hold up. It’s more than safe to say that Kong: Skull Island exceeds that requirement, with monster fights scenes being some of the best of the genre. Arguably in my opinion only being topped nearly 5 years later with the release of Godzilla VS Kong.

Skull Island

The cinematography of Kong: Skull Island is outstanding. The jungle scenery of Skull Island is one that incites its adventurous and mysterious nature. The lighting of the movie emulates the jungle sun beating down on the group of survivors. The music delightfully sets the tone of every scene. Perfectly picking up for the action before slowing down for tense dialogue heavy scenes, before ultimately the tension is broken with comedy.

Summary

To conclude the set design, props, lighting, and cinematography of the film are astounding. The digital effects that bring the titular monster alive are perfectly executed. With the effects looking natural but delivering on the blockbuster action a paying audience member would expect to see. The inclusion of MCU talents Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston have excellent chemistry together. With the rest of the cast being a mix of rememberable and forgettable characters these two stand out tall. The only downside of this movie being set in the past is the likely hood of being able to include characters introduced in this movie to be included in future installments. Or at the very least portrayed by the same performers. Overall, Kong: Skull Island is well worth watching, the monster movie stands out as one of the MonsterVerse’s best offerings to date. Whilst achieving a more interesting human arc than most monster films. I would however liked to have seen more monsters.

Kong: Skull Island is available to watch on Netflix and Amazon Prime!

Overall Score: 8.5 – Excellent

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