The film is set in
1973, just after the Vietnam War has ended. Bill Randa (John Goodman) and
Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins) are eager to get a boat over to a mysterious
South Pacific island named Skull Island so they can prove to everyone that
scientific theories surrounding the fact of ancient creatures that predated the
humans still exist. Their theories are called completely bogus, but they somehow
get the senator, played by Richard Jenkins in a brief cameo, to give them a
military escort to search the island.
Before they leave, Bill
and Houston recruit Jason Conrad, played by Tom Hiddelson, a former British
Special Air Service Captain who is a skilled tracker, only convinced to go on
the dangers of this mission by the outlook of so much pay. They also get the
hot Brie Larson as a self-called “anti-war photographer” who places close
attention to detail and has a lot of ambition and audacity, and the hot Jing
Tian as another Monarch specialist whose character is only there to say that an
Asian is in the movie, because she’s almost just there and doesn’t really do
anything. There’s also a group of scientists that are casted by John Ortiz and
Marc Evan Jackson.
Then there’s the
military team, led by Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard, played by Samuel L.
Jackson, a career military man who just about to leave but somehow wanted to
accept one more mission. With him are his usual men, a perfectly casted team
that includes Packard’s right-hand man Major Jack Chapman (Toby Kebbell), pilot
Glenn Mills (Jason Mitchell), Captain Earl Cole (Shea Whigham) and warrant
officer Rev Silko (Thomas Mann). There are so many other soldiers joining them
on the team of helicopters traveling to Skull Island, but they are only there
for King Kong to just squash or throw around mercilessly.
Ethan Anderton stated
in his review, “As soon as the choppers fly in to Skull Island, they drop bombs
as a way to help map the island seismographically, but all that does is make
the island’s chief resident, the massive ape known as King Kong, furious.” Put
on screen with amazing visual effects and a motion capture performance given by
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” actors Terry Notary and Kebbell, Kong has
never been larger or more frightening than in this movie. He is a giant on the
island, being more of a fighter protecting his island than an animal acting on nascent
natures. Anderton is right when he says, “This unit doesn’t stand a chance as
Kong viciously and delightfully tears through every single helicopter, ripping
them in half, tossing one chopper into another, creating beautiful fireballs
that light up the sky.”
From the beginning of
the movie, it becomes evident that not only will the actors be great, but the
visuals that showcase it will bring it up a notch. The way the camera moves
around Kong in his fist throws puts the audience right in the middle of the
fight. Anderton noted, “But it’s not just sweeping Michael Bay camera moves
used over and over again, because there are some stunning, creative visuals
here too. That shot of Kong from the trailer where he smashes a helicopter to
the ground, creating a burst of flames around him as he gazes into the eyes of
Samuel L. Jackson’s Lieutenant Colonel Packard, is gorgeous on the big screen
(especially IMAX 3D), and it’s far from the only breathtaking shot.”
There are also nice
small additions throughout the movie, such as a quick look at a Richard Nixon
bobblehead on the dashboard of a helicopter, which gets a great shot again when
that same helicopter crashes. Anderton mentioned, “Throughout the movie, we’re
treated to a smorgasbord of beautiful camerawork that only makes the adventure
more engaging. Cinematographer Larry Fong, who traditionally works with Zack
Snyder, gets to stretch his legs beyond creating the fantastical motion
paintings from movies like 300, Watchmen and Batman v Superman. Instead there’s
a more genuine touch to his work this time. Because as big and stylish as Kong:
Skull Island is, everything is also extremely grounded, or at least as grounded
as they can be on an island full of monsters.”
Now about the monsters
of “Kong: Skull Island,” They are more dangerous and scary than any other
creatures the theaters have seen in the past decade. They are cruel, ferocious
and some of the graphic kills they manage are shocking to see in a PG-13 movie.
Just when you are about to take a sigh of relief from a narrow escape, another
creature comes in to kill another member of the group. Bodies fly, blood
spills, and Kong is the protector that tries to keep everyone in check, as the protector
of an ancient civilization that lives on the island, who also happen to have a fugitive
with them.
John C. Reilly has only
been looked over in the trailers for this movie, spewing one-liners, but his
character, who has been stranded on the island since his plane crashed there
during World War II, runs away with the entire movie. Reilly is the comic
relief most of the time, but not in a way that’s arrogant or vacuous. Besides
that, he has plenty of use, a real story to be told, and ends up being a huge
help in his own way. Reilly has an amazing gift of bringing natural comedy to
the action adventure events, and his backstory makes you care about him more
than any other character in the movie. The performance has heart, humor and you
might be surprised by how much you cheer on his character.
On the other hand, if
there’s one problem with the movie, it’s that it has such a large ensemble
cast, and we don’t get to develop every one of them so much. However, each
actor gets at least one scene of their own. Actors like Kebbell aren’t entirely
on screen, but having performers of that talent in smaller roles also gives
some weight to the movie. It makes the large number of body count have a little
more weight than it would if these roles were played by unknown actors.
At the same time, if
you’re thinking Hiddleston is the protagonist, he’s not even close. Hiddleston doesn’t
really have much to do until one completely cool action sequence arrives. Otherwise,
his character feels like it could have more weight put to him. On the other
hand, Larson does a great job with the amount of time she’s on screen. She’s as
close to the girl Kong falls for in previous installments of King Kong.
Anderton noted, “But this time, his motivation isn’t just because he thinks she’s
beautiful, and it’s elements like that which give this take on Kong more layers
and complexity than he’s been given before.”
Anderton goes on to
say, “Overall, Kong: Skull Island is one gnarly monster movie that doesn’t hide
the monsters in the darkness or create tension by having them lurk in the
background.” Instead, it gives the monsters the focus of the film, and they are
the crowning achievement. Anderton said, “Kong has never been more thrilling,
and his nasty opponents make for such compelling monster fights that you’ll be
even more disappointed in the fact that we didn’t get to see Godzilla do this
much in his own return in 2014.” With a soundtrack of 1970s rock and roll, “Kong:
Skull Island” also never loses interest. It goes through an endless variety of
graphic monster attacks; all seen through a lens that skillfully records the action,
scenery and enjoyably dark adventure that Jordan Vogt-Roberts has put on
screen.
Spoiler alert: in the
post-credits scene, Hiddleston and Larson are detained by Monarch and are told
by Tian and Hawkins that Kong is not the only monster on Earth. They are shown
archive footage of cave paintings of Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah.
This must set up a Monster Universe movie that must have been started with the
2014 “Godzilla” movie. They might be setting up a Monster-Free-For-All movie
soon.
If you liked any of the
Kong movies from the past, definitely see this one. It doesn’t come close to
the ’33 original, but that’s a timeless classic. Still, as a reboot to the
franchise, it did an amazing job. Definitely go to the theaters to check it
out.
Look out tomorrow for
the next installment in “Dustin Hoffman Month.”
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