It’s another day and yet another reboot. Peter Jackson’s King Kong came and failed in 2005, but here’s another attempt to make the giant gorilla relevant again. With Kong: Skull Island, it’s 1973 and America has abandoned the Vietnam War. Piggybacking on another military operation is government agent Bill Randa (John Goodman) who green-lights the expedition by tricking a senator into thinking they’ll beat Russia at getting to Skull Island. He rallies together a couple of colleagues, a military convoy led by Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) and former British Special Air Service officer-turned-tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston). Joining the ragtag bunch is the anti-war photojournalist Mason Weaver (Brie Larson).
At Skull Island, the explorers drop seismic explosions to gauge ground depth and invoke the ire of the legendary giant gorilla, Kong, who swats their aircraft like you’d kill pesky mosquitoes. Angered by the loss of his men, Packard vows revenge. A separated faction of the group meets Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly), an American pilot stranded on the island since World War II, who reveals the real monsters are the skullcrawlers. What follows is the humans’ attempt to escape death, and fight after fight between Kong and said skullcrawler.
Kong Skull Island is a visual treat for the most part. Everything from a dive bar in Vietnam to the sprawling lushness of the island is beautiful. Kudos to the special effects team that paid equal attention to everything. Kong, especially, is rendered meticulously, right from the anger in his eyes, the fur on his body to his fight scenes. One such spectacular scene (of many) is Kong yanking a giant octopus out of the water only to rip it apart and devour it. And when the final battle between skullcrawler and Kong occurs, you won’t be disappointed at all.
With the exception of the fight sequences and the visual mastery, the rest of Kong: Skull Island isn’t as hunky dory. An ensemble cast is wasted on a monster movie where the hero is clearly the special effects. Only two characters stand out: one is Reilly as Marlow, who has some of the funniest lines of the film; and then there’s Jackson’s Packard, quite rightly a metaphor for most of the human race that blindly wants to destroy anything it doesn’t understand. As Weaver, Larson is negligible. Perhaps, it’s Vogt-Roberts’ way of remaining true to the original story where a woman must bond with Kong. Hiddleston, who will lure many a woman to the film, is given only a single inexplicable moment to shine that begins as strangely as it ends and involves slicing up carnivorous birds amid a poisonous fog.
Kong: Skull Island may be disappointing to those who want more from a monster movie. But this film’s makers have another chance to up their game with the 2020 release that promises a Kong and Godzilla showdown.
