Kong: Skull Island is a serviceable checklist summer blockbuster in March:
Good looking leads? Check.
CGI Spectacle/Action? Check.
Cartoonishly line delivering bad guy? Check.
Franchise Building? Check.
Kong: Skull Island completely reinvents the wheel, but that wheel is mighty fun, so who cares, right?
The twist here is that the movie takes place during the Vietnam War era. Bill Randa (John Goodman) and Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins), representatives of the Monarch group, obtain funding to investigate Skull Island, an uncharted island in the South Pacific to see what’s been going on there. They recruit several Marines (Thomas Mann, Shea Whigham, Jason Mitchell, Toby Kebbell) led by war hawk Preston Packer (Samuel L. Jackson), a geologist (Tian Jing), an award winning photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) and a star British jungle tracker (Tom Hiddleston). Like the title suggests, a certain gigantic ape lays in wait and easily destroys the military convoy, blinding Packer with rage. However, downed WWII pilot Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly) has been living on the island for decades, and provides insight to the group that Kong might be the least of the convoy’s problems.
I forgot all of the names of the characters, but in reality they could have all just been called by their profession. Everyone is given one note to play since the monster is the star, so likability of the actor is what the movie is relying on. Fortunately, the cast is filled with likable people. Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, and John Goodman are always charming. Samuel L. Jackson oozes charisma, and he gets to add another killer line to his sterling resume; the marines are pretty interchangeable, but at least they get the funnier lines and a note to play instead of just “following orders” people. John C. Reilly is by far the most interesting and biggest surprise: the trailers make him seem so kooky that I was prepared to hate him when he came onscreen, but Reilly dials back the kookiness just enough to humanize this guy who’s been basically alone for twenty years. The biggest “character” improvement Kong: Skull Island makes is in portraying the natives on the island; in this movie, they are treated as equals and portrayed as reverent of their surroundings. Progress!
But clearly King Kong (Kebbell) is the draw here. This Kong looks grizzlier: there’s multiple shots of blood or scratches on the ape, but when seeing Brie Larson, there’s enough humanity to remind me of Caesar from the Planet of the Apes movies. It’s not attraction per se, but curiosity, which works for this movie. The jungle setting helps a lot, as watching the ape in his element usually provides the best material for the Kong movies, as you can hide him well or have him fight an octopus in the water (that was cool). The battles with the helicopters are quite enjoyable, with explosions and creative deaths abounding. The movie then sets up Kong as the alpha fighting other gigantic beasts. Sadly these lizards are too generically scary to leave a lasting impression. The thing I remember most is the tongue (which admittedly, does pay off with the final battle), but the size/scope changing from human to small lizard to big lizard to Kong made it hard to see how much of a threat one creature/person was to another.
Kong: Skull Island is a solid start of something (the end credits make this clear). If the films are going to go with this formula of talented cast with one liners and heroism surround a beast who fights other beasts, then so be it. Harmlessly fun entertainment can provide some sun on a rainy day, just like Tom Hiddleston’s eyes.