Kong: Skull Island - Review Thread

Worse than Interstellar?

Just wait til they get to Jet Jaguar...

Pretty sure that Gypsy Danger doesn't have a theme song nearly this dope...

I'd rather see Ultraman show up than Jet Jaguar.  The Science Patrol can be a division of Monarch.

Warner Bros. is the studio producing the film adaptation of the novel Ready Player One, in addition to Kong and Godzilla.  If WB hasn't already acquired the license to use Ultraman, I'll be very disappointed indeed.  Ready Player One without Ultraman would be just plain wrong.

Why is Serenity on that cover?

For the same reason the DeLorean Time Machine, Mecha-Godzilla, Ultraman and a Rush T-shirt are.  They feature prominently in the book.

The vast majority of the pop culture references are from the 80's, but not all.  There are a number of 70's references, due to the large amount of 70's re-runs that kids from the 80's grew up with.  The amount of call backs to anything after the 80's are few and far between, but Firefly is one of them.  

Not until March 30, 2018.  

The same way Godzilla can be lost with air support and modern satellite technology - magic.

The original King Kong is one of the few "monster" movies, like Jaws and the original Frankenstein, that not only was released to critical acclaim and box office glory in 1933, but also has maintained a strong legacy since. King Kong climbing the Empire State Building is one of the most iconic images in cinematic history, and even aside from the special effects work was revered for boasting an intriguing storyline revolving around Fay Wray's love story with the giant ape and exploring the ideas of man's place in nature. Okay, maybe the original only scratched the surface of these ideas, but they became much more prominent in Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of King Kong, which clocked in at over 3 hours and functioned as a love letter from Jackson to the film that inspired him to become a filmmaker. While Jackson's version was a box office smash and was awarded nearly as much critical acclaim as the 1933 original, the running time proved to be a daunting one for many viewers who were unsatisfied with the amount of time devoted to non-CGI characters and a lack of Kong wreaking big budget havoc on 1933 New York. To be honest, I haven't returned to the film since seeing it in 2005, but I remember being impressed with Jackson's passion for the project and applauded him for not making the film into a pure popcorn flick. But now the studios are taking cinema's most famous primate and turning his story into just that, moving the story solely to Skull Island and letting Kong go, ahem, "ape shit". While Kong: Skull Island doesn't boast the storytelling or even attempt at exploring the themes that Merian C. Cooper or Peter Jackson did in their versions, Kong: Skull Island makes up for it by being a highly entertaining, self-aware, monster mayhem popcorn show that doesn't disappoint.

The film takes place in 1973 following the end of the Vietnam War. While most are finally pulling out of the South Pacific and heading home, Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) is dismayed at the news of surrender (though he won't call it that) and sees his purpose in life dwindling. Fortunately for him, a small team of scientists led by Bill Randa (John Goodman) are leading an expedition towards an unchartered area of land that has functioned like the Bermuda Triangle after numerous ships have been lost to the area. Along for the ride are an anti-war photographer (Brie Larson) and a British special forces agent (Tom Hiddleston), none of whom really know what to expect but revel at the idea of setting foot on an unexplored piece of land. Not long after landing on Skull Island, Kong appears and wipes out most of the group out of a reaction to the military bombing the island. Now stranded on Skull Island and three days away from helicopter rescue, the remaining survivors are put through a Jurassic Park-esque trial of attempting to survive amidst massive monsters. Later the group runs into a World War II pilot (John C. Reilly) who has been stranded on Skull Island for 30 years and has a lay on the land. Despite wiping out most of the crew, Kong is actually the good guy on the island and the only thing standing between the natives on Skull Island and a group of nasty lizards (hmmm, Kong's natural enemies are lizards, I wonder if they're trying to set something up here...). Packard will hear none of this as he clings to his archetype Vietnam mentality, and he seeks revenge against Kong while the others hope for his protection. That's essentially it to the plot and for the most part the characters as well. No one is really uninteresting or interesting, and the definite star power of the lead roles really helps the film shore up this issue. Despite not getting much to work in backstory save for Reilly's character, the screenplay does offer a lot of one-liners and zippy banter that the stars have no issue firing off to keep everything interesting.

In the end though, Kong: Skull Island thrives where 2014's Godzilla miserably failed. Kong is on full display throughout the film and armed with a multitude of ways to entertain whether it's smashing helicopters or wrestling giant lizards or strangling and then eating giant squids. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't have a blast watching the CGI leading man kicking ass, and despite the breakneck pace of the film and hardly any let up in thrills for story or character development, the action never gets tiresome. In addition to the fun fight sequences, I also came away very impressed by the film's technical prowess. Yes, we should expect a film like this to flex its SFX muscles, but even after the achievements of Jackson's 2005 film the work done here should be mentioned. Kong looks absolutely fantastic and is riddled with excellent detail and life. The cuts on his hands, the wrinkles on his face, the gentle sway of his hair all are phenomenal to look at and should merit some Oscar consideration way down the line. I was also very impressed with the fun set pieces put together, notably when they trek into a sort of giant ape graveyard. There's a nice balance of CGI and practical effects and set design, and it really pays off here. Skull Island fortunately has a lot of variety to it and has much more to offer than jungle. The film also is unabashed on being highly stylized, but I thought it worked nicely. Scenes like Tom Hiddleston donning a gas mask and cutting down creatures in slow-motion under a plethora of color and smoke is pure eye candy, but the film embraces the over-the-top element of its premise and in doing so works very well. The film isn't afraid to say "of course it's ridiculous, it's a King Kong movie!" and as a result doesn't attempt to be anything it isn't. And that's fine with me, because the editing and cinematography here embrace the fun as well to great effect. It never got old seeing Kong silhouetted against the sun set or fiery bombs. 2014's Godzilla was pure tease, Kong: Skull Island is pure, unabashed spectacle and a much better film because of it. Yes, the story and characters are flimsy and maybe only work on even a surface level because of the big actors playing the roles, but that should certainly not diminish the impressive technical prowess and truly creative sequences provided here.

Kong: Skull Island is exactly what we can expect from a monster movie. It's thrilling, bold, funny, and pure, pure spectacle. It never attempts to push the film or niche genre towards the ideas that Cooper and Jackson did to make Kong and their respective films more than just a giant beast destroying things. Is this a better film than those? No, but then again it's not setting out to be either. Kong: Skull Island may be pure popcorn fare, but by embracing this and not making middling attempts at being anything else the film succeeds in its goals swimmingly. Yes, the film never really utilizes its time period very well and resorts to a dull, stock soundtrack to attempt to snap us into the 70s, and yes the characters are pure stock and we could care less if they get picked off or not (and they do). But dammit if Kong: Skull Island isn't a visual feast that takes careful consideration to not let the action or sets become redundant. We can point to things all we want, but in the end we see a King Kong movie for, well, Kong himself. And this film delivers the goods at a ferocious pace. It might not be summer yet, but movies like Kong: Skull Island sure make it feel like it is.

7/10

Gypsy Danger looks more like a subtle homage to 1980's Tetsujin 28(Gigantor).