An Entertaining, If Familiar, Ride

Rating: 7/10 (22 March 2017)

This is my first IMDb review. Thought I should mention that.
Anyway, I recently saw Kong: Skull Island at the cinema, and in hindsight, I'm happy to say it was everything I expected. No better, but thankfully no worse.
I was a little apprehensive going into film, having seen some less than favourable reviews. The bulk of these reviews seemed to centre on how the characters were bland and poorly written, something that initially surprised me, mainly because of the huge talents involved. In regards to these complaints, I mostly agree. The characters aren't necessarily boring or uncompelling, they just don't go through any real arcs.
The main cast is led by Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson, both of which have really broken onto the Hollywood scene in the last couple of years. Hiddleston's character, James Conrad, is a mass of bravado and charisma, something that seems fit for this sort of action movie, but wears thin fairly quickly. Larson is a little more tolerable, but again, her character, Mason Weaver, is only relatable because such a talented actress is portraying her. She's introduced as an anti-war photographer, and that's all she spends the film doing; taking photos.
The talent involved doesn't stop there either. The always entertaining Sam L. Jackson plays Preston Packard, a decorated Vietnam veteran who seems to relish war, and is probably the most interesting character in the film, purely because he builds a vendetta against the titular beast. Jackson is as watchable as ever, but has considerably less screen-time than I was expecting. The same can be said for John Goodman. As Bill Randa, a scientist working for Monarch, who's later revealed to have suspected Kong's existence all along, Randa fades into the background of most scenes, even to the extent where I actually forgot his character was still alive. However, he does suffer a pretty memorable, if premature, death scene, so there's that going for him.
The cast is rounded out by Corey Hawkins, Jing Tian and John Ortiz as Randa's fellow Monarch scientists, and Toby Kebbell, Jason Mitchell, Thomas Mann, Shea Whigham and Eugene Cordero as members of Packard's squad. Even Richard Jenkins has a cameo in the first five minutes. Then there's John C. Reilly, as Hank Marlow, a WWII fighter pilot who crashed on Skull Island in the 1940's and has been stuck there ever since. He brings his typical comedic timing to the film, even though a few lines of his aren't as funny as the writers clearly thought they were.
So to the plot; in 1973, Monarch receive satellite photos of an uncharted island in the South Pacific. So, spurred on by an apparent race with Russia to discover the island first, a ragtag team is assembled to explore the island. Kong shows up pretty quickly, and things predictably go awry.
I don't want to give a full rundown of the plot, so I'll try and skim through it pretty quickly. About two thirds of the cast die. Periodically, the group are attacked by 'Skull-Crawlers', giant, lizard-like creatures that are apparently responsible for the extinction of Kong's species. They're visually impressive, and creatively designed.
For a film that's rated PG-13 (12A in the UK), I'm sure it came close to pushing that rating. In terms of profanity, "sh*t" is uttered anywhere between 5 and 10 times, and I counted 2 and a half F-bombs (one from Reilly, one from Larson, Jackson is cut off midway through his seemingly customary "Motherf*cker"). But it's the violence that really pushes this film. Not only is the opening Kong vs. Helicopter scene (probably the most impressive scene in the movie) extensive and full of PG-13 violence, but it continues from there on. Goodman's Randa is devoured by a Skull-Crawler, Ortiz' Victor Nieves is literally torn apart by a group of Pterodactyl-like creatures, and an unnamed soldier is impaled through the mouth by a giant spider. Kong also kills the final Skull-Crawler by literally putting his arm down the creatures throat and pulling it's innards out of it's mouth. Grim, I know.
Altogether, if I remember correctly, Hiddleston, Larson, Reilly, Hawkins, Tian, Mitchell, Mann and Reilly survive the ordeal.
However, I don't really believe any of this really hindered Skull Island. While some of the action scenes feel like they go on for a little too long, they're visually stunning, and Kong looks superb, far more monstrous that the Peter Jackson/Andy Serkis collaboration. The action is shot fantastically, although slow-motion feels a little over-used.
In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed Kong: Skull Island. It was everything I expected, but in a good way; It's not exactly an Oscar-worthy production (except maybe visual effects), but it was a fun thrill-ride and certainly worth your time if you're a fan of the genre. I see a big future for relatively unknown director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who is probably sold a little bit short; the film is well directed, the faults ultimately fall upon the writers.
Pros: Stunning Visuals Talented Actors Just About Save Poorly Written Characters Sense of Humour Soundtrack Pacing
Cons: Poorly Written Characters Extensive Violence (not a problem for me, but probably is for others, considering this film is PG-13) Overly-Cliché Script