A Two-Dimensional Comic Book

Rating: 6/10 (12 March 2017)

Unlike previous instalments which tried to approach the film with a dark and dramatic approach, this film offers more of a campy explosive comic book appeal. Colours pop, camera angles are occasionally edgy, and the acting seems intentionally one step over the "cheesy" line. Unfortunately, the characters and their relationships don't really develop into anything meaningful or worthy of revisiting in a sequel. Written down on paper, they offer nothing that we haven't seen before.
As for the story, there isn't much on offer. It's pretty much the same as usual, a group of intrepid explorers manage to worm their way onto Skull Island where they fall victim to the island's murderous CGI creatures. Unfortunately, the story goes no further than that, other than a few character story lines that wriggle to the surface only to be killed off or muted to make way for another massive CGI fight sequence with excessive explosions and monster-roars.
It isn't as clever or original as the trailers and publicity made it out to be. There isn't much depth or heart to the film, it's just another big blockbuster blow-out that hopes to merge with other big blockbuster blow-outs to make an EVEN BIGGER blockbuster blow-out. I get that. They want money, and that's the only reason this film exists.
Don't get me wrong - despite my less-than flattering review, I didn't think of it as an entirely terrible movie. It kept me fairly entertained from start to finish, purely for the visual style of the movie and the much-appreciated fast-pace. I just hoped for.. a little bit more. I want to actually care about the characters, even the CGI ones, and I want the story to surprise me, to take a direction I wasn't expecting. Unfortunately, I didn't get that with Kong: Skull Island.