Kong Roars in Skull Island

Rating: 8/10 (13 March 2017)

King Kong is one of those movies that periodically gets remade. The same theme is central to every King Kong film: beauty tames the savage beast. However, that aspect is just subtext in this movie; the main story and themes differ completely from previous variations. The reason for this change is because "Kong: Skull Island" is not another King Kong remake at all. It's a completely different beast that just happens to have King Kong in it (although a Kong that is far larger than your average iteration).
Due to this freedom, "Kong: Skull Island" pursues far more relevant themes than previous Kong movies. The film takes place at the end of the Vietnam war and takes full advantage of that traumatizing time. Within this vehicle, there's subtext on nation building that's fascinating, but the core ideas that this movie explores are the role of the warrior when there is no war, particularly, when they come home defeated. For the most part, the majority are just happy to go home to their families, but far more disturbingly is the soldier looking for the next war.
Into this vacuum steps Samuel L Jackson's Preston Packard. In a movie with lots of solid acting, Jackson standouts. He is a man driven by rage, however, he never acts unreasonably. It's easy to see why he would command a unit and why men follow him. Focused and determined, he pursues his next victory at any cost. At face value, most of his ideas appear insane, but when he speaks his ideas and motivations never seem entirely outlandish. Through this, the movie explores the ideas of what war does to its warriors.
Unabashedly, the movie never neglects the concept that big monsters giving each other a thrashing is awesome. Despite the serious themes this movie explores, it never forgets that it's just a fun monster versus monster beat-em-up B movie. Fortunately, unlike the American "Godzilla" from a couple of years ago, the audience experiences as much action as it could handle. Further, the effects are simply spectacular. None of "The Great Wall"'s green dogs here, more comparable would be the effects from last year's "The Jungle Book". Most the creatures and especially Kong himself look very real.
Sure, there are times where I feel like editing skipped minor story points occasionally making the audience wonder how some characters got from point A to point D, but this is an infrequent occurrence. Also, outside of Preston Packard and Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly is the other big standout in the cast) all the characters are rather underdeveloped. Still all in all, "Kong: Skull Island" is a film far better than it has any right to be.