My latest guilty pleasure film

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2017)

Okay, so I'll start by saying that 'Kong: Skull Island' is hardly high-brow entertainment. It's mass marketed nonsense aimed at the lowest comment denominator. I guess I would have to include myself in that bracket, because I thoroughly enjoyed it! We'll ignore Peter Jackson's recently take on the 'King Kong' story, as it bears no relevance here. Instead, back in 1973 the U.S. government discover an island that's remained hidden throughout the years and decide to send in a team to investigate. We're treated to a brief introduction to all the major players and a quick briefing on board the battleship which reminded me of something out of 'Aliens.' And, while we're on the subject of 'Aliens' Ripley would be most proud about the way the military starts dropping bombs all over the island (with a view to 'study' it – no, seriously). So, while helicopters do their best to 'nuke the site from orbit' one of the island's indigenous occupants – an oversize monkey – doesn't take kindly to this course of action and takes down every last one of them, leaving those few survivors not blown up in the massacre to do their best to make their way across the island to the pick-up point before something even worse happens to them.
Now, it's not just enraged monkeys who they have to worry about. They have natives, giant spiders and horrible lizard-things who live underground to contend with. And they soon realise that Kong is the least of their problems! I'm lead to believe that this will be the first in a line of these movies, some even crossing Kong over with other existing franchises ('Godzilla' anyone?) so naturally Kong is – justifiably – the star. However, this does mean that some of the humans are kind of left in the background a bit. It does try to handle quite a large cast and not all of them get the screen time they deserve.
Arguably the film's (human) star is Tom Hiddleston. He's basically everything you'd expect a fantasy/action film's leading man to look like. And, as anyone who's seen him in action as Loki in any of the Marvel films, you'll know he's got the screen presence to pull off the leading man role. And, I'm sure he can. He just never really gets the chance here. It just feels like he never gets a true chance to shine as there are so many other people to also feature that he's only there to look manly and give us a possible hint at a romance with the obligatory female co-star. Of course when you also have Samuel L Jackson among the cast, you really need to give him something to do as you don't want to run the risk of wasting acting talent like his. And, to be fair, he does his best with all the screen time he's afforded and the 'stare-down' between him and Kong is truly chilling. John C Reilly is also worthy of a mention, simply because he balances some much-needed humour with a role that allows him to be more than just the standard 'comic relief.' Now, with any film where there's a strong element of danger in it, you expect there to be a bunch of cast members who are there only to make up the numbers and will be routinely killed off at various points in the film. 'Kong: Skull Island' certainly has plenty of these and – yes – most end up in the belly of a giant arachnid or something. However – without wishing to spoil anything – a few of them make it further into the film than you'd imagine. They're given next to no screen time, yet they last longer than characters you've grown closer to. Of course all human stars play second fiddle to the 'real' star of the show – the titular character 'Kong' himself, who is looking pretty good for his age! In other words the computer effects used to bring him to life are realistic enough to give him more than just your standard CGI monster. And, isn't he the real reason we're going to watch this film? If there is a down-point it's that it's a little long and some scenes seem a bit drawn out. Plus, when Kong smacks down on other CGI creatures, the effects do blur together a bit into one fast-moving mess (but at least it's still not as bad as any of the Transformers movies!). However, if you're expecting a popcorn flick which, despite hardly re-inventing the wheel as far as plot and character development go, you should get some enjoyment in seeing Kong battle it out against all manner of human and monster foe. It's not meant to be a great work of art, so please forgive it its failing and enjoy it for what it is. Let's just hope that whatever sequels and crossovers its success spawns don't dip in quality too much (Transformers, I'm thinking of you again!).