good monster action

Rating: 7/10 (5 September 2017)

It's 1973. Bill Randa (John Goodman) convinces a senator to fund his expedition to an unexplored island with expert tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) and documentarian Mason Weaver (Brie Larson). Bill hires Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) and his soldiers who are finished with the war. They are flying helicopters dropping explosive charges to map the island when Kong shows up to bring them down. Some of the survivors encounter natives and Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly) who crashed during WWII.
There are some good monster action. The characters are mostly one-dimensional. The start is a bit meandering. It's thirty minutes before getting to the island. Fifteen minutes is plenty. I don't care about Randa's backstory or the political backdrop of the situation. John C. Reilly is off trying to do comedy by himself. Kong lacks the needed humanity. The best is the monster action and Kong fits well in that aspect. The giant spider is amazing creepiness. The movie needs more of those types of thrills. This is an old-fashion monster movie with state of the art effects.