The movie exists....and that's about it.

Rating: 4/10 (9 March 2017)

If you want a popcorn flick, then yeah, this is alright. Have fun. I wanted a King Kong movie however and this is where it failed.
The King Kong films are what make up a big part of my childhood. I watched the hell out of them and loved them - being the 1933, 1976 and 2005 versions. When I heard they were making this, I asked "why so soon?" and "what will they ruin?".
Firstly, here's how I see the other major Kong films. I love the original, it's one of my favorite films. I have a soft spot for the '76 one even though it wasn't as good and I love Peter Jackson's '05 version, which was almost as good as the original and also one of my favorite films. Each film served a masterclass in the visual effects for its time period, being (in order), stop motion, animatronics and CGI.
Now we get to Kong: Skull Island, a movie that really doesn't offer anything new or anything great. It kinda happens and then has a fart of an ending.
Acting - Everyone was good in their roles. Nobody stood out. John C. Reilly was good. S.L.Jackson was good. Tom Hiddleston was good. Brie Larson was good. John Goodman showed up. Nothing fantastic or deserving of applause. They were just people on a screen.
Story - It's a reboot of the franchise, set in the 70s. It's still pretty much the same story of survival and stuff, but nothing to do with romance or capturing Kong. It was bland and is really just there so the popcorn action can happen.
Writing - Nothing special. There were some good lines for S.L.Jackson and John C. Reilly. Everybody else had maybe one okay line but the rest was exposition or nothing interesting. The pace felt off. There were slow moments where nothing was happening (including a lot of missed opportunities to develop some of the other characters) and then it kicked straight into action and then action again and then slow and then 5 seconds of action and then slow. It wasn't a quick 2 hour film. It just felt like it's exact 2 hour run-time. And the ending just happened. I was honestly shocked at how quickly they ended the movie. It was garbage because they couldn't end it well like the other Kong films because they have to leave it open for what will be the abominations known as the Kong vs Godzilla film.
Action/Effects - Yeah, it was pretty good, nothing we haven't seen before in the other recent garbage/average monster movies like Godzilla and Pacific Rim respectively. But just like the story, the action kinda just happens. Most of the characters are barely developed so there's really no tension when people are about to die, especially when you can pin-point who'll make it through to the final action sequences based on screen-time. There's some cool moments where Kong gets to be awesome and become a force of reckoning. The bad monsters are kinda lackluster though except for the final one that actually puts up a fight. There's no choppy editing (and there shouldn't be anyway if nearly everything is CGI) so everything is easy to watch and the action sequences don't get entirely frustrating to follow.
Cinematography - There's a lot of cool shots that really show how massive and intimidating Kong is, especially when shown full size next to humans. There's some good shots utilizing silhouettes. Whenever you see the sun though, it's color and position is that of the sun setting but always seems to return to the middle of the day when it cuts back to the characters which I found distracting/weird.
Music/Sound - It's the early 70's, so when they play songs from the 60's and 70's, it's awesome although they are often drowned out way too quickly to be appreciated. As for the original soundtrack, it's whatever. Barely noticeable. Doesn't even have to be there. Action sequences sound punchy however, which is good, and it all blends together to become this chaotic cacophony of violent sounds.
Kong: Skull Island was disappointing for me as a massive King Kong fan. It's an average movie at best and not much better as just a blockbuster action film. Out of this and Godzilla (2014), I'd easily say this was better than that pile of turd because even though it's characters/story weren't great, they had a lot of scenes of Kong kicking ass and that was pretty cool. Jokes, like in a Marvel film, were plentiful, and just like in a Marvel film, some were a hit, most were a miss.
Overall, if you're going to watch this film, might as well be on the big screen where it belongs. Otherwise, it'll be pretty crappy on a small screen. I won't be going to watch this again at the cinemas and I won't be going out to buy the DVD to add it to my other Kong films. The movie is okay. It could have been better.
But as for now 6/10. Go watch the other 3, infinitely better versions. Peter Jackson had respect for the original when he made his 2005 version. This was just a cash grab. If they were trying to be respectful of the property in this movie, I didn't see it.
Next stop, putting Kong into a film with a boring Godzilla. Man, I'm sure that's gonna be a blast and totally not bastardize the King Kong name. I couldn't care less about Godzilla, but I really hate that they're dragging Kong into this poop storm again.