"That is one ugly-ass bird!"

Rating: 3/10 (10 February 2020)

It is 1972, and American forces are beginning to withdraw from Vietnam. In the words of Lieutenant Colonel Packard (Samuel L. Jackson), America has "abandoned" the war, not "lost" it. This is a perfect opportunity for government scientist Bill Randa (John Goodman) to get the funding and man-power that he needs to discover and explore Skull Island, an uncharted and legendary island somewhere in the Pacific. Packard and his men are assigned the task of bringing the expedition via helicopter to the island, while Randa also recruits a former SAS soldier with a speciality in tracking and map-reading to come along. When they get there, they discover that the island is home and ruled by a giant ape named Kong.
This is no Peter Jackson Kong. I'm a fan of his 2005 remake of the 1930s classic. Skull island in Jackson's film was a grim place full of shadowy peril and brilliant looking monsters. Skull island in this 2017 version looks more like a holiday brochure. The monsters are poor. The only thing it has going for it is Kong himself, who looks incredible, and was the only enjoyable thing about this film. Everything else is atrocious. The actors cant do a lot with the thin script they are given, and the action and gung-ho heroics become repetitive before long.