If you want to investigate an island, make sure its 'king' doesn't mind

Rating: 8/10 (12 June 2017)

Hollywood's first truly successful 'creature feature' was undeniably the 1933 classic 'King Kong'. The movie was remade both in 1976, and again in 2005 with the big budget Peter Jackson directed version. Well, Kong is back. This time though, it's thankfully not another remake. 'Kong: Skull Island' sees the great ape on his own turf and he, as king, will defend the island and himself from any outsiders. The 'outsiders' in this case are a group of scientists and soldiers who set out to investigate an uncharted island, called 'Skull Island'. The movie opens at the latter part of the Second World War, and we see a couple of American and Japanese fighter pilots, who are forced to parachute onto an island in the South Pacific and carry on their fight until they are suddenly interrupted (in, what is, an impressive introduction to our titular character). As the opening credits roll we are skipped through time until the mid-seventies and we see the American troop withdrawal from Vietnam. Bill Randa, played by John Goodman, is a scorned government agent who has always maintained there are undiscovered 'creatures' out there, and once he learns of this uncharted island, he is adamant it could hold the proof he needs. Along with a couple of government scientist who want to map the island, he recruits James Conrad, an expert tracker and former British Serviceman (Tom Hiddleston), a photojournalist Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), and a group of young soldiers fresh out of fighting in the Vietnam war led by tough Colonel, Preston Packard, played by Samuel L. Jackson. As the helicopters breech the continuous storm surrounding the island and drop map-reading bombs down, the mighty ape Kong sets about smashing the helicopters out of the sky. Separated, the survivors of the crashed helicopters must reunite in order to get to the rescue spot. Along the way they come across Hank Marlow, an American airman who has been stranded on the island since 1944 (yes, the airman from the opening of the movie) who agrees to help. But with Packard now out for revenge against Kong for killing most of his men and the fact that Kong is not the only giant creature on the island they find their escape much harder than they thought. This movie is visually incredible, and the scenes the helicopters arrival over the island, Kong and ripping them apart (literally) and when he is stood in silhouette against the setting sun are fantastic. It contains all you'd expect from a big monster movie, a great cast, exciting action scenes and a fantastic 'monster'. Samuel L. Jackson's character 'Packard', is so consumed by rage over the death of the soldiers under his command, that his determination to exact revenge actually makes him the real villain of the movie. Conrad, Weaver and Marlow know that Kong is just defending himself and his own island home, and is not the 'monster' Packard believes he is and there is a nice moment when Weaver attempts to 'connect' with the ape in order to gain his trust and make him understand they are not all there to hurt him. Do not expect a 'Fay Wray damsel-in-distress' type of relationship between Weaver and Kong though, which is actually a relief and I genuinely don't think it would have worked in this movie. The director has definitely set out to make a great movie here, and with easily noticeable references to toward Apocalypse Now (it actually feels like he has tried to make a Vietnam War film crossed with the monster movie genre). The CGI and motion-capture Kong is incredible, and actually quite believable (but I will maintain that the ape we saw in Peter Jackson's 2005 movie was far better). The cinematography is very impressive and the story works very well. What lets this film down dramatically though is the script, and you never find yourself caring about any of the human characters. There is hardly any chance to get to know, or connect with, most of the characters before they are killed off. The only two characters that genuinely stood-out for me were Packard, and Marlow (played brilliantly by John C. Reilly). Jackson as always is terrific and John C. Reilly's performance of the castaway airman Marlow just steals every scene he's in. He has some of the funniest lines too. Unfortunately Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson, both great actors, aren't given enough to do here to really make an impact, and John Goodman's character is killed off so quickly, that his early scenes battling for belief and co-operation from his bosses seemed a waste of time. This film doesn't pull any punches in its violence, and there are a couple of deaths that happen that were pretty gruesome. However, having said that, most of the violence is similar in style to that of Jurassic Park – gruesome and cruel, but more fun than horrific. There is a post-credit scene that sets the groundwork for the forthcoming merge of the 'monster-verse', with a new Godzilla film and even a 'Godzilla vs. Kong' movie in the works. Apart from obviously milking the franchises for all the dollars they can earn, I don't understand the Hollywood's obsession with merging various 'universes' of movies. Scenes in the recent 'Mummy' remake with Tom Cruise, scream out that is has been made as an introductory movie to a new franchise of horror 'monsters' (Dracula, The Invisible Man and Jekyll & Hyde). It has been 12 years since the last 'Kong Kong' film, and I personally believe that this could have been better. Kong doesn't need to have his own franchise 'universe'. This could have been a spectacular stand-alone movie but it was hampered by undeveloped characters and a weak script. Despite this though, 'Kong: Skull Island' is a good and entertaining film. Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts has set out to bring a visually spectacular and thrilling monster movie to the screens, and he has definitely delivered.