No Awe, No Characters We Care About

Rating: Null/10 (13 April 2017)

I love a big, dumb monster movie. This is not one.
The 1995 movie "Congo" was 100% better than this. The action was nuts, and the characters were over-the-top clichés, but they were fun.
"Kong: Skull" lacks both characters we care about and a sense of awe.
There's Tom Hiddleston... playing Tom Hiddleston as a lightweight Indiana Jones (we're never given any reason to care for him, apart from the fact that he beats some guys up). There's the girl from "Room," looking lost as a photographer. There's Nucky Thompson's brother, as a faux Vietnam soldier. There's a Chinese actress, who may be the worst case ever of being a token character there to only appease Chinese audiences.
As for the action, maybe I've become jaded with the prevalence of CGI, but... a gigantic gorilla fighting helicopters and skull-monsters should be exciting... but it barely elicits a reaction.
John C. Reilly is the highlight here, and could have fit into "Congo" nicely, but- overall- it's too little too late.
**/*****