He's back...only just

Rating: 6/10 (9 March 2017)

This review of Kong: Skull Island is spoiler free
*** (3/5)
LIKE HIS Japanese counterpart, King Kong has entered the world of cinema, left it and been resurrected an uncanny amount of times, however only a few of them explored the inner reaches of his uncharted home the mythical Skull Island. But it's been over a decade since he was last brought to life, and although 2005s King Kong did go to the island it didn't explore it the way we would have liked, it had the plot to find Kong and capture him to show him to the world and then he raided New York, you know it. In Kong: Skull Island we explore the inner reaches of the island, and are constantly threatened by the giant beast, for which Samuel L. Jackson's war-hammered soldier here asks "How big is it? How fast is it? And what it do?"
Of course how big he is and how he is, is obvious to those who are familiar with the monster, his speeds vary through different films. Yet with the advantages of CGI only coming in before 2005s version he went as fast as the computer would take him, although in that version he was played by Andy Serkis in motion capture. Here he's only seen in CGI visuals roaring from sound effects, and looking more dazzlingly like an ape than ever. His facial features looking more real, and his height even more terrifying here he's about the size of other monsters beside him.
This is the second film in Legendary Entertainment's MonsterVerse series; the first was 2014s Godzilla directed by Gareth Edwards, who thanks to his special effects team made the beast look more real than it ever did, but also gave him extra height, it's too hard to imagine how big they'll in their next fight. Although now Kong is noticeably smaller (at around 104 meters) but he's still growing as the film tells us but he can still pack one hell of a punch when he needs to. Were as Godzilla is full sized, he probably has the advantage over the giant ape but we won't know until the next film Godzilla: The King of Monsters comes out. But for now Kong: Skull Island makes its debut reigning supreme on his home turf, where it's dangerous by day but even more dangerous by night, as a lot of the island's inhabitants are there to kill its human invaders. Some more terrifying than others.
Next to Kong, on the island there are some horrific looking beasts with nasty teeth, really quite dinosaur looking, some can fly, some have horns and giant some are creepy crawlers, as the humans soon find out. However they don't help Kong, he isn't the most dangerous, and he's the protector of the island's native human inhabitants. There is something trying to kill him, in addition there is emotional heft to this story, too when it explains that Kong is the last of his kind proving to Jackson's hardened soldier that animals, even giant ones have feelings too, and he has the feeling of anger when the unwanted guests try to destroy his home, there is a gorgeous shot of the primate's fist colliding with the helicopters that he's scared of. Of course he has to be scared of something.
On land, the human invaders recover from the attack here Jackson angrier than ever, decides that Kong is the threat and wants to fight against him, but others try to get him change his mind about the war. The group of men and women include: Tom Huddleston's hardened tracker James Conrad, who hired by Bill Randa (Goodman) explores the island in search for evidence as to why evolution comes to an end, he lists the ways they are going to die on an uncharted island leaving one specific note (the giant monsters). Brie Larson's anti-war photographer Mason Weaver she takes an immediate liking to Kong and wonders why the other creatures want to kill him, and end the human territories on the island. Later, they meet with Hank Marlow (Reilly), a World War II soldier who's been stranded on the island since 1944 he steals the show from the rest of the players. Unfortunately he's the only one with character in the film, the rest of the characters are bland, even a talented actor like Hiddleston is wasted here. Sure he makes a decent impact with his bad-ass moments in a bar fight and sword swinging through dinosaur birds but it's not much.
This is perhaps the main flaw of the film, granted it looks gorgeous but the characters are dreary with a non-characterizing screenplay, yes there are flaws but there goodness here, too, the action is stunning it's the monsters that have the bigger impact, or in Kong's case has the bigger punch. When goes to punch helicopter of the sky it looks gorgeous as he's surrounded by smoke and fire. In the third act the action hits its peak, when he has to fight a giant creature that matches him to save the humans. Despite the horrendous flaws, like the bland screenplay Kong: Skull Island is a jaunty film with goodness and although it's not the best monster film it's still enjoyable, let's see how far he'll go in the future.
VERDICT: King Kong is alive again! Only just, in this derivative, dumb but consistently fun latest addition to the MonsterVerse series. It's just about over the line of Godzilla's strength, but not by much.