For action and excitement, KONG does not disappoint

Rating: Null/10 (22 June 2017)

Merian C. Cooper and company tapped into something special with the original KING KONG (1933), captivating audiences with a fairly simple adventure fantasy (humans explore an undocumented island full of giant prehistoric monsters, and then bring one of the creatures back to modern civilization) and state-of-the-art cinematic special effects. But the story continues to resonate with moviegoers, through updates and retellings, out of a sympathy for Kong, the wild animal who fights dinosaurs at home, but is out of his depths in man's world.
The 1976 remake of KING KONG set the familiar events in the (then-)modern world, with shady oil corporations and environmentalists. In 2005, LORD OF THE RINGS helmer Peter Jackson retold Kong's story using the latest special effects technology, setting the three-hour epic during the original 1930s time period (and especially emphasizing Kong's emotional connection with Naomi Watts's would-be damsel in distress).
Over a decade later, KONG: SKULL ISLAND (2017) brings the giant gorilla back to the screen for a new generation, and a new blockbuster franchise. As the title suggests, the film is all about Kong's homeland of Skull Island. The film doesn't follow in the footsteps of prior iterations, as it positions Kong as a character who can appear in future sequels and spin-offs (facing off against other giant movie monsters from the Godzilla family of films).
Like the 1976 film, SKULL ISLAND updates the Kong story from the old-timey 1930s, placing the events in the retro 1970s. Specifically 1973, at the close of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Exploring the unexplored island is John Goodman, a monster hunter supposedly (and secretly) working on behalf of the U.S. government's Cold War interests (find the monster before the Russians do!) and accompanied by Samuel L. Jackson's helicopter squadron, fresh off their tour in Vietnam and ready to head home. Also along for the ride are Tom Hiddleston, an expert tracker to get the team through the jungle; Brie Larson, an anti-war photojournalist; and assorted scientists and technicians.
There's tension among the crew even before they encounter the skyscraper-sized gorilla. Military man Jackson and anti-war Larson don't see eye to eye, the scientists stick their noses up at the soldiers, and Goodman's urgency to find his monster puts him at odds with the better judgment of those who'd abort the expedition due to hellacious weather conditions. Once he witnesses Kong's destruction, Jackson, bitter about the outcome in Vietnam (a war that wasn't "lost", but "abandoned"), focuses his entire being on destroying his hairy nemesis (an unpopular agenda among survivors keen on escaping the island with lives and limbs intact).
Worries of the sympathetic creature in Peter Jackson's 2005 film having been truly recast as a hellish "monster", a terrible force of nature, may persist after the horror of Kong's first encounter with the helicopter squadron. But, new direction and all, SKULL ISLAND makes sure to hit upon the beats of the winning King Kong formula.
As is tradition, a tribe of natives inhabits the island. But this time there are no ritualistic sacrifices at the altar of Kong. In this version, the natives worship Kong as their protector, for it is the great Kong who keeps the nasty "skull-walker" reptiles at bay and fights off the other Skull Island beasties. John C. Reilly plays a marooned WWII pilot who's been living among the Skull Islanders for twenty-eight years and can explain things to the wandering survivors.
In this way, Kong is softened a little. He's merely protecting his territory from invaders. And in the grand scheme of things, Kong fights on the humans' side, or at least provides necessary opposition to the man-eating terrors that await in the jungles of Skull Island. Kong is no real threat unless provoked, and the humans need Kong on their side if they hope to survive.
There's even a hint of Kong's famous weakness for pretty girls, in a scene where the savage Kong is tamed, if only for a second, by the beauty and kindness of Brie Larson. SKULL ISLAND eschews the damsel-in-distress story-line, but pays homage to the connection between "beauty" and "the beast".
SKULL ISLAND is packed with action and terror. Besides Kong batting helicopters out of the air and stomping on fleeing personnel, there are the giant bone-chomping reptiles, vicious pterosaurs, towering spiders, and other unknown dangers threatening the scattered crew. Viewers never know what might happen. People die in a multitude of horrible ways. Survival until the final credits is certainly not assured, and the film builds on its tension with some clever match cuts.
One particularly tense scene makes inventive use of a malfunctioning camera flash to track a creature through the fog, and another scene subverts an expected act of heroism. The action scenes throughout the film are exciting, and make for a fun trip to the movies.
Samuel L. Jackson is scary as a slightly unhinged general hell-bent on avenging the deaths of his men. John C. Reilly steals the show as only he can, combining his signature brand of crazy with the film's moral center. Hiddleston and Larson are good, too, but despite little character moments, the main soldiers remain forgettable monster fodder.
The quasi-modern update is welcome and refreshing dressing for the bones of the adventure plot, with the Vietnam conflict right in the rear-view mirror and the Cold War context. The technology is modern-ish, but pre-digital (to keep things interesting), and the period rock music played by the soldiers is still popular today.
King Kong purists may miss the Empire State Building, but for the purposes of the new Kong-Godzilla shared movie franchise, SKULL ISLAND's narrower focus seems appropriate, and this latest version of Kong manages to take a new approach to the mythos while honoring its legacy. This new Kong is still Kong, and maybe audiences will soon get to see this protector of mankind step in against other famous larger-than-life creatures.