Fun pulpy rock-n-roll adventure

Rating: Null/10 (15 December 2018)

Vietnam War is nearing its end and the US forces are slowly withdrawing from the Pacific. But then a satellite reveals an uncharted island, surrounded by eternal storms and hazardous waters. An island shaped like a skull.
Kong: Skull Island is just about what it needs to be. What I mean by that is that it is honest. It is a trashy B-flick straight from the pages of pulp magazines. It has it all, from Vietnam War filled with bloodhungry soldiers to giant apes to dinosaurs to a tribe of painted savages to primordial monsters. It has a jaunty soundtrack, some cool special effects, one-liners, gory deaths and enough action scenes to make your blood pressure shoot for the stratosphere.
And if you can go in with those kinds of expectations, it's exactly the film you're looking for. But if you go in looking for anything else, you'll end up leaving disappointed. Because while this film has some big names, from Samuel L. Jackson to Tom Hiddleston, it is not a well-acted film. Not at all. Sure Jackson and Hiddleston are probably two of the most entertaining performances, but even they cannot forge diamonds out of something like this. And they shouldn't need to.
Furthermore, the monsters. aside from Kong, have really lazy designs, the natives are just a bit cringy and there are perhaps one or two too many characters for the maximum effectiveness and screen-time.
Still, I did like it. Is it trash? Most certainly, but it is entertaining trash with great style and enough tongue-in-cheek to make it forgivable. Recommended for all fans of the pulp genre.