I wanna give this Monsterverse a chance.

Rating: 6/10 (7 October 2019)

So apparently they're working on a MonsterVerse, inspired by MCU no doubt, and this is the second installment after 2014's Godzilla. While Kong: Skull Island is eons away from even being on the same level as the weakest of the MCU titles (I'm looking at you The Incredible Hulk), they're faring much better compared to the planned Dark Universe featuring monsters of the smaller kind such as vampires, werewolves and the lot. Depending on who you ask, the first movie is either 2014's Dracula Untold or 2017's The Mummy, both received negative reviews and the latter considered as a box-office dud.
Given that perspective, bear with me as I try to save this 8th movie from the King Kong franchise so we can look forward to 2020's Godzilla vs. King Kong movie. I do remember having seen a Kong movie as a kid, and I'm assuming that it's 1986's King Kong Lives. I may or may have not seen Peter Jackson's King Kong in 2005 but I'll be sure to remember having seen this version years from now. Not that it's a testament to the movie's quality, but more of because I want to give their planned multiverse a chance.
Starring Loki, Nick Fury and Captain Marvel, I mean Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson and Brie Larson, along with other heavily armed men, they set out for an island that had a way of keeping itself away from the world's prying eyes, and they start bombing it even before they landed and as expected all hell breaks loose when they face a young Kong and puts them in their place early on. But humans being the idiots that we are, goes after it even as they're told Kong is protecting them from other monsters lurking within the island. With natural selection taking its course (thankfully), the heroes live to see another day until they go on to their next expedition.
Almost everything in the movie was done by the numbers. I tried to guess what was gonna happen next, especially at the beginning and I got most of it correct. Cue the handsome lead playing pool in a bar. Cue the rock music. Cue the ride into sunset shot. Cue the guitar riffs. Cue the suspicious female lead. Cue Samuel L. Jackson spouting out expletives. While it's predictability was annoying (I can still tell the difference between an homage and lazy writing so don't @ me), there were some really cool shots, one being the close-up of Samuel L. Jackson's eyes then fading into Kong's. The fight scenes and effects were believable enough to keep you on the edge of your seats and the island itself and it's mystery is akin to when we first stepped inside Jurassic Park. Also of note is the director's vision on how to differentiate his Kong from the others before it: it's still in its adolescent years and was left to fend for itself surrounded by the creatures that killed it's parents shortly after it was born. Making something mysterious relatable and accessible was a brilliant move and should bode well for the franchise as we head on to the next installments about beasts we only know we should be afraid of.