Monkey no good!

Rating: 4/10 (14 March 2017)

Kong of Skull Island is a movie about some soldiers and some government officials and a tracker and a photographer who go to a strange island and meet giant creatures. Most the creatures are neutral - some are evil - but one is a good creature and his name is none other than King Kong. The classic movie monster of the ages. In a reboot. Again.
The soldiers decide they want to kill King Kong - basically because their commander is angry that the Vietnam war is over and now he sees a new enemy. After all - the war can never end in his mind. So this commander - and his soldiers - set forth a series of events that will sew the seeds of their own destruction as they go to war with Kong.
But - the tracker and the photographer meet a slew of interesting tribal folk and they soon learn that Kong is like a force of nature - his existence must be protected or else evil creatures will rise from the decay of the Earth to unleash destruction. They choose to help Kong.
The plot sounds cooler than the movie unfolds. The main problem is that the CGI battles start big and this never gives the movie a chance to reach a climax. Kong fight man. Kong fight squid. Kong fight giant lizard. Kong help ox. Kong help woman. Kong love woman. End.
Also - the commander who battles Kong is played by Samuel L Jackson who basically becomes a parody of himself. It's as if the director said, "Can we just have Samuel L Jackson versus King Kong - and say everything cool that Samuel L Jackson would say?" To me - that is a parody that steals a lot from what could have been a great character.
This is basically just a dumb American video game that rips off a lot of script and crossroads moments from other successful war films. There is never any time to emotionally bond with King Kong - or anyone else in the movie - so it's all action and no story.
There was a giant spider that was creepy. I almost wish this movie had been about people who crash on an island full of giant spiders.