Kong: Skull Island

 A retrospective by Forrest Humphrey

The 2014 reboot of “Godzilla” was a success both critically and commercially, and that would soon be followed by a reboot of the only giant monster who rivals ,or perhaps even surpasses, the Big G in prestige and cultural significance: King Kong. Initially a co-production of Legendary and Universal called “Skull Island”, the success of “Godzilla (2014)” prompted a swap from Universal to Warner Bros. in order to facilitate an eventual crossover and expansion of the “Monsterverse”. In 2017, directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and with a hell of a cast in Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman and John C. Reilly we got “Kong: Skull Island”.

Right off the bat, this is my favorite of the “Monsterverse” flicks. The movie plays exactly like a modern day, big budget version of old school monster movies like “The Land that Time Forgot” or “Journey to the Center of the Earth”. Its a glorified B-movie and is unashamed of being so. To that end, the film is extremely silly but also a great time. That also means there's nothing remotely deep or thoughtful about it, whereas Godzilla '14 was at least trying to be a slow burn piece with buildup and suspense. That's either going to sell you on it right away or turn you off.

Our story: Its the 1970's just as the war in Vietnam is winding down. John Goodman plays our representative of Monarch, the monster hunting agency introduced in “Godzilla '14”. Having recently gotten satellite imagery of a mysterious island, he enlists the aid of Samuel L. Jackson as a bitter Colonel and his squad, eager for a little more action before going home. Rounding out our squad are Hiddleston as a tracker and ex-British special forces and Larson as an anti-war photographer. Needless to say, once they arrive at Skull Island and start exploring, they find monsters, and plenty of them. Lots of death and mayhem ensues with the survivors needing to reach a rendezvous point before they're all picked off. 

In stark contrast to the constant nighttime action of the previous film, “Kong's” action scenes are almost entirely shot in daytime, meaning the effects couldn't be masked with shadow. Thankfully, all the creatures are fantastic. From a vicious giant spider using its legs to blend in with bamboo to a walking stick the size of a tree trunk and of course, Kong himself and his nemesis, the Skull Crawlers. King Kong has never looked better, with great facial expressions and a real sense of weight. This film took Kong closer to his original design, bucking Peter Jackson's look of a more realistic Gorilla from the 2005 film with an upright stance and more human-ish movements. The aforementioned Skull Crawlers are an original monster, but take their cues from many things, from a 2-legged lizard in the original 1933 film to freaking Cubone. The fights are well shot, nicely choreographed and real treat in terms of effects. Said fights also highlight a nice feature about Kong: apes are smart. Kong frequently uses his environment and various tools to get the upper hand against his more primitive-brained enemies.

The film is also paced quite fast, very little time is wasted before we're treating to Kong absolutely wrecking the military. It does have its quiet moments, but this is an action movie, and it never drags. The setting is also a great breath of fresh air when it comes to King Kong, ripping him clean out of his old 30's roots. Gone are the biplanes and steamboats. No, this is 'Nam, which means plenty of Huey choppers, M60 machine guns and every speaker blasting out Black Sabbath and Credence Clearwater Revival. 

The score is exactly what you would want and expect from a Vietnam period piece. “Bad Moon Rising”, “Paranoid” and “Run Through the Jungle” are all here. Predicable? Sure, but the music's still great and perfectly completes the feel of the era. The original music composed by Henry Jackman is serviceable. Nothing memorable but its fine. The cinematography also delivers some great visuals in addition to the excellent CGI work. The jungles are beautiful to look at, and there are plenty of memorable shots, with the most memorable example being the inspiration for the poster: a gorgeous shot of several helicopters flying towards the towering silhouette of Kong back lit by a fading sunset. 

The big mark against the film is, as one should pretty much expect, the humans, but its not as dire as the 2014 or 1998 Godzilla films. We've got an entire cast of great actors here, and they do the best with the material they're given. They just, well, don't have much to work with. These are stock characters, you've seen them all dozens of times before. The highlights though, are absolutely Jackson as the Colonel seeking revenge on Kong; with Jackson himself likening his character to Captain Ahab, for killing his men and John C. Reilly as a World War 2 veteran who serves as the comic relief and the emotional heart at the same time, and pulls off both roles with commendable results. 

“Kong: Skull Island” is shallow entertainment, but that's hardly a bad thing. Its a great movie to turn on when you just want to watch something silly and fun. Its the best kind of stupid: a movie that knows its stupid and rolls with it to give you a good time and not overstay its welcome, with just enough fresh ideas to help it stand out in the many decades of remakes and bad sequels King Kong has been through in his nearly 90 year movie career. I highly recommend it.