Kong: Skull Island (2017)
11:30 AM
Awaken the King.
This review contains Spoilers
When this film
was first announced, I was very excited. I couldn’t wait for a traditional
monster movie and I remember seeing parts of the previous King Kong films as a
kid and enjoying them. I also really liked Jurassic World a couple of years ago
and thought this would fall under a similar nostalgia-filled category. Then the
first trailers and posters were released and I just wasn’t keen – the writing
seemed cheesy, cliché and unoriginal and the film just seemed a little meh. I
am pleased to announce that I was mostly wrong in my worries for this film as
Kong: Skull Island is a highly enjoyable watch with terrific action, great CGI
and is the perfect popcorn movie.
However, I was
partly right to be worried about the film being quite generic and unoriginal –
the story was nothing special. A group of people go Skull Island, they discover
Kong, get split up and want to escape. I think my little summary sounds better
than the story of the actual film. I think the story suffered as it was pretty
simple but for some reason, it felt much more complex. I don’t know whether
that was because we were watching two different groups basically go through the
same (but different) scenarios – lost on an island full of monsters. The simple
story isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I just hoped it would actually have
been more complex and had more to it – a level that the post credit scene
definitely added (more on that later). The characters were also quite stupid
with their logic – some have compared Kong to a horror film – it definitely has
characters as smart as the ones in horror films.
Another thing
that was quite mediocre about the film was the acting – it wasn’t bad but it
just wasn’t great either. I think this is mainly down to the film being
overcrowded with characters that nobody really got enough time to standout. Tom
Hiddleston is supposedly the lead but I would definitely say this film is an
ensemble with no real lead. The characters are barely developed and that
honestly doesn’t matter as most of them are killed off – there are so many red
shirts in this film. Hiddleston does a nice job, I feel he could have been a
little more charismatic and likeable though. Brie Larson is the next award
winner to be put in front of mainstream audiences after Eddie Redmayne in
Fantastic Beasts and sadly she isn’t given much to work with. Her character
comes off well in the post credit scene but for the most part of the main film,
she is a flimsy, one dimensional token female character that the rest of the
characters just have to keep pointing out. Larson does her best with what she
is given but this type of role definitely isn’t what I was hoping for when I
heard she was going to be in this movie. I say it every time he’s in a film
these days – Samuel L Jackson just needs to stop playing the same character and
starring in films for the pay-check. I found his character irritating and it
annoyed me even more that it was once again the same type of character Jackson
always plays. The rest of the cast are good enough – nobody is terrible but I
suppose no one is really that great either.
It all sounds very negative right now doesn’t it? Well that’s about to
change as one area that Kong: Skull Island definitely excels in is the action –
this film is packed full of it and is entertaining, exhilarating and
fast-paced. The two main fights involving Kong are both very exciting and gripping.
The one towards the beginning involving the helicopters was well executed – the
background music was a great choice and it made the whole sequence feel even
better (it turned the excitement up a notch). The final fight with Kong against
the big ‘Skull crawler’ is also very enjoyable to watch – it’s quite intense and
could easily have felt cheap, cheesy and tacky if it wasn’t handled the way it
was. Even though there wasn’t as many similarities to Jurassic World as I first
thought, one thing they had in common was being (some would say unnecessarily)
brutal with their killings – a man is literally torn apart at one point and another
has a branch shoved down his throat. These scenes aren’t too graphic which is
probably why the film still passed for a 12A but some pretty strong violence is
hinted at. There are also some memorable action sequences which I believe were
done very well – one of these is where the camera is flashing inside the skull
crawler. I thought tension was built very well in this scene and everything was
on point – making the climax worth it and pretty terrifying. Another is when
Hiddleston finally gets to show off some action skills putting on the gas mask
and fighting the creatures within a green smoke. I thought this was another
great example of a unique and notable moment within the film. I would still say
the film is family friendly as a whole – the moments of tension are quite
brief.
Hopefully Kong: Skull Island will be remembered for its outstanding
visual effects when it comes to awards season 2018. I thought Kong was very
well realized – the film did an excellent job of making us empathize with him –
he may be the monster at the beginning but he was definitely the protagonist
towards the end. Kong wasn’t the only creature that was impressive to look at,
every single fantastical being in this film was incredibly well done. After my
first viewing, I came out saying that this film fitted the title of ‘Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them’ than that film did as the beasts in Skull Island
were far more fantastic and terrific to look at. The world building within the
film was quite impressive – every corner the characters went around was a
different magnificent creature waiting for them. Other than the CGI, the film
was visually impressive with its cinematography – I thought the film was
beautifully shot and some of the camera choices were very creative. I was
actually taken aback by how stylistic Kong: Skull Island was. There were many
unique, original and inventive camera angles and stylistic choices. For
instance, an example of one I picked up on was Preston Packard’s (Jackson)
transformation from a man to a monster. It is clear from the beginning of the
film that Preston has quite radical and extreme views – he’s just one of those
types of people. When we first encounter Kong, there are wide shots where it’s
just Kong’s silhouette with an orange backdrop as he on looks the humans
approaching him – Kong is the monster. However, at the end of the film, the
same techniques are used with Preston – a silhouette, wide shot and orange
backdrop as he on looks Kong approaching him – Preston has become the monster.
I thought this was very clever. The film had great match cutting throughout
which made the film inventive constantly – one of my favourites was
the cut between a man falling into Kong’s mouth and someone biting into a
sandwich.
Major spoilers ahead!
So, if you had the patience to wait for the longest credits ever to finish,
you will have witnessed a subtle yet very effective post-credit scene. It is
revealed that Larson and Hiddleston have been recruited by MONARCH but must not
tell anybody about the island or what happened on it. I actually think this
elevates the whole film because now there are some actual stakes – the characters
are unable to tell anybody about what they went through or the dangers that
lurk in the world. The reveal about Godzilla was obvious but exciting – even though
there is another film to go until its Kong Vs Godzilla, after this one, I can
safely say I’m pretty excited.
Kong: Skull Island is the perfect popcorn blockbuster – it might lack in
its script, story and character development but it excels in its action and
visual effects. The acting is somewhere in the middle of those – it’s by no
means bad but definitely not outstanding. Kong: Skull Island caught me off
guard by being more stylish than expected – the soundtrack definitely helped
but they kind of dropped that for the second half. Entertaining, thrilling,
sometimes original, exciting – what more could you want? (there's a reason I saw this twice).
70
/100
What did you think of KONG: SKULL ISLAND? Did you expect more from Hiddleston and Larson? - COMMENT BELOW
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