They aren't entirely lovable or hateable, but just there to watch.įor any type of performance one might expect to stand out, John C. The guns-a-blazing schtick is mostly left to Jackson, whose arc drags on a little too much. Hiddleston and Larson are subtle heroes/adventurers, but don't have a lot of oomph compared to other stars in this genre. Jackson occupies most of the screentime, but nothing really comes out of them except their sympathetic or vengeful attachment to Kong. The leads with Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, and Samuel L. The ensemble has a typical variety of tough guys, wanna-be feminists, nerds, and "red shirts" who are at least a little engaging, but they also fall a little too easy into tropes. While Skull Island's monsters are more than flat effects, its actual humans lack depth. Even though the creatures might be CGI, the epic choreography and cinematography in subsequent fight scenes are visually awesome and offer some gorgeous set-ups, something that is often missing in similar movies.
He doesn't dominate the movie by himself as an unpredictable mix of giant spiders and lizard-beings hint that there's much bigger forces at play in how this island operates. The first several minutes he's on-screen is a completely wild ride, and his presence never wanes from there on. Kong makes his introduction as massive silhouette enveloping a fiery sunset playing tennis with the crew's helicopters. The group abruptly encounters Kong among other beings that are not too happy about mankind disturbing the peace.Īmong the other Kong movies, the action is where this one really stands out. Its leader William Randa (John Goodman) recruits a team of scientists and military men on a expedition to an exotic island where he believes evidence of prehistoric animals exist. This version is set in the 1970s with a government organization called Monarch investigating ancient myths and entities. So far there's been nineteen versions of the behemoth known as King Kong, and the latest edition Kong: Skull Island lands right in the middle as an amusing, but not entirely original flick. We all know a cat supposedly has nine lives, but how many does an oversized ape have? It's a question Hollywood keeps asking whether movie goers want the answer (as much money as the studios can pummel out.) or not.