Kong: Skull Island review

Right, to anyone who reads this blog (whoever you are, thanks!) will surely know by now that my last post was in fact an April fool (well I guess the publish date of April 1st might have been the giveaway!).  So, no I am not going to close this blog down and yep it will continue and yes I will be writing many more (or at least some more) reviews before that happens.

But anyway with that out the way let's get onto my latest review and this one is on a new film that has been recently released that I've just seen at the cinema: Kong: Skull Island, which sees the return of the legendary giant ape, Kong to the big screen.  So how does it fair???  Well, let's find out....

As its a now film I will try and keep spoilers to a minimum and the plot summary for that matter but I will still issue the usual warning though, so....

SOME SPOILERS MIGHT BE AHEAD!!! (BUT NOT TOO MANY!!)

STORY

Right as for the story itself well it begins in 1944 when an American soldier, named Hank Marlow parachutes down onto an island in the South Pacific, where he is soon attacked by Japanese soldier.  However before the Japanese soldier can kill Marlow they are interrupted by the presence of a huge ape like figure.

The story then moves forward to 1973, just as the Vietnam war has drawn (or is drawing) to a close, a US government agent, Bill Randa (John Goodman) hires a former SAS, Captain James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston to lead an expedition to map out an island known as "Skull Island".  The expedition is also accompanied by a Vietnam war helicopter squadron lead by Lt Colonel Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) aswell as a female war photojournalist, Mason Weaver (Brie Larson).

Once they arrive at the island, Packard has his men drop explosives that were developed by seismologist, Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins) to map out the area.  However the air unit are soon attacked by Kong, who destroys a number of their aircraft, killing a number of military personnel in the process.  Packard manages to regroup with some of the survivors of his military team and elsewhere, Conrad, Mason and Brooks have also survived along with some other military soldiers and they try and make their way to a rendezvous point, to meet a supply team in 3 days.

However as they try and make their way there, they soon encounter a group of local natives called the Iwi as well as Marlow, who is now aged to an older man with a long beard.  Marlow tells Conrad and Mason that Kong is in fact the king of the island and it protects many of its inhabitants from the various hostile lifeforms out there.  However, Marlow reveals there are far more dangerous creatures out there, which he calls "Skullcrawlers" which are essentially large lizards, who have in the past killed Kong's ancestors and remain a threat to Kong himself.

And its from here that Conrad, Mason and the others must try and find a way to get off the island safely before they get on the wrong side of Kong or indeed get themselves killed by the Skullcrawlers or even something else on the island.....

THOUGHTS

Kong: Skull Island is by no means a great film in itself but it is still an enjoyable one, which should give audiences a decent thrill ride for a couple of hours.  And while it lacks the epic scale of Peter Jackson's remake of the original King Kong film, what it does have going for it is that it is very well paced and never get's boring.

The film does also borrow rather heavily from Apocalypse now with its depiction of the Vietnam war soldiers and the use of the Iti natives, who provide shelter for Marlow, who comes across like Dennis Hopper's war journalist character.  And overall you would have to say that the film really is King Kong meets Apocalypse Now!

PERFORMANCES (Warning: this section may refer to the odd spoiler!)

As for the performances, well they are mostly pretty good, starting with Tom Hiddleston, who is pretty good in his role as Conrad, the former SAS operative, who leads the expedition into Skull island.  Hiddleston seems to have beefed himself up to play the part and when you see him you get the impression he's trying to make himself look like Daniel Craig in the James Bond films!  But Hiddleston's performance is pretty good overall and he does a good job at conveying the idea of a former SAS soldier, who knows how to control a scene and handle himself in a combat situation.

Samuel L. Jackson next is good as Lt Colonel Packer, although you get due to maybe the restriction of his role and the script that he doesn't shine aswell as he could here in the film.  Sam feels more like a cog in the wheel, doing his part rather than getting a chance to show off his acting chops but I guess that just comes down to the film's script itself.  So overall its a good performance but not one of Sam's best as he has definitely been better in other films than here. 

Brie Larson (who to an extent resembles Jennifer Lawrence) also does pretty well in her role as the photojournalist, Mason Weaver, who comes along in the expedition and allies herself with Conrad during their time on the island.  Larson also brings a nice feisty quality to the role, too and she manages to share a nice understated chemistry with Hiddleston and thankfully in the film (SPOILER OF SORTS!!!) they keep things professional.

John C. Reilly however steals the show in his colourful performance as the eccentric older US air pilot, Marlow, who has been stranded on the island for nearly 30 years and he helps Conrad, Mason and the others.  Although Reilly's character is more than a nod toward Dennis Hopper's photojournalist in Apocalypse Now, which as I said the film pays more than a bit of homage too.  However Reilly definitely get's the best lines in the film and provides alot of amusement in his performance.

Corey Hawkins does pretty well too with his role as the somewhat nerdy scientist, Brooks, who tries to survive the ordeal on Skull island along with the others.  Its implied that Brooks has a bit of chemistry with the chinese biologist in the film, San Lin played by Jing Tian but it is underplayed of course, which remains one of the film's strengths that the film makers decided not to go for romantic overtones.   

Jason Mitchell does a good job as the wise-cracking young soldier, Mills, who is one of the survivors of the ordeal on the island.  Shea Wingham also does well in his role as the veteran captain, Earl Cole, with whom Cole has a good friendship with Mills, who teases him for various different things.

And lastly, John Goodman is pretty good as you would expect as the dubious government agent, Bill Randa, who is behind the trip to Skull island and he isn't all he appears to be.  But the most remarkable thing about Goodman in this film itself is just how much weight he has lost as he has gotten older!  And Goodman's performance is arguably the second best in the film after John C. Reilly's.

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the director, Jordan Vogt-Roberts does a good job at handling the directorial duties and he is quite confident with handling the film's action scenes, although there is a fair bit of CGI throughout with alot of the creatures on the island, not to mention Kong himself.  Vogt-Roberts also keeps the film's pacing quite fast and pretty tight, so to his credit, the film never really lags or slows down badly at any time.

As for the music, Henry Jackman, provides the score and its pretty decent one overall, although its not the most memorable score he has probably done it fits the tones of the film pretty well (that was a pretty short paragraph I have to say!).

FLAWS (Warning: this section may refer to the odd spoiler here and there)

As for Kong: Skull Island's flaws....yeah OK its not a perfect film.

And I will try and not give too much of the plot spoilers away here but for me one of the things that bugged about this film is that as it is set during the period of the Vietnam war (or is it??? More on that later!) it suffers from a number of cliches we often have seen in many Vietnam war films.  For example there is the usual Vietnam's greatest hits in the soundtrack featuring the likes of Creedence Clearwater Revivial's "Bad Moon Rising" and "Running through the jungle", "White rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane and even David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust".  It just feels pretty cliched with what we are used to hearing in these types of films.

Then there are some cringeworthy moments here and there such as (SPOILER!!!!) where Mason, as a photojournalist takes some rather cheesy pictures of the soldiers, all posing for the camera, etc and she even does the same later with the Iwi natives!  Its one of these moments that kind of makes you groan when you see it and makes you wonder if it needs to be there.

WARNING: This next paragraph refers to a SPOILER!!!

And then there is the scene where Packard makes the decision to head into a very dangerous area of the island, so he can try and locate one of his men but in doing so he ends up getting half of his own men killed in the process!  Not only that it turns out that the man they were looking for at this point has already been devoured by one of the skullcrawlers, so its a pretty pointless exercise!  Although, Packard's real motive was in fact to try and travel the path that will lead him to Kong, so he can attempt to kill him, which would lead to him losing more men!  Basically his character didn't think out things very well.

Then we have the CGI for the film, which overall isn't too bad and let's face it, they couldn't have really imagined the creatures and Kong in the film in any other way that CGI these days.  However the CGI is still a bit naff in places and it just adds to the overall artificial nature of the film and so many films these days that rely heavily CGI, its a pity there couldn't be alternatives to it.

Lastly I found the timeline of the film to be a bit confusing as its not certain if the film was set toward the very end of the Vietnam war, or if the war had just finished at this point.  Although I think there is one moment where Packard alludes to the fact that America didn't lose the war "we abandoned it" so that would suggest that the war had just ended but still it isn't quite that clear.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Kong: Skull Island is an enjoyable escapist action film, which gives audiences just about right balance of fun, drama and suspense and its cast generally do a pretty good job with what they are given although their characters are mostly underwritten.  And yes its not a great classic and the CGI while its not bad, it does leave you a bit indifferent and the CGI version of Kong here could have been a bit better.

However if you are able to forget all that then there is still a fair bit to enjoy in Kong: Skull island and I'd say its still worth a look, even if it isn't the best King Kong you are likely to see.

Right, so that's it for now and yes, I will be back with another post soon, so just to clarify again, nope I am NOT closing the blog down and there will be plenty more posts on the way before it get's closed.

So till the next un, its bye for now!