{"id":4319,"date":"2017-03-10T06:03:41","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T13:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=4319"},"modified":"2017-03-10T06:03:41","modified_gmt":"2017-03-10T13:03:41","slug":"review-kong-skull-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=4319","title":{"rendered":"Review: KONG: SKULL ISLAND"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"kong1\"\"fixbutton\"Earning its dumb fun monster movie stripes, the director, writing team, producers, and above all the cast all seem to be having a whale of a time in \u201cKong: Skull Island.\u201d\u00a0 But will the rest of us?<\/p>\n

The trailers teased a bonkers blockbuster that combined elements of \u201cApocalypse Now\u201d with b-movie monster flick foundations.\u00a0 And while the film does deliver on that promise, it fails to give us more to care about and bite into.\u00a0 Ultimately, the focus is on the mythic big guy, who sure looks the part satisfying the necessary monster movie requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cKong: Skull Island\u201d is a franchise starter.\u00a0 Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment launched the new monster series in 2014 with the very good \u201cGodzilla.\u201d\u00a0 That film was a contemporary take on the classic lizard franchise that originated in Japan in 1954. As we all know, many films followed.\u00a0 Kong started his cinematic journey in 1933 in the classic film \u201cKing Kong.\u201d\u00a0 That character was later licensed in the 1960s by the Japanese studio Toho resulting in two films \u201cKing Kong vs. Godzilla\u201d in 1962 and \u201cKing Kong Escapes\u201d in 1967.<\/p>\n

The set-up for the expected reuniting of Kong with Godzilla that is established here is excellent.\u00a0 Taking place at the end of Vietnam War, businessman Bill Randa (John Goodman) convinces a Senator to authorize an expedition to the mysterious Skull Island.\u00a0 He gains the assistance of a military escort headed by decorated Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) and his team of hardened helicopter warriors.<\/p>\n

Randa isn\u2019t satisfied by just having the US Military with him and employs the expert help of tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston).\u00a0 We meet Conrad in a dangerous bar in Bangkok as he dispatches a couple of undesirables seeking to take him out. Conrad has baggage, but he also has the particular set of skills that Randa finds helpful.<\/p>\n

The team is rounded out by a group of scientists led by Victor Nieves (John Ortiz) and war photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson).\u00a0 Each character\u2019s introduction is fun and interesting, but the cast begins to get even more unwieldy as the action starts picking up on the island.\u00a0 For example, as we learn from the trailers, the team finds marooned WWII pilot Hank Marlow (a hilarious John C. Reilly), who provides them with some much needed Skull Island intel.<\/p>\n

The cast all seem to be enjoying themselves as they play out an endless stream of cliches.\u00a0 Jackson, a damned fine actor when given the right material, especially trades on his ordinary persona in a role that did not have to be written so manically unhinged.\u00a0 Needless to say there is little nuance to any of the characters and their development.\u00a0 John C. Reilly flexes his comedic chops delivering the film\u2019s best writing, but many of his funny one liners are already spoiled in the movie\u2019s trailer.<\/p>\n

This busy film isn\u2019t lacking in ideas.\u00a0 There are so many character subplots that it is impressive that the script is able to balance them all.\u00a0 But these stories are merely window dressing as this is a monster movie above all else.\u00a0 To that extent, \u201cKong: Skull Island\u201d is more fun than the last \u201cGodzilla\u201d film but not as engaging.<\/p>\n

The monster and the inhabitants of Skull Island are scary and impressive. But unlike the Peter Jackson version that payed heavily on the pathos and gave the beast compassion endearing him with the viewer, this Kong is harsh king delivering swift justice and deadly retribution.\u00a0 Very little time is devoted to showing tender moments involving the oversized hairy creature, but I hardly think mass audiences will care.\u00a0 Let\u2019s face it, we like our monster movies big, dumb, and all about the massive mythic creatures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dumb Fun with Kong<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4322,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4319\/revisions\/4322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}