REVIEW: “Kong: Skull Island” is exactly what you would expect, and it’s preposterously perfect

By Claire Alongi,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Hollywood has long suffered from its share of poorly constructed bigger-than-the-moon budget films strung together with a plethora of explosions, cheesy dialogue and some attractive A-listers to polish the whole thing off.

“Kong: Skull Island” has all those things. Yet, miraculously, it all works. In fact, “Kong” is exactly the absurdly perfect escapist B-movie 2017 needs.

The film takes place in 1973 just as the Vietnam War is coming to a close. The story follows a mixed group of military personnel and scientists going to investigate a yet uncharted island, theatrically dubbed Skull Island for its shape, in order to gather intelligence about what resources might be taken from this new patch of land. At least, that’s why some of the team is there.

Bill Randa (John Goodman) and his partners Brooks (Corey Hawkins) and San (Tian Jing) believe there could be something far more monster-like lurking on the island’s undiscovered shores. The clueless LandSat crew, no-nonsense Colonel Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) and his group of helicopter pilots, rough and tumble tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) and suspicious anti-war photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) don’t know what they’re getting themselves into.

Cue a mountain high gorilla smashing helicopters like they’re made of wet paper (no Empire State Building in sight).

To be fair, the characters are mostly stock. But this isn’t really a bad thing. If you’re going to see a movie called “Kong: Skull Island” for the character development you might want to rethink some of your choices.

So, there’s Packard, the hardened war hero who doesn’t remember what life is without a fight. Conrad is the token alpha male who’s built up a hard exterior to hide some deep pain we can only guess at. Weaver is the plucky no-nonsense woman who proves she can hold her own among the guys.

Really, the only somewhat original character is the brilliantly zany Lieutenant Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly), a World War II pilot who crashed on the island in 1944 and has been getting steadily crazier ever since. While he may not be billed as one, Reilly truly is the shining star, and heart, of the film.

The island itself is like some wacko version of Jurassic Park. There is a giant spider with bamboo legs, pterodactyl-like birds with serrated noses and mega skull lizards that only have two legs. Oh, and Kong of course.

But that’s what makes the film so fantastic. It knows it’s weird. It doesn’t aspire to be anything different. It has all the clichés and blink and you’ll miss them one-liners, which of course include not so subtle jabs at current political developments.

Perhaps what makes “Kong” so successful for what it is, is the mixture of the classic smash-me and dash-em monster movie formula with the modern cinematic tools director Jordan Vogt- Roberts (“The Kings of Summer”) has at his disposal.

The cinematography is crisp and takes time away from pure monster madness and explosions to have what might even be considered art shots of fire reflected in a pilot’s metallic sunglasses, or Packard standing stock-still as flames and frantic men dance around him in slow motion. The CGI is also impeccable, but then again only the best would be offered to the King (Kong) himself.

While all of that is pleasantly surprising, the best revelation of the film is the on-point collection of period appropriate songs, which might remind one of a darker spin on the “Guardians of the Galaxy’s” hit Awesome Mix soundtrack. Jams include “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater, “Ziggy Stardust” by David Bowie, and “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane.

“Kong: Skull Island” isn’t going to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Or, likely, any Oscars at all. But not every movie needs to be a rumination on culture, or politics, or what it means to be alive.

Sometimes what we need is two hours of watching Tom Hiddleston running through the jungle in a tight-fitted shirt and spitting dialogue that you’ve probably heard a million times in a million different action movies, all while being chased by the most wonderfully ridiculous creatures.

Two hours where there is good. There is evil. And there is Kong.

Grab some popcorn and settle in for a fun and wild ride.