Kong: Skull Island - Review

Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Kong: Skull Island continues in the same vein as the first film in Legendary Entertainment's burgeoning MonsterVerse Godzilla. It has clumsy expository dialogue, thumbnail caricatures for characters that border on the comical, and actors that have proved themselves as excellent reduced to looking shocked. Despite all this, Kong: Skull Island finds redemption to some extent (in a manner similar to Godzilla) in its main attraction: the monsters.
  
For all of its clunkiness when it comes to dialogue and character development (or lack there of), the realisation of the monsters in Kong: Skull Island is decidedly unclunky. First and foremost, there is Kong who is spectacularly impressive - a towering mass of fur - his sheer heft is a great example of the way the film manages to avoid the kind of CGI fuelled weightlessness that plagues so many blockbusters. Almost as impressive are the collection of other monsters with which Kong shares Skull Island. There are unsettling reptilian creatures that scurry about, a very large squid like thing with which Kong has a tussle, and an equally big spider inspired beast that makes the one in Lord of the Rings look fairly tame.    

Unfortunately, it's hard to have quite as much fun with the human characters who are crippled by a stiff script and fairly limiting roles. The two main ones James Conrad (I don't think his sharing a name with Joseph Conrad is a coincidence) and Mason Weaver played by Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson respectively are incredibly underused, spending a majority of their time on screen running, jumping, and looking scared. Although, perhaps this is a good thing as the few moments where they do bother with talking had me laughing for all the wrong reasons. In one remarkably poor scene, the two look out on some mysterious Aurora Borealis style lights, as Hiddleston talks of the "mythic hero" that was his father, it's hard not to be amazed by how completely wooden two perfectly good actors have been made to look.

More enjoyable, though still leaving plenty to be desired is the supporting cast, also packed out with top of the range Hollywood talent. Samuel L. Jackson is Colonel Preston Packard, playing him with the standard contemptuous intensity, we have a couple of crowbarred in Pulp Fiction "furious anger" style moments for our enjoyment. There's also John Goodman as government official Bill Randa whose opening line, "there'll never be a more screwed-up time in Washington", was quite amusing given the current state of things. Finally, there is stranded World War 2 pilot John C. Reilly who brings some necessary levity to proceedings in the Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now role.

Kong: Skull Island is at its best when it sticks to the uncomplicated creature feature thrills, despite often being bogged down by a truly bad script, it manages to provide some very good monster fuelled fun. It is a film that, despite its obvious big studio connections, brims with a likeably off the wall B movie spirit that is rather endearing. Working with this nuttiness, second time director Vogt-Roberts has achieved something we've seen failed many times: create a corporate franchise mega blockbuster that is fun, just the way it should be.