Kong: Skull Island
- Mar 16, 2017
- 2 min read
At first the giant gorilla was like, "Ugh!" Then the soldiers were like, "Gotta take the ape down!" Then, then... BOOM! The Helicopter got hurled from the sky and blew up!
With this we have another Warner Brothers Attempt at building a large, Avenger's esk cinematic universe. Fortunately compared to the likes of the DC Universe and Fantastic Beasts story, Kong has a much stronger sense of what kind of movie it is and what story will evolve from its early steps. This is a simple action/monster movie. For every line of dialogue that causes you to shake your head, there is a fight scene that makes you want to jump up and cheer.
The main characters of Kong are a total disappointment. They are given well thought out introductions so that you know their motives, but as the story develops, they are relegated to staring off in space to look pretty. The supporting cast has greater development fortunately. While John Goodman sadly falls apart, John C. Rielly takes over and moves the story forward while giving humorous exposition. This leads to several scenes in the movie where the audience is left scratching their heads because the desired emotional connection is lost, but this does not lead to a fatal blow towards the end product.
Kong is first and foremost a monster movie. What it does with its monsters develops them as deeper characters than Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson. When Kong first comes onto the screen he is clearly the protector of the island. The humans we follow onto the island are unquestionably the intruders that need to be stopped and when they realize this and begin to change their motives Kong recognizes this and leads to a natural change in his character. The final fight feels the weight of these developments as it throws the giant skull beast against Kong resulting in a fight for the ages.
Anyone who pans this movie for its weak human characters is right to recognize such a flaw, but wrong to think that the human characters are the reason for the movie. Humans are only there to facilitate the epic fight scenes and in that role they provide a solid product. While Kong is grouped with the likes of Jurassic Park and Godzilla there is one key difference being the absence of a human condition critique in Kong being the driving force. Therefore I hold Kong to a lower standard which it easily passes.
7.8/10
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