KONG SKULL ISLAND – Review

With a new story faithful to the spirit of the 1933 original, KONG SKULL ISLAND is a roaring, chest-pounding triumph. After a WWII-set prologue on an uncharted island in the Pacific, KONG SKULL ISLAND jumps ahead to 1973. Scientist Bill Randa (John Goodman) of the same Project Monarch (one of several reference to the recent Warner Bros GODZILLA reboot) persuades a senator (Richard Jenkins) to let him convene a military team to help survey a mystical, skull-shaped island. This crew includes freelance mercenary James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), hotheaded Army colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) and photojournalist Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) who brags about having helped turn public opinion against the waning Vietnam War. The rest of the ethnically diverse lineup includes Toby Kimmel as a doomed grunt (we know he’s toast because he writes a letter home to his son), John Ortiz as a scared Monarch exec, and Tian Jing as……I’m not sure. Minutes after breaking through the rain cloud that surrounds Skull Island (which supposedly explains of why it’s remained unchartered) and carpet-bombing the jungle inside, they meet Skull Island’s colossal monarch, Kong, and he’s not up for company. After Kong swats several of the copters out of the sky and kills half of the soldiers, the survivors must find a way back to safety battling fantastic monster while the single-minded Packard seeks revenge on the King.

John C. Reilly costars in KONG SKULL ISLAND as Hank Marlow, the veteran flying ace who had crashed onto the island decades earlier. He’s there to inform everyone that Kong is the good guy, protector of the island’s natives. I was worried when John C. Reilly showed up mugging in the trailer but Marlow is a well-written, scene-stealing character, and the jokes work. Slaying beasts with his Samurai sword, Tom Hiddleston makes for a nimble action hero while Sam Jackson, though he’s played variations of this character before has the film’s best moment; a thrilling stare-downs between Kong, whose eyes completely fill the screen, and Jackson’s Ahab-esque Packard, glaring right back. The carnage in KONG SKULL ISLAND pushes the PG13 boundaries. A central character is torn limb from limb by some pterodactyl-type critters (while silhouetted against the sun – nice touch!), bloody skulls are puked up by the nasty Skull Crawlers and a soldier is impaled through the mouth by a giant spider leg in a shot that recalls a similar one in CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST.

Other highlights include the last act showdown with King Skull Crawler, whose tail swats a potential hero sideways into a cliff just as he is about to pull the pin on a belt full of hand grenades and save the day. There are references to other movies in KONG SKULL ISLAND. That prologue plays like HELL IN THE PACIFIC. The initial helicopter attack on the island, complete with an onboard tape deck blasting music and acres of burning napalm, evokes APOCALYPSE NOW on more than one level. The military interplay borrows heavily from ALIENS, and there are other plot points from JURASSIC PARK and JAWS thrown in for effect, but KONG SKULL ISLAND doesn’t want to be those films. Rather, its homages are intended to make sure you know and respect its influences. Nor does it want to be the original 1933 KING KONG. Though Brie Larson has a brief ‘Girl in the Hairy Paw’ moment, there is no girl/ape romance here, nor does Kong fight conventional dinosaurs this time, but a variety of well-designed otherworldly beasties (but where are those giant ants Marlow mentions?)

KONG SKULL ISLAND is not without its flaws. Some of the dialog is clunky. Sam Jackson says a variation of “This is one war we’re not gonna lose!” several times. I wish the filmmakers had thought outside the box with their choice of period songs which are the usual, clichéd suspects (though Credence Clearwater fans will be pleased) and Tian Jing as ‘Token Asian Gal’ is as peripheral here as she was central to THE GREAT WALL. But I’m not going to let a few imperfections here and there at all discount my love of KONG SKULL ISLAND. Sometimes you just have to throw your hands up in the air, scream at the top of your lungs and ride the rollercoaster, which is exactly what KONG SKULL ISLAND is. Highly recommended!

5 of 5 Stars