100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 44 - Kong: Skull Island

Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Fantasy
Runtime: 118 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly, John Goodman, Toby Kebbell, Thomas Mann, Richard Jenkins

Description: A team of scientists explore an uncharted island in the Pacific, venturing into the domain of the mighty Kong, and must fight to escape a primal Eden.

Review: The iconic King Kong has had a full life. In 1933 he started building the Empire State Building. In 1976 there was the first official remake, although the story was different. And Peter Jackson did another try in 2005, with an amazing looking remake that was closer to the original story, but had a lot of extra elements. “Kong: Skull Island” has nothing to do with the original story. it’s a complete new story and has a stunning cast.
“Kong: Skull Island” has a lot of elements for a big blockbuster. It’s action packed, entertaining and it has big monsters. And Kong is who we want to see. But for monster movies, it’s always more exciting and scary if you don’t know what’s lurking in the woods. Kong is shown way to soon, completely. The element of surprise is gone. And in the first half of the film, the makers try to put way too much into the film. All sorts of creatures turn up and they eventually don’t have any purpose, beside just showing us a big ass creature.
The second half of the film is much better. The focus is more on Kong, his battle against the so called Skull Crawlers and how he wants to protect his land.
The characters are disposable. Besides John C. Reilly, who is the only one with any substance and a backstory, is the showstealer. Tom Hiddleston (who looks incredibly hot in this film BTW), Brie Larson and John Goodman are amazing actors, but they really don’t have anything to do. That’s due to the writing, not to their performances. Samuel L. Jackson’s character is also interesting, even though he is one of the most unlikeable characters ever. But he does have substance.
“Kong: Skull Island” is a bit disappointing. It was one of my most anticipating films of 2017, but I wasn’t satisfied at the end. The first half was messy, the second half made up for that a bit. It leaves you with mixed feelings at the end. Is “Kong: Skull Island” a bad movie? No. Could it have been better? A lot!

Rating: 3/ 5