Stars Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, John C Reilly, Corey Hawkins, Tian Jian with John Goodman and Toby Kebbel Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts Didn’t do this when it was initially released, but the home-video edition is out now. The original King Kong back in the 1933 was an interesting adventure film given the time the movie came out. Having the giant ape on screen was a marvel of effects work. It has influenced several filmmakers since the, most notably Peter Jackson, who made his own version in 2005, utilising the latest in effects technology for his movie. Jackson’s adaptation, a marvel in effects work and cinematography, was perhaps overly faithful and terribly elongated. Twice as long as the original despite following the same beats. Then there was the 1976 remake that set the story in the (then) modern days with it’s notorious 1986 sequel, King Kong Lives. Be it a remake or sequel, the subsequent films since the original had the same problems, how do you make your lead character interesting? Kong was the giant ape, and what are the humans going to do about it? Some will want to help or protect him while everyone else would want to destroy him, and in Kong: Skull Island, it’s really no different. The nature of Kong here, however, is quite different. Sure, he still comes across as the fearsome giant ape, but there is now a purpose to his existence unlike before when he was just one among the freakish creatures that thrived on Skull Island: a mysterious oddity of evolution that could be used to turn a profit. Set in the mid-1970s just as satellite technology is improving in mapping our world, an expedition to a newly discovered (via satellite) mysterious island filled with members with multiple purposes. A proper geological team wants to do a proper survey, while a mysterious clandestine organisation with government backing wants to investigate for possible origins of giant monsters. While this organisation, Monarch, might tie this movie to 2014’s Godzilla, it does so in tenuous ways without beating you over the head with their connections until the post credit scene. What follows, story-wise, is an interesting beast with colourful characters. Kong, for one, towers over his previous incarnations, reportedly coming in at 104 feet tall. When the geological teams use seismic bombs and sonar to map the island, Kong attacks the helicopters dropping the bombs. The military unit, led by Samuel L Jackson’s Colonel Packard, suffers losses and the colonel takes it all personally, declaring war on Kong. A secondary team with ex-SAS soldier turned tracker, James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), in the lead learn about Kong and his purpose. Conrad and war-photographer, Weaver (Brie Larson) try to stop Packard while all of them try to survive the island and its creatures. There is a complexity to the characters and their situation that is rare in movies like these. Setting it in the 70s helps the movie tremendously, particularly with its close connection to the Vietnam war and the impact of that on Packard and the American mentality of the time. The reflections on war are evident either in Packard’s men, the lost WWII pilot (John C Reilly) who crashed on the island decades earlier, or even the likes of Conrad and Weaver. Another boon to the movie is director Jordan Vogt-Roberts. While it may seem like he’s finding his feet in the early part of the movie, once the story gets to Skull Island, the movie is a visual gem. The design of the shots and the cinematography is absolutely spectacular, rising far above the expectations of the genre. It has the feel of a 70s film and yet some of today’s sensibilities mixed in producing an almost timeless movie. The elements of films ranging from adventure exploration to fantasy to war films blend seamlessly, even with a hefty and liberal sampling of particular anime features and tropes. Such a mishmash of genres don’t often gel well, but they do so here. While Kong: Skull Island may be part of shared universe franchise most studios are getting into these days, the movie stands alone for the most part. You get one grand adventure with some impressively conceived action set-pieces, with the cast delivering solid performances, even for the performance-captured giant, here performed by Toby Kebbel and Terry Notary. Both Kebbel and Notary worked with former King Kong performer Andy Serkis on the new Planet of The Apes films. It’s also nice that Brie’s Weaver is no damsel in distress, but Tain Jing’s San, being the only other female character, is mostly sidelined with minimal dialogue and having no real purpose (aside from securing the China market for box-office returns). An oddity, but not a major distraction. Ultimately, the movie delivers in terms of adventure and entertainment. The creature effects are impressive raging from majestic (that buffalo) to scary (that spider, the birds, etc) while the gorgeous cinematography gives them all an exotically beautiful world to inhabit. It is quite likely this Kong will reign for a long while. Rating: **** /5 Find the best online deals here. | Barnes and Noble | Google Play Store | Book Depository Discover more about the books here. Please Support.
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