Decent blockbuster with some excellent visuals. Most of the characters are flat but surprisingly the cast doesn't feel that wasted. Action sequences are very entertaining. The runtime is also a good length. The first 20 minutes or so are rocky but once on the island the film doesn't drag.

My only real gripe is that I wish there was more of a variety of creatures, but other than that I had a blast with this. I didn't find the first 20 minutes rocky at all as most of it is setup and I love the fact that shit hits the fan pretty early in this film. For once, you have a director that isn't afraid to show off the monsters right away and it works IMO. Action sequences and cinematography was excellent, but as far as characters go I actually found the supporting cast to be way more enjoyable to watch than Hiddleston or Larson. They were fine, but John C. Reilly, Jason Mitchell and Shea Whigham are so much fun in this and surprisingly I liked Toby Kebbell's character more than I was expecting. Sam Jackson is Sam Jackson but he has some great quote worthy one-liners and for a two hour film it honestly flies by.

This was surprisingly a pretty meh role for Brie Larson. She's there the whole time but she isn't really given much to do. Tom Hiddleston is in the same boat but I liked the tightness of his clothes.

Also didn't notice that was the asian chick from Great Wall. Her English was much better in Great Wall, I couldn't understand more than half of her lines here.

To be fair, she was cast in this before Room was released and it was filming during the time she was really blowing up and doing the awards season rounds. I remember her constantly having to travel back and forth from the set.

That's a bummer about Larson. I hope she's in it a lot at least.

Apparently the role is considered sexist by Grace Randolph.

Eh, not really. Her and Hiddleston don't really have a relationship, no kiss or anything.

She has moments with Kong and she's kinda the damsel in distress near the end.

Can't believe they managed to fuck up hyping what seems to be an awesome movie.

Yeah I don't remember anything sexist about Brie Larson's character. I mean she didn't have a whole lot to do, but she did do stuff and liked the fact that there wasn't some forced romance between her and Hiddleston or Kong. We've seen that angle a thousand times already and I'm glad Voght-Roberts avoided that.

She doesn't run in heels?

Kong: Skull Island is hollow. It never establishes its own tone - it's neither campy nor serious enough. I liked that the director chose the old fashioned approach, but then after that, almost every choice he made was either weak or wrong.This might have been saved by great actors, but Brie Larson is a dud in this and Tom Hiddleston is blandness personified without the makeup and moustache twirling. Tian Jing (Commander Lin from The Great Wall) has barely two lines. Even the better actors like John C. Reilly and Samuel L. Jackson aren't given much to work with in the listless script. Kong himself is technically fine, but the movie never gives us much chance to get to know him. I suppose the big highlight is the series of very graphic deaths that are violent and creative - an odd choice in what otherwise is a kids' movie. The more-of-the-same sequel preview after the end credits actually made me lower my grade for Kong: Skull Island from a C- to a. *D+*


Meme of the future!

It doesn't even touch the Peter Jackson movie, which is highly underrated and one of my favorite films, but this is a solidly entertaining blockbuster that has great action sequences and an excellent cast. My two gripes were the lack of a consistent tone (I really don't think the post-Vietnam feel they were going for here worked that well, it was a lot more fun when it was a straightforward adventure movie) and Samuel L. Jackson, who frankly I found absolutely horrible here and every time his character was onscreen the movie ground to a screeching halt. It works a lot better with John C. Reilly, Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell are given things to do. The last action sequence is the highlight of the movie and the Avengers-esque post credits scene is really fun. It's worth checking out. B

The very definition of "not bad but not great". Some great shots and certainly more entertaining than GODZILLA 2014. That said, it is hard to not get the feeling the same platform (do an original kong movie) in more capable hands would have been vastly superior. The post Vietnam stuff was pointless and did not add anything to it for me. SLJ was fine as himself but again, what was the point.

The stuff with John C Reilly is randomly by far the best character stuff. His initial interaction with the Vietnam soldiers had my entire theater (which was packed) dying laughing.

And EVERYONE waited for the end credit scene.

Solid B movie.

Lots of fun monster movie thrills, even if it ultimately feels a bit slight. B

Fine in a JURASSIC PARK III sort of way, but GODZILLA was much better.

It's never really exciting, the visual effects are average at best, and they stripped Kong of most of his personality.

A rather mediocre film and another unexciting bid on the part of Warner Bros. to launch a Marvel-style cinematic universe focused on such large, legendary monsters as Godzilla and, in this case, King Kong. There are, I admit, a handful of truly neat creature-feature moments, and John C. Reilly delivers a hilarious and poignant performance in a film which otherwise collects tremendous talents and gives them nearly nothing to do (an actor as singular as John Goodman barely registers, and this is a largely ornamental and notably wan post-Oscar role for Brie Larson). And the tone is never right: despite the Apocalypse Now color scheme and the late-sixties-early-seventies guitar music, the Vietnam era feels bogus, and any gesture toward rage-and-insanity-in-the-jungle intensity is undercut by overly contemporary, shoehorned-in comic relief. Attempts at human drama—"I'm an anti-war photographer," "no man ever truly comes home from war," etc.—lands with a thud, a few of Reilly's scenes excepted. And though a well-rendered computer creation, Kong himself is definitely not as awe-inspiring or fearsome or touching as he is in either the Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack classic or Peter Jackson's version. He is just not as much of a character.

C

Best moments are the stick-insect monster and Reilly randomly threatening to stab John Ortiz by the end of the night.

Movie (C)
Tom in that shirt (A+)

I'm surprised you missed mentioning the finest bit of writing I've ever seen in a blockbuster feature, David.

“I’ve taken enough photos of mass graves to recognize one.”

Ha, yes.

I also enjoy when the dinosaur conveniently regurgitates the Toby Kebbell character's dog tags.

And how does Kong become so badly wrapped in chains during the final fight? He falls on a ruined ship, sure, but then suddenly he is completely chained.

Have you ever gone fishing and your line gets tangled and you have no idea how it happened? Same thing.

I think its hollow movie because its made with a blockbuster mindset without any character development specially for Kong. The movie feels like another adventure movie than an actual Kong movie they could have named it Skull Island instead of Kong. The forced relationship between Larson's character and Kong just doesn't work. There is a waste of lot of actors specially Goodman. Brie and Tom have nothing to do here, SLJ was just playing himself but somehow looks even worse here. The action sequence are decent and overall the movie looks gorgeous specially in the start.

4/10

Kong: Skull Island

A good old-fashioned monster adventure in the spirit of a 90s blockbuster blanketed by 70s-80s Vietnam war movie iconography. Not made with the care and attention-to-detail that Peter Jackson's King Kong was (Kong's visual effects don't seem to have improved), but still very entertaining. Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman both take a back seat and let the film's "new stars", Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Toby Kebbell, and the utterly useless Jing Tian, take centre-stage, but none of them provide adequate levels of charm or flavour. Though Kebbell's accent is commendable, and John C. Reilly adds some depth. The film is a fun step back into 70s Americana; the soundtrack, the costumes, the choppers, the cameras etc. The best bits are when Kong is present. But the film often abruptly cuts sequences of action, which seems like directorial inexperience. Kong's scenes are great, but without heart it leaves much less impact than we're used to from a Kong movie.

B

Enjoyable but disappointing. Has nothing on Peter Jackson's King Kong movie.

7/10 (B-)