Review of Kong: Skull Island (2017) by Domgwy — 20 Dec 2017

Kong: Skull Island is so excited to get going it can’t even wait for the studio logos to get out of the way.

Within the opening few minutes of director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, first blockbuster, we catch the final moments of a World War 2 dogfight and get our first glimpse of the titular hero.

‘Hero’ is definitely the right word for Kong in this latest version of the well worn tale. Despite some A-list stars in the ensemble human cast, there is no clear lead character to latch onto. Instead everyone has a role to play — Samuel L. Jackson’s military leader, Brie Larson’s ‘anti-war photographer’ and Tom Hiddleson’s ‘tracker’ (although the later’s role seems to mainly be reduced to posing heroically in a impractical baby gap t-shirt) all serve a purpose and propel the plot along until our next encounter with the inhabitants of the legendary Skull Island.

The real ‘characters’ in the film are the creatures, and they are by no means in short supply. Vogt-Roberts and ILM do a great job of making Skull Island feel alive and dangerous, literally anything could end up being a monster and there are plenty of varied sequences of horror and action, the film going to great lengths to keep delivering on the monsters without getting repetitive.

In the age of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures are attempting to create there own ‘Monsterverse’. Kong: Skull Island is the second entry into this latest interconnected franchise, following Gareth Edward’s (underrated) Godzilla in 2014. The vast majority of the wider connections are left to John Goodman’s Randa and Cory Hawkin’s Brooks to explain. As employees of the ‘monster hunter’ organisation Monarch these two serve as the expository ‘mad scientists’ essential for any monster movie. Some references to this growing cinematic world are subtle, some not so much, but they never get in the way of the movie itself. So far, Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla serve as a great example of how two movies can be polar opposites in terms of tone and style yet share enough connective tissue to exist within the same universe. Warner Brothers could definitely learn a thing or two from this approach with their DC comics films. Allowing directors to create their own movies within a ‘shared universe’ will add variety and breath of appeal to a franchise. You can make a dark, serious Batman film (i.e. Godzilla) and a light, fun, action heavy Superman movie (i.e. Kong: Skull Island) and still have them be connected in a meaningful way.

Once the universe building on the mainland is out of the way the vast majority of Kong: Skull Island is spent moving from one action set piece to another. While the film is light on plot the addition of John C. Riley as veteran Hank Marlow and the relentlessly likable cast keep things moving at a brisk pace as the ragtag group of characters attempt to escape the island and it’s inhabitants.

Another stroke of genius from the filmmakers is the Vietnam-war era setting, bringing a sense of colour and a great jukebox soundtrack to film that is built to be an assault on your senses.

While the 1970's setting does allow for an explanation of sorts as to how the island has remained undiscovered, it also means we get an some less than subtle political analogies. The war mongering Colonel Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) becomes hell bent on killing Kong after the team’s initial encounter, insisting that ‘This is one war we’re not going to lose’. Of course, as our the moral centers of the film, Hiddleson, Larson and Riley’s characters band together to defend Kong, insisting that ‘he was just defending his territory’ (a little bit like the Viet-Cong who successfully devastated the invading U.S. forces during Parkard’s last deployment).

Although you can read some subtext into Kong: Skull Island that is by no means what it is intended for. The film is big, dumb, fun, pure and simple, balancing a light tone, brutal action and likable, if a little one-dimensional characters to create a great ‘popcorn’ movie. If Legendary and Warner Brothers keep this up, they could have found their own formula for the next successful shared movie universe.