Kong: Skull Island is a hell of a lot of fun. I’ve mentioned that I’m a big fan of old monster movies and this is a love letter to the genre. Fast-paced and full of sweet monster smashing, this feels like the filmmakers studied the criticisms of the 2005 King Kong and 2014 Godzilla films and designed this movie to directly address them.
The film begins right after the Vietnam War has ended (somebody at Warner Bros. probably made a Viet Kong joke one day and decided to run with it). Some scientists working for the top-secret Monarch agency (which was also in the 2014 Godzilla) suspect that an uncharted island contains monsters and enlist some newly-unoccupied soldiers to escort them to the island. And, sure enough, those scientists were damn right and chaos ensues when they arrive at the island.
If that plot sounds thin, you’re right. I also don’t care. Monster movies are like porn; we don’t need a lot of plot to get in the way of what we’re here for. Soldiers go to the creepy island, the guy delivers the pizza, whatever, get on with it. One of the main problems with the 2005 King Kong is that it was ungodly long and slow. I started watching that movie on a Saturday afternoon in 2006 and it just ended last week. Similarly, one of my main gripes with the 2014 Godzilla is that it took freaking forever to get to the actual monster fights. But in this movie, it’s about 20 minutes before they get to the island to start an epic Kong vs. gunship battle and it just keeps going. And, as usual, Kong isn’t the only monster on the island. Other highlights include an enormous spider (in a scene that features a homage to, of all freaking things, Cannibal Holocaust) and a Kong vs octopus fight (in a nod to a similar scene in 1962’s King Kong vs Godzilla). This clocks in at almost exactly two hours and it feels much shorter because nearly the whole damn thing is monster fights.
Another problem with the 2014 Godzilla is the godawful human characters that one wished would just die so that they could stop distracting us from the title character. This has also been fixed here with a great ensemble cast that is quite entertaining in the brief moments when there aren’t any creatures on screen. This is probably the best cast that I have ever seen for a monster movie, with John Goodman, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, John C. Reiley and Brie Larson. Thanks to their efforts, the movie doesn’t grind to a screeching halt whenever Kong isn’t on screen. That’s more than I can say for the jabronies in Godzilla.
The movie also looks and sounds amazing. Made by director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (whose only other movie is The Kings of Summer, which I had never heard of until 10 minutes ago), the movie is shot to look part King Kong and part Apocalypse Now. The massive shots of Kong’s silhouette against the sun and the staging of the battle scenes create an epic visual style that gives Kong the iconic and intimidating appearance that he deserves. This is also a rare instance when the 3D version is actually worth the extra few bucks because this was shot to really take advantage of it. The soundtrack is also amazing and fitting the period with 60s/70s rock constantly playing, including CCR , David Bowie, Jefferson Airplane, etc. As I have always said: If you are going to fire a gatling gun at a skyscraper-sized gorilla, you might as well crank Black Sabbath while you do it.
This is also surprisingly violent. It is PG-13, but it harkens back to when stuff like Jaws and Temple of Doom were rated PG. People get eaten and set on fire and have their limbs ripped off. A monster spits out a guy’s skull after digesting the rest of him. Kong rips another monster’s insides out through its mouth. I don’t think it is graphic enough to deserve an R, but I’m also surprised that it didn’t get an R. It’s kind of sad that a King Kong movie is more violent than any horror movie I’ve seen this year, but I’ll take it.
I definitely recommend seeing this in a theater. I had a blast with it. This is also a rare case when it’s worth sticking around for the post-credits scene. I have become very tired of these scenes, but this hints at the potential awesomeness that awaits us in 2019 with Godzilla: King of the Monsters and then in 2020 with King Kong vs Godzilla. If they are like this movie, then some fun times are ahead.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kong:_Skull_Island#/media/File:Kong_Skull_Island_poster.jpg
