A group of soldiers and scientists explore a newly discovered (and beautiful) island. It’s not long until this team meet the legendary and mighty KONG! This leads to an ultimate battle against many creatures (and the big ape himself) on the island. What are the secrets that the island holds within and a will the group survive?
Considered to be a reboot, Kong: Skull Island is loaded with plenty of talented actors including Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L Jackson, Brie Larson, John C Reilly & John Goodman. While I don’t have a single issue with the actors themselves, the film’s plot doesn’t give any real introduction or background to any of the characters. Our lead hero of the film, James (Tom Hiddleston), is found in a bar and gets involved in a fight… Other than this key moment within the film’s introduction, we are given no real further information to his character, and this list goes on from here. Samuel L Jackson’s character does have some depth, but overall there is very little to no reason for viewers to care about anyone in the film.
The visual effects for this major blockbuster film was a major let down for me. A large percentage of the film feels like it has been completed in a rush and completed with a use of green screens and a Hollywood studio. I was also amazed at how many times our actors were looking at a creature or KONG himself and the reactions from the actors were just not believable given the situations.
Many action scenes are surrounded by smoke or fog, which also makes the film feel smaller than what it should be. The lighting work should also be mentioned. This issue could be more script related, but many of the scene changes and respective lighting don’t match up from scene to scene. For example, some scenes look like it’s early morning, then as the same characters continue to walk through the same scene, the atmosphere changes dramatically to the point where the scene now looks like it could be in the late afternoon with a sun setting?!?!
Overall, Kong: Skull Island is another classic tale getting a reboot treatment. This is very similar to what we’ve seen in other 2017 films such as The Mummy. Did this film do well enough that we will see any returning monsters or main characters again? I personally will welcome the main monsters to return and fight to the death, but the characters here I could live without due to their lack of depth and development. Needless to say, I personally would recommend Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005) film for those seeking a much better story of the big ape himself.
3.9/10
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Review Written by Peter Walkden
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