Kong: Skull Island, Monsters Will be the next Superheroes!

Genre Action, Adventure, Thriller
Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Producer Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Mary Parent, Alex Garcia
Actors Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, Jing Tian, Toby Kebbell, John Ortiz, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Shea Whigham, Thomas Mann, Terry Notary, John C. Reilly
Where we got our copy Times Media Films
Reviewed on Cinema (3D)
Available on Cinema (2D)

Jupiter

Published March 14, 2017

Starring Loki! Aka: Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and an All-Star cast, including Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman and John C. Riley.

Kong: Skull Island is Monster Movie, watch it with that in mind and think about all the senseless, mindless monstrosities you’re about to see. Like the popular Fast and the Furious movies, a Monster Movie on this scale doesn’t need to make a lick of sense, but John Gatins (Story) and Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Director), were able to bring both the ridiculous idea of a 100ft ape together with a story that is dropping with more lore and back story than we’ll ever see on the big screen.

The blend of effects, action, violence and the carry of such a top tier cast with a well thought out story is why I feel this is the best monster movie to date and worth a look, with your shorts on while holding the biggest bag of popcorn you can find!

Plot, Story and Flow

A monster movie needs a few things to make it a success, one of them being a bit of comic relief, a bad guy ( Think Gaston from Beauty and the Beast ), an epic fight and some kind of macro story to make sense of why this damn behemoth can exist in the first place.

Kong: Skull Island checks all the boxes of a good monster movie, note I didn’t mention effects, I think if Japan has proven anything, you don’t need special effects to make a successful monster movie, Godzilla going on it’s 29th feature to date.

The movie itself is a prequel to the 2016 reboot of Godzilla, though it will probably act as a separate entity by the studios until we see the two monsters clash in 2020.

The connections only come when referencing the “ Insert evil clandestine government funded company name “: Monark, though this time, set in 1975 just as the United States are withdrawing from Vietnam and Bill Randa (John Goodman) and sidekick Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins), aka: Monark, are essentially out of funding and need one last piece of evidence to prove the existence of Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Objects (MUTOs).

The dude: “Who’s seen some shit”

Our “heroes” find this island, covered in a perpetual storm as seen from space ( remember, satellites had only just been invented kids) , where there may be the final indication and evidence of these monsters, the island: Skull Island, is the last place these monsters could be found. (Sounds similar to Peter Jackson’s King Kong premise, but I’ll let it slide, how else are you going to get people to go there)

They’re joined by Captain James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), a former SAS tracker and photojournalist Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), for reasons that I think seem obvious in their job descriptions. The group is lead by non-other than the Afro Samurai himself, Samuel L. Jackson, who plays as himself! … ok, who plays: Preston Packard, a Vietnam war veteran and the dude: “Who’s seen some shit”: he’s our Gaston.

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Monster Movies will be the new Super Hero Movies!

But, despite this accolade, Kong: Skull Island wasn’t perfect. I felt Tom Hiddleston ‘s character was massively under-used and explored. If anything he was the least developed of all the characters and had the most screen time, making me believe he was there to fill cinema seats. Having a great introduction in the first act of the movie, he ended up being more of a movie stud than a vital character.

There are some points in this film where it begins to feel silly, not all the way to silly, but silly enough to make me fear that it’d push itself out of the seriousness of its universe ( Suicide Squad) . Fortunately, it didn’t, but I caution filmmakers though, to not sacrifice universe integrity for a comic relief or break.

Where to now?

Ladies and gentlemen, Kong: Skull Island was a great movie, it had everything I wanted in a monster film, from a good story to good effects, epic fights, detailed and deep characters, and still being able to tell a detailed narrative about this new universe we, the viewers, are about to explore with the teams of Monark and I hope, Kong!

It’s big, it’s loud, it’s monstrous and I loved every second of it!

I’d love to know what you thought of it when you see it, though. Do you agree with my ideas of the genre, did this movie inspire an erection of metaphorical proportions? Let me know in the comments!

Kong: Skull Island, released in cinemas 10 March 2017, it is the second incarnation of King Kong the western world will see in the past ten years and the prequel to a rather lukewarm Godzilla movie of July 2016, a sequel to Legendary Picture's MonterVerse, a film series that will see a return of Godzilla in 2018 and a head-to-head battle between Godzilla and Kong in 2020. Starring Loki! Aka: Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and an All-Star cast, including Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman and John C. Riley. Kong: Skull Island is Monster Movie, watch it with that in mind and think about all the senseless, mindless monstrosities you're about to see. Like the popular Fast and the Furious movies, a Monster Movie on this scale doesn't need to make a lick of sense, but John Gatins (Story) and Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Director), were able to bring both the ridiculous idea of a 100ft ape together with a story that is dropping with more lore and back story than we'll ever see on the big screen. The blend of effects, action, violence and the carry of such a top tier cast with a well thought out story is why I feel this is the best monster movie to date and worth a look, with your shorts on while holding the biggest bag of popcorn you can find! Plot, Story and Flow A monster movie needs a few things to make it a success, one of them being a bit of comic relief, a bad guy (Think Gaston from Beauty and the Beast), an epic fight and some kind of macro story to make sense of why this damn behemoth can exist in the first place. Kong: Skull Island checks all the boxes of a good monster movie, note I didn't mention effects, I think if Japan has proven anything, you don't need special effects to make a successful monster movie, Godzilla going on it's 29th feature to date. The movie itself is a prequel to the 2016 reboot of Godzilla, though it will probably act as a separate entity by the studios until we see the two monsters clash in 2020. The connections only come when referencing the "Insert evil clandestine government funded company name": Monark, though this time, set in 1975 just as the United States are withdrawing from Vietnam and Bill Randa (John Goodman) and sidekick Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins), aka: Monark, are essentially out of funding and need one last piece of evidence to prove the existence of Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Objects (MUTOs). The dude: "Who's seen some shit" Our "heroes" find this island, covered in a perpetual storm as seen from space (remember, satellites had only just been invented kids), where there may be the final indication and evidence of these monsters, the island: Skull Island, is the last place these monsters could be found. (Sounds similar to Peter Jackson's King Kong premise, but I'll let it slide, how else are you going to get people to go there)…

Movie Review: Kong – Skull Island, Monsters Will be the next Superheroes!

2017-03-14

Jupiter

It's a Yes from Me!

TOTAL - 8

80 8

ROAR!

KONG: Skull Island does a lot more for the Monster Movie Genre than Godzilla ever did, just enough to make you happy, while at the same time leaving you wanting a sequel!