KONG: SKULL ISLAND
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: KONG: SKULL ISLAND has its share of excitement
and effective acting, but the film does not fit with
any other Kong film ever made as prequel, sequel or
coquel. The script is creative where it needs to be
and funny where it needs to be. If you think you
wouldn't like a live-action film about a hundred-foot
ape, you won't. If you think you would like the film,
you will. If you are not sure, you might want to give
it a try. At best it is a joy ride and at worst it is
at least goofy. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10
At a hundred feet the Kong in KONG: SKULL ISLAND is too darn big.
If you give a young girl a Barbie(r) doll she will dress it and
give some thought to its appearance. In short, she will have a
sort of relationship with it. Give the same girl a Lego(r) person
and there will be little she can do with it except move it around.
There is too much difference in size scale. In the 1933 KING KONG
the size ratio between Kong and Ann is about the same as the ratio
of the little girl to the Barbie(r) doll. The blond girl whose
trunk fits comfortably into his paw intrigues Kong. Kong certainly
has some interest in Ann that he probably would not have if Ann
were the size of the last joint on his little finger. The new Kong
is a hundred feet tall, according to director Jordon Vogt-Roberts.
With kaiju proportions Kong would have a body falling apart of its
own weight by the square-cube law. More importantly the beast can
have little emotional connection with six-foot humans on the island
or in the audience. We see him in only two states, placid and
angry. Even the 1976 version of King Kong showed more range of
emotion. Kong here has no conscience, no affection, only the
barest personality. That is not my idea of King Kong. It would
have been a better film if they had named the chief monster
something like Gorga rather than disappointing expectations by
making the super-giant ape Kong.
The film opens in 1944 with an American and a Japanese plane in a
dogfight. They both crash on an unknown Pacific island. On the
ground the two pilots are fighting to the death when they are
interrupted by ... can you guess? This strand of plot is
abandoned, to have connections later in the story. Twenty-nine
years later an apparent crackpot James Conrad (played by John
Goodman) has been trying repeatedly to have the get an expedition
to a nearly unknown island charmingly called "Skull Island." When
the expedition is finally approved a team is put together including
James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) and helicopter commander Preston
Packard (Samuel L. Jackson). It is joined by Mason Weaver (Brie
Larson) who wants to expose the secret operation. One last member
joins the group well into the story, but not too late to steal the
rest of the film. John C. Reilly plays Hank Marlow, just a little
charmingly deranged. Together the team will face the dangers of
the island that time forgot. It is a better cast than this film
would have needed, but it will probably pay off at the box-office.
The script by Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein, and Derek Connolly has
some original ideas and visual images we have not seen before, but
also there are little touches we have seen in previous Kong films.
Kong kills a creature by breaking its jaw and then checks to see
the jaw is limp. We saw that in the 1933 version. Skull Island
has gone undiscovered because it is eternally enshrouded in heavy
clouds. That idea came from the 1976 version. In fact there are
little shout-outs to all three US origin stories: 1933, 1976, and
2005, as well as references to APOCALYPSE NOW.
On the other hand, Kong's size called for some original thinking.
For once Kong never carries a human anywhere for long because he is
just too big and probably does not want red stuff and pulp all over
his fingers. The island itself brings up more complexities than
were thought through. The idea is raised that what we thought were
Pacific nuclear tests were really attempts to kill monsters. That
idea was borrowed from GODZILLA (2014). If that is true, who knew
that the island was the home of monsters and how was it kept a
secret if that was true? How did an island the size of Skull
Island go undiscovered by all but the people doing the bomb test?
The script could have used some doctoring before the film was shot.
With such a great variety of kaiju-sized monsters on one island,
the film has the feel of an (admittedly more detailed and
realistically done) Toho film.
On the positive side somebody was very imaginative with ideas for
the fauna of the island. There are a lot of "What-the-heck--Oh-my-
god!" reactions. There are moments that are a lot of fun.
Overall, I rate KONG: SKULL ISLAND a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or
6/10. The filmmakers have what must be nine or ten minutes of
credit crawl at the end, but there is a coda at the end of it all.
Film Credits:
<
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3731562/combined>
What others are saying:
<
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kong_skull_island>
Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 2017 Mark R. Leeper
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