March 12, 2017 · Watch the official trailer
At various times, “Kong: Skull Island” has all the makings of a terrific film.
Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts has assembled a remarkably deep and talented cast, a script with clever dialogue and there’s also a gorgeously computer generated 500 foot gorilla stomping through the jungle.
Yet somehow, “Skull Island” just doesn’t come together like it should, leaving viewers with an uneven, wobbly action adventure that misses the mark just as often as it hits it.
Rebooting the King Kong mythology and dropping it into the tail end of the Vietnam War, “Skull Island” follows a pair of scientists (John Goodman, Corey Hawkins) from Operation Monarch, a secret government program designed to track giant ancient monsters.
Together with a helicopter attack squadron led by Lieutenant Colonel Packard (Samuel L. Jackson), a former British SAS Captain (Tom Hiddleston) and a anti-war photojournalist (Brie Larson), the team descends on an uncharted island in search of geological research, only to run into the King of the Jungle and hordes of massive creatures.
“King Kong” films have a long history of naturally beautiful, damsel-in-distress blonde women, but Oscar winner Larson provides a much richer character than usually found in monster movies as crusading photographer Mason Weaver. Given little to work with in the script, Larson develops a competent, moderately compelling turn that’s equal parts fish-out-of-water and adventurous heroine. Not much is made out of this interesting duality, nor Weaver’s emotional connection to Kong, but it’s a promising start to the inevitable franchise.
Best known as the villainous Loki in several Marvel films, Hiddleston brings his typical dry wit and bravado to James Conrad, former British Special Forces turned tracker, in an unremarkable turn.
Goodman provides gravitas to the role of lead scientist Bill Randa early in the feature, but as the film progresses, the performance begins to wane as “Skull Island” no longer needs Randa to propel the plotline forward.
Jackson’s Packard starts “Skull Island” as a prototypically one-dimensional commander following orders, but as the plot unfolds, Jackson weaves a delusional madness into the character that seeps in the longer Packard remains on the island. This transformation from stoic soldier to obsessed Ahab in search of his white whale is perhaps the strongest character development in a film where nuance takes a back seat to spectacle.
Veteran comic actor John C. Reilly joins the fray midway through “Skull Island” as a pilot stranded on the island for decades, and instantly brightens the entire feature with his smart comedic timing. Reilly does venture close to caricature with his wobbly demeanor and excessively large beard, but never tips over the line in the film’s most delightful performance.
Audiences will hit theaters to see the titular Kong, however, and in the classic movie monster, Vogt-Roberts and his team hit a home run. Camera angles are precisely measured to maximize the scale of Kong towering over humans, other monsters and the vast jungle itself. The impressive technical detail designing Kong is evident in every frame, especially in the initial slow-motion sequence that allows viewers time to become enthralled with the intricacy of the designers’ work.
The other creatures of “Skull Island” are less successful in varying degrees with the main villains of the film, the lizard-esque Skullcrawlers, being the most simplistic-looking.
Those wanting to see the majesty of one of Hollywood’s most iconic monsters on the big screen should make a trip to the theaters for “Kong: Skull Island” a priority. Otherwise, Vogt-Roberts’ middling adventure film might be better saved for home theater consumption.
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