There’s nothing small about Kong: Skull Island. Like the towering ape at its centre, the latest attempt to update one of cinema’s enduring movie monsters aims big — and broad, and fun. Neither remaking the 1933 classic nor outdoing previous revisions from 1976 and 2005 prove the film’s aim; instead, following the trend that’s been snatching up many a high-profile venture, paving a way for future instalments is the goal in sight. Thankfully, while a whole universe of creature features is due to similarly swing onto screens, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer) and writers Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Max Borenstein (2014’s Godzilla) and Derek Connolly (Jurassic World) don’t forget to entertain with the current material in the process. That the helmer’s previous movie saw a group of children seek solace in the woods, aka the kid-focused equivalent of rumbling in the jungle, gives an indication of the playful approach Kong: Skull Island favours.
After a scene-setting World War II prelude, the film jumps to the dying days of the Vietnam War nearly three decades later, assembling a team, sending them to the mysterious titular island — “a place where myth and science meet!”, adventurous government scientist Bill Randa (John Goodman, Patriots Day) declares — and unleashing the simian colossus in their midst. Conflict results, unsurprisingly, as the likes of former British soldier James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston, TV’s The Night Manager), anti-war photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson, Room) and US military commander Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson, xXx: Return of Xander Cage) helicopter in for what’s being called a mapping mission. Their new host doesn’t greet them warmly, but as the long-stranded Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly, Sing) explains, he’s actually the least of their worries.
Cue a trek through treacherous terrain that conjures up memories of every film with the word Jurassic in its title, and a contemplation of the depths the horrors of combat clearly intending to invoke Apocalypse Now. Both components provide enough substance to the storyline to retain interest when Kong isn’t in sight — and enough of a framework to help the high-profile cast put some meat on their characters’ bones, with Hiddleston offering a cautious but can-do attitude, Larson energetic and open, Jackson haunted by vengeance, and Reilly suitably amusing.
Of course, wandering around inhospitable greenery and demonstrating the troubles of war — at a jaunty pace, often with perfunctorily but knowingly expository B-movie dialogue, yet without resorting to throwing romance into the mix — aren’t the main attraction; monster mayhem is. Here, Kong: Skull Island delivers, with its frames filled with vivid sights springing from both the central primate and the other formidable lizard-like critters scurrying across the secret land mass. Brought to the screen with spectacle aplenty, Kong never fails to make an impact, as rendered with CGI wizardry that makes him look like flesh and blood. He’s literally the biggest part of the movie, and though he’s sparingly used to maintain intrigue, Vogt-Roberts and cinematographer Larry Fong (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) relish stressing his size and scale with a view to eliciting wonder.
In fact, even when the film is nodding to iconic elements of past iterations and obvious influences — and particularly when it’s viewing Kong from within a swatted-around helicopter at an early moment or unveiling its main instance of animal carnage at the feature’s climax — Kong: Skull Island endeavours to do what good monster movies do best: leave the audience wanting more. It might seem slight, but there’s a difference between using the entire movie as an excuse to set up the next chapter and building a solid foundation, which Vogt-Roberts’ addition to the fold falls on the right side of. Knowing what’s coming and how the pieces are being manoeuvred into falling into place aren’t a distraction, either at a narrative or franchise level, when the film in question remains engaging in its own right. It mightn’t always be smart and logical, and its rarely unpredictable, but Kong: Skull Island is consistently enjoyable in the giant-creature-threatens-humanity tradition.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Kong: Skull Island
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
USA, 2017, 118 mins
Release date: March 9
Distributor: Roadshow
Rated: M
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