Going into this film expectations were low as the taste from 2005's King Kong still lingered. Unfortunately the taste was not completely washed away.
At first glance this film looks to be an excellent blend of cast and direction. Actors like Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman and Brie Larson are absolute box office draws. Which after seeing the film you will understand just that.
The cast mentioned above is severely under-utilized. At first we believe John Goodman's character could be the real antagonist of the film, but with such little screen time given and a poor background story he because food for one of the Island's most dangerous Monsters.
Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson have some chemistry, which could have made for interesting story-telling. But again unfortunately we are left with wanting more from those characters as neither have much impact on the story... Well except for two scenes with Larson and Kong.
Samuel L. Jackson is essentially himself as a bull-headed soldier who seeks revenge on the Monster (Kong) who killed his men, despite the pleas from the quirky and insignificant character played by John C. Reilly who's advice is ignored every single time in this film. It gets to the point where you will start asking yourself "these characters can't be this dumb, can they?"
Kong shows up within the first 2 minutes of the film and then returns again about 35 minutes later. It's his second scene that you start to feel like this movie could be going somewhere as Kong destroys a half dozen Military Helicopters in interesting ways. Unfortunately that he the most enjoyable action sequence of the film as everything shifts to being about discovering Island itself and the Monsters within.
Yea, we get a back story of Kong how he protects those living on the Island from monsters that live within the land called Skull crawlers. We find out that Kong's parents were killed by these Skull crawlers and he (Kong) is essentially a sad young giant ape who has no family. (Kind of odd that I get Batman vibes from this)
Ultimately the remaining crew is split as the military presence thee wants to kill Kong because of what he did to their fellow soldiers, the rest of the crew just wants to make it to the North side of the Island to be rescued. because of this they go where they should't and more people die. Ultimately we end up with a completely CGI finale with the biggest of the Skull crawlers and Kong, there are a few moments where the remaining survivors attempt to help Kong, but fail to cause much harm at all to the Skull crawler.
Kong eventually comes out victorious and the survivors are rescued. And that's it.
There are no memorable scenes, there is no heart to the movie and the narrative is pretty predictable and lame. If you are looking for something to put on in the background with explosions and gun fire, this is a movie for you. But if you are looking to be entertained and walk away happy with what you saw, you may want to skip this one.
Thanks for reading
- Robert
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