Kong: Skull Island seems like it tries -- and largely fails -- to present a serious, deep message, even though it often veers into the campy territory so many monster films seem to occupy. Most of the characters -- of which there are unnecessarily many -- are completely devoid of personality or even purpose, getting introduced only to eventually become monster-snacks, offering absolutely nothing to the plot beyond creating a false sense of mortality for the obvious band of destined survivors. The plot, as anyone familiar with King Kong's lore can surmise, is also nothing new, and is actually quite similar to the Peter Jackson-directed King Kong's (2005) plot of a group of outsiders surviving on a hostile island dominated by the giant ape.
And yet, much like the way Pacific Rim -- an equally shallow-if-enjoyable film -- scratched many of our itches for a monster-versus-robots film, Kong: Skull Island offers enough interesting visual set pieces that it becomes easy to ignore many of its flaws. The film's appropriately monstrous (pardon the pun) production values allow it to hire very good actors who instil otherwise lifeless characters with a semblance of emotion, coupled with the impressive CGI work that goes into the environments and monsters, allowing the film to accomplish just enough not to be a waste of time. Those who know nothing of the plans already laid out for the film's future (as I didn't) can also enjoy a doozy of an after-credits scene, which turns the film into something else entirely. It's a fun, albeit soulless film, one whose entire appeal hinges on how much you enjoy watching giant monsters tear chunks out of each other.
Kong: Skull Island takes place during the closing years of the Vietnam War in 1977 (with a nod to Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now) when the burgeoning US Surveillance Satellite Program chances upon a mysterious island surrounded by perpetual storms, believed to be the domain of various unidentified species by Bill Randa (John Goodman), a researcher who seems to have an obsession with -- and who believes in the existence of -- giant monsters. Accompanied by a team of scientists sent to survey the island, as well as photojournalist Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), Randa recruits a US Army Assault Helicopter regiment led by Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) and former British soldier and skilled tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) to join him on his expedition to Skull Island. Their inconsideration soon earns them the ire of Kong, who decimates the explorers' transport helicopters, leaving them stranded on the island with little chance of escape.
As mentioned before, Kong: Skull island's appeal will hinge entirely on your ability to enjoy giant monsters beating the living daylights out of one another. The interesting design of its monsters -- my favourite being the giant, bamboo-legged spider -- lends itself to a number of interesting visual set pieces. This of course refers to Kong, who is immediately introduced within the film's first 30 minutes, and almost never stops fighting one plus-sized creature of some stripe or another. Unlike in the arguably more realistic, animalistic design of the 2005 King Kong, Kong possesses a figure closer to human proportions, spending more time standing and walking upright than he does leaning on his front paws like an actual gorilla. This gives him a more regal, imposing appearance, one that more successfully sells his hidden intelligence and gentle spirit.
Most of the human characters also spend time ineffectually putting bullets into these monsters, when not running away or getting eaten by them. This is a good thing, as it rarely feels like the film dawdles too much with exposition or filler scenes, wasting very little time moving from one spectacle to another, even if not all of them manage to be interesting. It is often very easy to tell which human characters are about to end up as dinner, so much of the tension is often dispelled before the struggles even happen.
The tension is somewhat successfully sold, however, thanks to the calibre of actors -- the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson -- who manage to instil their poorly written, otherwise clay-doll characters with some semblance of humanity, even if none of them receive any degree of characterisation at all. Some members of the extended cast -- most notably Lieutenant Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly) -- did succeed in eliciting a more meaningful resonance with me throughout the film, acting as the film's source of levity and heart. This otherwise adventurous, happy-go-lucky attitude is often undercut by the film's own desire to be something "more" than a giant monster-mash, with many characters like Jackson's Packard making cryptic statements about the Vietnam War, creating backdrop to the film's time period. Moments like this detract from the fun, joyful spirit, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if the film managed to make all of its philosophical talk add up to something meaningful, which it unfortunately does not.
I would ultimately argue, however, that whatever the film's philosophical message is doesn't matter. Like most giant-monster movies, Kong: Skill Island will mostly be remembered for its depictions of battles between monsters, something that it does well enough to be enjoyable. The film's after-credits scene promises great things for Kong in the future, and I'll be glad to spend another two hours watching him rip and tear other monsters apart.
Kong: Skull Island
Starring Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel Jackson, John Goodman. Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts.
