Wednesday, June 12, 2019

MARIAH's THOUGHTS on Kong: Skull Island (2017)

Genre:
Action/Adventure/Sci-fi/Fantasy
Rating:
PG-13
For intense sequence of destruction, mayhem and creature violence
Release Date:
March 10, 2017
DVD Release Date:
July 18, 2017
Run Time:
1 hrs 58 minutes

Directed by:
Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Production Co:
Legendary Pictures, Tencent Pictures
Distributors:
Warner Bros. Pictures

Social Media:
   

Plot Synopsis:
In March 2017, the producers of Godzilla transport audiences to the birthplace of the most powerful monster myth of all in Kong: Skull Island, from Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures.

When a scientific expedition to an uncharted island awakens titanic forces of nature,a mission of discovery becomes an explosive war between monster and man. Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman and John C. Reilly star in a thrilling and original new adventure that reveals the untold story of how Kong became King.

Cast:
Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman, John C. Reilly, Corey Hawkins, Tian Jing, Tobey Kebbell


**My Thoughts**

Note: This review contains SPOILERS

Kong: Skull Island (2017) takes me into a new world in the King Kong franchise. It is not a simply a film about a massive, overgrown gorilla being taken to New York to be a stage attraction, but about discovering a new island and its creatures for the sake of Monarch. Kong: Skull Island (2017) obviously focuses on Kong, but also on Skull Island with its variety of new wildlife to explore such as SkullCrawlers, huge horned bison, lanky spiders with tentacles, and man-eating birds. It still takes in small pieces of the original franchise though, for I have an inkling feeling that Mason Weaver, an anti-war photographer played by Brie Larson, is supposed to be the beauty that could have killed the beast. But luckily, in this film, the beauty saves the beast. 

The producers and director made a strong effort to tie Kong into the MonsterVerse with Godzilla and the other Titans. The film starts in 1944 World War II where the viewer is immediately introduced to Kong. He appears before two fighting soldiers that happened to crash land on Skull Island. Later, in 1973 at the end of the Vietnam War, Monarch comes into the film with agents expressing their desire to visit Skull Island, an island naturally surrounded by a perpetual storm and thus evasive. To do so, Bill Randa of Monarch enlists the help of James Conrad a hunter-tracker, Preston Packard a United States Army Lieutenant Colonel, and his team to help him on his expedition. Given the presence of actors Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L. Jackson, it includes all the entertaining traits of an action film i.e. explosions, monsters, fighting, and gun fire. There are a few jump scares when Packard’s team are killed off one by one to get a reaction from the viewer but otherwise, the entire movie is simply simmering. It is entertaining for the most part but feels somewhat like a survival video game. The expedition team travel to Skull Island, are intercepted by Kong, and have to make it from point A to point B. There are no other high points. It’s all about Kongs fight with the biggest SkullCrawler, which made the film feel flat, but I appreciate it in comparison to Godzilla (2014) that skimped out on full views of its monster battles. 

Thanks to Monarch everyone is tied together. Kong: Skull Island (2017) isn’t simply a change from the older Kong movies, it is a link to a new interweaving MonsterVerse. It takes me into a new world in the King Kong franchise while maintaining its origins. Although slow, it’s a fascinating multipart story that builds the suspense for monster mash ups.

My rating:



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