#25
I am an unabashed fan of popcorn movies … if you want to consider that a genre, then consider it my favorite! Popcorn flicks are tough to pull off. It’s a fine line of not being too campy or not being too serious. A few of my favorite examples are John Wick, Fast 5, Mission: Impossible 3, Pacific Rim … and now Kong: Skull Island. If you know what you are going into, then you will not be disappointed, but if you go in already hating that campy/serious style then you should just turn around around refund your ticket now.
The story is fairly straightforward. Bill Randa (John Goodman) works for Monarch, a mysterious government funded company that tries to find signs of monsters. He hires a military escort led by Packard (Sam Jackson), a military trained tracker – Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), and brings along a photographer (Brie Larson). Randa of course doesn’t fill in anyone what they are really doing until a giant gorilla monster takes all of the helicopters down. Now they are forced to survive and escape.
I would give Kong: Skull Island a solid 8 “everything that moves is going to kill you” out of 10.
THE BEST
The action and the way it was shot was phenomenal. My wife claimed it looked like Wes Anderson directed it, if he did action movies, but I would disagree. The world they built was unique, from the colors to the way the cast moved through it. And the film definitely benefited from a lack of quick cuts, which always helps giving movies a fun feel.
That action though! I was expecting a few action scenes, but it ended up being almost non-stop. Literally every area of the island had some new creature that was doing its best to kill. On top of that, Kong got to show off his fighting prowess several times proving that he would be able to hold his own against any other giant monsters that might be coming up soon…specifically in 2020, when the monster fight of the century is slated to happen.
THE WORST
My only real issue with the movie was the inconsistencies. There was a scene where everyone was taking off in helicopters from a boat, which showed maybe 5 helicopters … except there was a fleet of almost 20 of varying size. Speaking of varying size; lets talk about Kong. Some scenes would have him barely above trees and others had him on par with mountain peaks if not bigger.
OVERALL
I was worried about the inclusion of John C Reilly originally. I assumed his comedy would be out of place, but oddly enough, he was one of the better humans in the movie. In general there was a fair amount of comedy throughout the movie and it worked in perfect harmony with the serious tone of the movie. It resulted in a movie that is easily one of the best movies of the year. Kong: Skull Island is the prime example of a movie to see on the big screen and in 3D.
RECOMMENDATION
An obvious recommendation would be Pacific Rim. It’s another big dumb action movie with monsters the size of buildings and they are fighting robots equally as large, both being controlled by two people’s minds linked together. If that doesn’t sound amazing, then maybe popcorn flicks are not for you.
Should Anyone Watch 