Kong: Skull Island

Director - Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Death Valley, Funny or Die Presents...)
Starring - Tom Hiddleston (Thor: The Dark World, The Avengers), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained), and Brie Larson (21 Jump Street, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World)
Release Date - 2017
Genre - Action/Adventure
Tagline - "All hail the king"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     When I was in elementary and middle school I had to stay at my grandmother's while my dad was out of town.  She wasn't the type of person to watch day time soaps but she loved the evening news and the Sci-Fi Channel before it made the move to Sy-Fy.  I watched so many great shows and movies with her like Rosewell, Lexx, Star Trek, Stargate, and so on.  She absolutely loved that fucking channel.  One day the cable went out due to a car crash that took out the cable pole.  They estimated two or three days for her cable to come back so she went to her room and brought in a few VHS tapes covered in dust.  One of them just happened to be the King Kong remake starring Jeff Bridges.  It looked to be recorded from television but I remembered absolutely loving it.  When the movie finished we check the cable again and when it was still off she turned and pulled out another VHS copy of King Kong.  When I questioned her she said that this was the original King Kong.  After I watched it I was hooked.  We watched it twice that night and again the next day.  When Peter Jackson's King Kong was released I had to watch it in theaters.  While most of my friends hated it I fucking loved it.  I am proud to own the special edition DVD and bought it the day it came out.  When the new reboot was in theaters I had to watch it as well.  To date it is my favorite Kong aside from the original.  When the blu was released I requested a copy so I could review it.  Thanks for sending it my way!

     The film follows an explorer, a military outfit, and a group of scientists who venture to an unexplored island that is believed to be home to a monster responsible for destroying ships and other large craft.  However, what they find if a world full of magnificent beasts and monsters that have never been seen before and their guardian, Kong. 


     I love the character of Kong, for the most part.  Kong is a protector.  He protects his home lands and the creatures in it.  When threatened he becomes a monster only seen in nightmares.  Most films show two sides of Kong.  We get the loving and compassionate Kong that protects and then we get the deadly Kong whose destruction knows no end.  The only time this is really changed up is the Kong Kaiju films which has an entirely different mindset.  When I first went into Kong: Skull Island I hoped they would keep Kong the way I like him and for the most part they truly exceeded my expectations.  The acting in this one is fantastic.  We have a cast I was not expecting.  We have Loki himself, Tom Hiddleston, who plays an amazing reluctant hero.  I'm more and more impressed with Hiddleston every time I see him in a film.  Brie Larson is a very strong female lead.  She was more than capable of bringing her character to life resulting in a great performance.  I was also very impressed with the film's supporting cast.  When I think of Kong I never would have associated him with John C. Reilly and John Goodman.  Both delivered some very memorable characters especially Reilly.  He was the perfect comic relief.  The story for this one draws on some of the original Kong mythology and puts it in a more contemporary setting.  It does a great job at creating a bigger than life world around Kong and gives the viewer a world of wonder and adventure.  With that being said, I was not a fan of the creatures that Kong stands against fights.  We have this magical and lost world that was home to so many more possibilities.  The film does take liberties and adds quit a bit to bring it into the modern era.  The pacing is damn near perfect and we see a great deal of character development.  Finally, the film is a visual feast.  We get a ton of visual effects.  For the most part they all look fucking fantastic but there was several instances where the same eye for detail was not applied.  Also, the creatures I complained about earlier are not visually appealing.  I don't find them threatening which ruins it for me.  Overall, Kong: Skull Island is a fantastic film and great start to something much bigger.  Kong purists may not find entertainment here but to the Kong fan that is open minded it is a hard hitting film.  Check it out.