Movie Breakdown: Kong: Skull Island

Pre-Screening Stance:

The marketing for Kong: Skull Island has been super on point and I’m actually feeling pretty hyped about the film.  Also, I kind of like that the movie exists mostly as a way to eventually put Kong and Godzilla on the same screen together.

Post-Screening Ramble:

The setup for Kong: Skull Island is quick.  There’s an organization called Monarch, and they want to explore a newly discovered island that was previously thought to be a myth.  So, they assemble a talented team (of famous faces) and set out.  Once on the island, where the rest of the film takes place, things go poorly and a lot of people die.  Bet you didn’t see that coming!

Kong: Skull Island is a mix of three films – Jurassic Park, 2014’s Godzilla and Peter Jackson’s King Kong,  And by mix, I really mean mish mash.  So, some of it works, some of it doesn’t.  Kong is great, and he does exactly what everyone wants him to do – gloriously smash everything.  I also found John C. Reilly’s Hank, an almost-crazy pilot that’s been stranded on Skull Island for a very long time, to be fantastic.  Unfortunately, the rest of characters are very cookie cutter, the plot is as weak as can be, and the CG is inconsistent.  Again though, Kong gloriously smashes everything, so most probably won’t pay any attention to the film’s cobbled together core.  And you know what?  That’s OK.  If you just want to zone out and have some fun, you could do a lot worse than Kong: Skull Island.  Just don’t expect to dip into a second screening and have an equally good time.  This one definitely has “law of diminishing returns” written all over it.

One Last Thought:

Are you guys tired of post-credit scenes?  I knew there would be one at the end of Kong: Skull Island and what’s there is fine overall, but I still found myself annoyed by it.  Do they all have to “setup” the next movie?  Why not show something fun/interesting about the movie that just ended?  Make post-credit scenes great again!