Movie Review: Kong Skull Island

There will probably always be a new King Kong movie every few years, the last King Kong came out in 2005 and was a remake of the original King Kong that came out in 1933 and the second remake that came out in 1976. The new movie Kong Skull Island is not a remake of the original story of King Kong but rather a series of events that happen on the Island that Kong inhabits and unlike the 3 previous movies, Kong is not removed from his Island to become a side show and then wind up on the top of the Empire State Building or the former World Trade Center. This movie occurs entirely on Skull Island, and it involves the special effects that are not quite as good as the 2005 version. Despite this, the special effects are impressive, but not as impressive as the 2005 version, regardless of the improvements in computer technology in the last 12 years. What stands out as better in this latest version is mostly the acting of Samuel L. Jackson and mostly the close-ups of his face, as he stares down Kong during several battles that occur not only with Kong but other creatures that Kong shares the jungle with. Some flaws in this movie include the opening helicopter scene where Kong knocks several helicopters out of the sky very easily so you would think that most of the rest of them would go out of their way to avoid this huge animal but instead, one by one, about 10 helicopters are destroyed by Kong and fall to the ground, killing the majority of the inhabitants on board.

After this, the story follows three different landing parties, one with mostly military, another with one isolated soldier and the third with civilians. For the remainder of this movie, there is not much of a story, other than the survivors being attacked and killed by huge lizard-like creatures on the island while the remaining survivors trying to find each other. One unusual twist on this Kong Skull Island idea is one of the surviving groups discover a World War 2 veteran who crashed landed on the island 28 years earlier as the time period of this movie is 1972. John C. Reilly plays the World War 2 pilot and provides some comic relief in this movie as people are being attacked and killed on a very frequent basis. Like most movies like this, it is all about the special effects and not much else. There are several big stars, Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, John Goodman, John C. Reilly and of course Samuel L. Jackson and they were hired to bring in more people to the theaters who might not necessarily be big fans of movies like this.

See this movie for the special effects and action scenes, but there is not much else here as far as a unique story. I give this movie only a mild recommendation.

King Kong (Extended Version)

King Kong – Ultimate Edition (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD)

King Kong (1933)

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