Kong: Skull Island

[LotsoA113]

Surprisingly, this one has become one of my more anticipated movies of 2017! The trailers have been phenomenal, it looks gorgeous and I love juxtaposing such an A-list cast with what looks like an unabashedly goofy monster movie. Hope this one's a keeper cuz it certainly looks promising!

[Ben]

Didn't we have a thread for this already? And isn't this trailer a couple of weeks old now?

That said...I'm looking forward to Apocalypse Kong, too!

[Ben]

So the new Kong...is actually king of *boring*...

And the title is misleading. Instead of Kong: Skull Island, it should be called: Skull Island (Kong), since the big beast actually isn't in it for much of the time.

I went from thinking "this could be the first 4K disc I buy" to "well maybe if other Monsterverse films are a bit better I might buy a boxset down the line".

It starts off okay, although I was surprised at how old and somewhat frail John Goodman often came across, but this is Sam Jackson's movie from the start. Even Tom Hiddleston, who seems miscast and never commanding enough for the character he's supposed to be (where was another young Harrison Ford or a Jurassic-style Chris Pratt?) plays second, third or even *fourth* fiddle to Jackson, the massive monkey and John C Reilly, who brings some good humor to the thing (but if you've seen the trailers you've seen his best bits).

I was also surprised by one f-bomb that didn't even make sense, coming from Reilly within a throwaway line when there were several instances earlier in the film where I thought "they could have really gone for a stronger word there, but I guess they wanted to keep the rating down". And then that word came and it felt totally gratuitous and out of place, hanging a big question mark over the moment (as in "why did he have to say that?"). Looking back, I think that's when the movie took a downturn for me and I started to not enjoy it as much.

On the plus side, the effects are naturally excellent, but it all gets bogged down in just fight after fight with new monsters, and the same ones over and over. Remember the extended version of Peter Jackson's Kong, with much more of them on the Island coming across new threats every five minutes? Well this is just like that but...for...the...entire...movie.

Now, of course, that's what a lot of people want to see. That's what I thought *I* wanted to see. But I wanted to see Kong kicking some major monster butt, not just the monsters keep on attacking the humans trying to get to the other side of the island to meet a pickup.

Kong *is* in the movie, of course, but only two or three times in a major sense, and only two of those are action scenes, one when the humans arrive and another near the end, as it just doesn't really feel enough.

And then the whole slotting this in as a prequel to 2014's Godzilla just doesn't work. There's something in here that suggests that, in Godzilla, someone should have said "hey this is like that giant ape back in the 70s", or at least have certain personnel turn up in Godzilla based on the post-credit setup used here at the end of Skull Island (Kong).

Then you can start to scratch your head over when exactly Godzilla was created, because I'm sure as heck confused on how a bunch of people in the 70s know about a creature who didn't come about until the 2010s...(and why word of Kong seemingly doesn't ever get out!?)!

Seems after the DC muck-up, Warners haven't thought their Monsterverse out properly, either...

At any rate, this does kind of standalone apart from the desperate-to-connect ending, but it certainly wasn't as cool as I was hoping for.

[EricJ]

Then you can start to scratch your head over when exactly Godzilla was created, because I'm sure as heck confused on how a bunch of people in the 70s know about a creature who didn't come about until the 2010s...(and why word of Kong seemingly doesn't ever get out!?)!

The "Japanese scientist with the same name as the guy from the classic movie" in Godzilla '14 already knew about Godzilla from way back, so we're assuming Godzilla In Warner Name Only shares the same 40's WWII origin.

Haven't seen this yet, but supposedly we do get one obligatory scene between the big ape and the girl, to justify the remake legacy, even though he's ten times bigger in this franchise, which makes her the comparative size of a cough drop?.

And then the whole slotting this in as a prequel to 2014's Godzilla just doesn't work. There's something in here that suggests that, in Godzilla, someone should have said "hey this is like that giant ape back in the 70s", or at least have certain personnel turn up in Godzilla based on the post-credit setup used here at the end of Skull Island (Kong).
At any rate, this does kind of standalone apart from the desperate-to-connect ending, but it certainly wasn't as cool as I was hoping for.

Sort of makes it hard for Beauty to 'Twas Kill the Beast, when they're more interested in keeping him around for half a dozen more universe-interlinked entries. Everybody cry when-a da monkey DOESN'T die.

(Speaking of which, I don't think they would have wanted "Like that giant ape back in the 70's" in the script, do you? As the audience might be confused as to which big 70's ape they were referring to...)

[breakle]

Love natural in Kong 2017 - the biggest Kong