“This planet doesn’t belong to us. Ancient species owned this earth long before mankind. I spent 30 years trying to prove the truth: monsters exist.” – Bill Randa
Number of Times Seen – 1 (19 Apr 2017)
Brief Synopsis – In the 70’s, a platoon of air-cav soldiers escort a group of scientists to a long lost island in the South Pacific to try and understand what actually happened there.
My Take on it – I’m not the biggest fan of monster movies but was still quite intrigued to see how they could potentially reboot the story of King Kong.
I was blown away by the special effects here and loved watching it all play out in a seemingly realistic fashion.
The idea to set it in the Vietnam War era was a great one because it allowed them to use stereotypical characters that we are all familiar with from that era in order to keep things fun and exciting at the same time.
In some ways, I believe that this storyline works even better than the original Kong storyline that was already filmed three times.
The energy and vigor of the characters (good and bad) makes for such an enjoyable and entertaining film that exceeded my expectations so much.
Amazing cast helps raise the stakes here because since there are so many familiar faces, you don’t know who will eventually survive or not (This IS a monster movie after all).
I’m actually quite excited to see where they plan to take this franchise because it has so much potential and unlike the Godzilla movie from two years ago, this one actually works extremely well and seems to be taking things in the right direction.
Bottom Line – Great reboot of the franchise which is so much better than the original Kong storyline. Loved the use of 70’s stereotype in the film to effectively give us lots of action and humor along the way. The special effects are amazingly done and it helps it all seem quite realistic looking. Superb cast helps raise the stakes because you know going in that not everyone is coming back out. Really looking forward to seeing where this franchise will go because this is a huge step in the right direction IMHO. Highly recommended!
MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts admitted that he was strongly influenced by video games from his childhood. That is why the movie contains many point-of-view shots of guns being fired (like in a first-person shooting game), and the shot of a helicopter making 360 degrees spins towards the ground was inspired by a similar scene from a Resident Evil game. (From IMDB)
Rating – Oscar Worthy
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Oscar worthy might be a bit hyperbolic (unless you’re talking about special effects), but otherwise – I had the same take on this movie. Much better and more fun than the Peter Jackson overblown, underwhelming version a few years ago. Kong – the biggest and baddest of them all in this version – was the clear star of the movie – but John C. Reilly nearly steals it out from beneath his massive hairy feet. I also agree that setting it in the waning years of the Viet Nam war was a master stroke. It really made everything work even better. In truth – other than Reilly – the rest of the roles – played by some very good actors (Tom Hiddleston, John Goodman and a recent Oscar winner) are pretty by the book and low key with nothing much to do beyond looking (up) awestruck. Some terrific scenes (in a graveyard of bones, attacks by enormous snakes and spiders) and all in all – some genuine fun at the movies – which is really what it’s all about. The payoff on the film’s success – not another sequel – but a TV series. Go figure.
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I didn’t like it much because I felt like all the characters were in different movies and I didnt like those lizard creatures
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Disagree with you here. The lizards were cool. The underwater creatures better. The giant spiders creepy as hell. As for “all the characters were in different movies” – you always need an array of “types” in this sort of movie – because you can assume going in – that most won’t survive til Fade Out. You had Goodman financing the mission – and covering up what it was theyu were really looking for – and those who worked for him. You had a soldier escort (necessary) with a combat photographer. A CIA stud. Reilly was a throwback to WW II who’d been living on Skull Island and co-existing with Kong and the creatures for 30 years. You had the indigenous people of the island (who were spectacular – look for an Oscar nod for makeup and hair design for them alone). For me, it all came together as a cohesive unit. It was basically a search and destroy deal (courtesy of Samuel L. Jackson, MY least favorite character – who was just Captain Ahab) once Jackson flipped his lid and wouldn’t leave well enough alone and bail. His compulsion to destroy Kong for his devastating attack on the helicopters and loss of life was a bit over the top – since Kong was protecting his own turf – and the choppers and soldiers were getting up into his massive grill. Not the other way around.
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Different types of characters is fine but they need to feel like they are in the same movie. Some were in horror movies. Some revenge movies. Some war movies and it did not work together well. We didn’t get to know these characters and they did not feel like a unit. John C Reilly was the only one that had personality and I bonded with. He was the only one that seemed to know he was in a popcorn movie.
I agree Kong looked cool but I think they blew their budget on him because every other creature looked poorly rendered and cheap especially those lizards. I really didn’t like them.
The original King Kong is about the way we treat things that are different and strange. It has emotion and the relationships feel real and sad. This was trying to be a popcorn movie but to me it was a bit of a mess
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