Kong: Skull Island

Released 9th March 2017, Kong: Skull Island follows a scientific venture to a mysterious island where a mysterious creature lives. What makes this such a refreshing entry into the King Kong franchise are two key elements; the first thing to note is the choice to set the film in the 1970s in the social climate of the Vietnam War (most others are set in the 1930s). The second interesting narrative point is that the characters do not wish to bring Kong back home, with the themes of violence, war, survival and morals at the forefront, the characters are working to either escape or kill the creature. An obvious standout of the cast is John C. Reilly’s Hank Marlow; being stranded on the island since 1943, Marlow is both innocent to the social tensions carried by the rest of the cast yet hardened by his prolonged time on the island. He serves a valuable purpose to the narrative and Reilly delivers a great performance in his reaction to the events of the narrative.

Other strong characters are Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman’s Colonel Packard and William Randa. Packard acts as the human antagonist who is sour about the outcome of the Vietnam War and, courtesy of Jackson’s performance, highlights both the vengeful and compassionate nature of humanity through his interactions. Meanwhile, Randa acts as this film’s connection to 2014’s Godzilla and is embedded into the organisation Monarch with the aid of Goodman’s charisma. The film also does a strong job of humanising the various soldiers in the film: each have their own distinct traits and appropriate depth with the addition of fantastic performances to convey the comradery they all share. Besides these characters, however, everyone else’s characters seemed to do the bare minimum in terms of serving the narrative and also performances. Interestingly though, Kong, brought to life by brilliant CGI and Terry Notary’s motion capture performance, is presented with strong nuances and discernible attitudes which help you remain engaged in the narrative.

As a whole the visual effects are mostly flawless and pick up the torch from 2014’s Godzilla to further enhance the animalistic characterisation of the film’s ‘monsters’ and to also create a handful of locations of the film. As well as this however, the on-location shooting in Vietnam make the island feel very vibrant and formulates an authenticity to the jungle terrain. One visual flaw of the film is that some of its editing feels rather jarring and sudden which can briefly suck you out of the experience. Henry Jackman is able to deliver a good soundtrack with various applications of Vietnam-appropriate symphonics as well as leitmotifs. As it stands, Kong: Skull Island seems to be the best example of the Monsterverse balancing riveting monster action, provocative themes and actual characters.