Kong: Skull Island

The most famous big ape is back.

Peter Jackson followed his first trip to Middle-Earth with a three-hour recreation of 1933's 100 minute-long King Kong. Now, director Jordan Vogt-Roberts follows his debut feature, The Kings of Summer, with Kong's latest, Kong: Skull Island.

Bill Randa (John Goodman) has photographic evidence of an uncharted island in the South Pacific. He figures that strange and powerful creatures thrive there. He gets an expedition to "Skull Island" going just as the White House pulls the plug on the Vietnam War. Col. Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) is happy to get some work escorting the mission. Also on deck include geologist  Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins), tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddelston) and photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson).

The expedition braves Skull Island's permanent storm-system to encounter paradise. They proceed to bomb it to see if the Hollow Earth theory holds out. King Kong immediately appears and knocks them out of the sky. They're all separated after this.

Meanwhile, freaky lizard things called Skullcrawlers emerge to eat and maim. Kong is the only thing keeping them in check and he's the last of his kind. Conrad and friends learn this from Hank Marlow (John C. Reilly), a stranded pilot from WWII. Col. Packard wants to kill Kong to avenge his fallen comrades. Our heroes have to keep that from happening if they want to get off the Island.

Since this King Kong is over 100 ft tall, don't expect him to climb the Empire State Building anytime soon.

The screenplay doesn't rehash the 1933 template unlike the other two remakes. It's just an expedition to Skull Island. It juggles the stories of the two groups quite well. The scientific explanations don't weigh down the film at all. Plus, it gives a profoundly prophetic line as Randa remarks "there will never be a more screwed up time in Washington than now." It also masters the mood whiplash cut: a soldier falling into Kong's waiting mouth cuts to another eating a sandwich.

What about the characters? Marlow is not only funny but one of the sanest characters in the movie. Conrad and Weaver were fine. Packard is likable even after he goes Ahab on Kong. A few other characters were hard to keep track of, but they were mainly the Red Shirts. Biologist San Lin (Jing Tian) could've used more characterization. It would've been nice if Gunpei Ikari (Miyavi), Marlow's enemy turned friend, was shown more.

What about the star? Kong appears in full in the first half-hour. He shows up more frequently than Godzilla in his 2014 movie. He's mainly angry or stern through out the movie. We get a scene where we see him sad and lonely. Kong and his fellow creatures are have great designs and realized by nice CGI. Kong is portrayed with motion-capture by actors Terry Notary and Tobe Kebbell, the latter of whom appears in the flesh as a Mauve Shirt.

Cinematographer Larry Fong shows off Kong's size and the Skull Island landscape with his great work. The visual style fits right in with Apocalypse Now as much as its story's tone. While Wagner isn't involved, a fine score by Henry Jackman and some old standards set the scenes. Editor Richard Pearson keeps the film going good for 119 minutes. The sound work is pretty good too.

Kong: Skull Island believes that bigger monsters are better than bigger run times. It also helps that it has humans that the audience can identify with. It gives a welcome fresh spin to the story of cinema's greatest big ape. It's a blessing in a world where remakes simply rehash a classic template. An awesome blessing.

Its prerequisite end credit scene gives us a glimpse for Kong's future, which involves the King of the Monsters and friends. Yay.