BLOOD WORK: SILVER TONGUED SILVER SCREEN: KONG SKULL ISLAND (2017)

It's King Kong!

Perhaps the greatest movie monster of all time is back! The original King Kong debuted way back in 1933 and has had an incalculable influence on cinema. Arguably no other film has inspired as many filmmakers either, from Ray Harryhausen and Eiji Tsuburaya to Peter Jackson and everywhere in between, and the films of those filmmakers have gone on to inspire the following generations. The legacy of Kong is tremendous and a daunting legacy at that. I saw the original King Kong as a child of three or four and it became my all-time favorite film and still is to this day (tied for number one on my top ten films with the original Godzilla).

Since the trailer debuted in July of 2016, I've been extremely excited for the release of KONG: SKULL ISLAND. It's been twelve years since Peter Jackson's King Kong remake. Even though the film was more than double the length of the 1933 original, Peter Jackson's film was largely a faithful retelling of the original movie. The 1976 remake as well was a fairly faithful adaptation. But while Peter Jackson's King Kong may be the most familiar rendition of Kong with audiences today, there exists a wildly different version of Kong in cinema, a version that hasn't been seen since 1967.

Director Ishiro Honda and special effects master Eiji Tsuburaya, the men who gave the world Godzilla, contributed their own version of Kong in the 1962 film KING KONG VS GODZILLA with a follow-up film in 1967 titled KING KONG ESCAPES. In the former film Kong is far bigger than he's ever been before, 150 feet tall, big enough to go toe to toe with Godzilla himself. That version of Kong was more of a unique creature and less an oversized gorilla.

Instead of remaking the original Kong, KONG: SKULL ISLAND resurrects the Godzilla-sized monster that is Kong.

THE PLOT

The year is 1973. The Vietnam War has just ended. Before all the troops are sent home a group of soldiers are sent on one last mission. An island, previously unknown, was recently discovered via satellite. The mission: A routine mapping expedition. They travel to the island by ship and fly in with helicopters. Once there they begin dropping seismic charges all over the island to map the geology. Suddenly an ape-like creature, taller than a building, swats them out of the sky. The survivors begin trekking through the jungle terrain to reach the rendezvous point. They soon realize that the giant ape isn't the only bizarre creature on the island. One by one the troops are killed by frightening monsters until only a small handful remain. Getting from one side of the island to the other proves a life or death battle. Who will survive? And what will be left of them?

WHAT I LIKED

Monsters Galore! One of the aspects of a great Kong movie are the myriad creatures populating Skull Island. One might even say it is the most important aspect of a Kong movie. Peter Jackson's King Kong had more monsters than the previous films and likewise Skull Island gives Jackson's film a run for its money. And the monsters are new too and some of them are downright frightening. This film doesn't try to upstage the prior films either by redoing scenes (like the T. Rex fight) yet again but instead offers up completely new monster battles and scenarios.

Something New and Something Old. Even though this is technically a franchise reboot it feels like we're getting something completely new. The beginning is fairly similar but once we get to the island the story becomes its own and not a remake. Kong doesn't leave the island like he does in every other film. Kong doesn't die at the end either. And the journey for the human characters simply becomes surviving and getting off the island. But within this new take are numerous nods and references to older films, not just Kong films but other similar styled movies too. There's a line from Jurassic Park spoken by Sam Jackson himself as well as a scene inspired by Jurassic Park III. There's an homage battle scene right out of King Kong Vs Godzilla. There's even a death of character right out of King Kong Lives. And of course references to scenes from the original film, scenes not present in this film.

Pushing the limits of PG-13. This is probably the closest we'll ever get to experiencing an R-Rated Kong film. The violence in this movie is graphic and copious. There was even a death scene that kinda disturbed me. Henry Jackman composes the music for the film and delivers an awesome score, both action packed and frightfully unnerving at times. There's lots of swearing, even an F-bomb dropped. And the action is fantastic! Even breaching the fog bank surrounding the island was intense and awesome. The actors for the most part deliver fine performances too.

NITPICKS

I really enjoyed this movie and as such there wasn't much I didn't enjoy about it. There is a scene where it seems like Kong sneaks up on Brie Larson which seemed a little odd. There's some dialog that probably should've been cut out too, a few moments of forced levity that maybe don't work as well as the filmmakers had wanted. I was skeptical about John C. Reilly and Brie Larson at first but they came through in the end and delivered good performances. I can also see some audience members maybe balking at Kong's sheer stature in this film, those people used to the decisively smaller Peter Jackson Kong. This Kong, as far as his size is concerned, felt more in tune with the Kongs of old and much closer to Kong's roots than Peter Jackson's 25 foot tall silver back gorilla did.

THE VERDICT

Certified FRESH by Rotten Tomatoes and Certified Awesome by me, Kong: Skull Island elevates the intensity and monster action higher than any other Kong film before it. The monsters are scary and awesome altogether. As a Kong fan I thought this movie delivered and as a fan of simply exciting movies this film succeeds. Make sure and stay to the end of the credits too! If anything will hurt this movie it's that it was released in March with so much competition surrounding it. The box office returns the film receives will likely be less than what the movie deserves. Regardless, this is a well executed movie. I liked it far more than the 2014 Godzilla film but not as much as Pacific Rim.

Overall Ranking: 8 out of 10