Kong: Skull Island is a goofy B-movie with disposable characters, fun monster designs, suitably epic battles, and a rather desperate soundtrack of classic rock songs. After 2014’s superb Godzilla (both films are part of the same corporate-branded “MonsterVerse”), and with a cast like this, one would hope this would be better, but it’s entertaining enough.
Kong: Skull Island plays out like an amusement park ride, quickly establishing gigantic beasts for Kong to fight, and the effects do an admirable job making these creatures uniquely grotesque. Like the movie’s humans (characters so stock you expect to see the Getty Images logo imprinted on their foreheads), these monsters are intended solely for punching, kicking, and yelling. Certainly, no one will be claiming that Kong: Skull Island‘s CGI characterization does for its titular ape what The Lord of the Rings did for Gollum or the original Kong did for dudes in gorilla suits.
This is the kind of movie where expository dialogue explains things like, “His name’s Kong. He’s the king around here…” John C. Reilly gets some good laughs in a memorable role (although the movie’s dripping sentimentality towards his character leads to a miserably sappy ending), but plenty of other jokes fall awfully flat. It’s unfortunate, as a genuinely funny script would help one more easily swallow this as the popcorn entertainment it strives to be. Many critics and viewers lauded Kong‘s more pulpy approach to the material than the somber and grandiose Godzilla, but I prefer a little awe and bombast with my monster movies.
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