Kong: Skull Island

The new Kong offers a good dose of audiovisual orgy, which is nice to watch, but if you've seen all the trailers, the film itself doesn't offer much more, which is a shame. Personally, I was (pleasantly) surprised by Kong's fairly early arrival on the scene. The mysterious and almost inaccessible Skull Island offers a lot of giant, bizarre-looking and very dangerous creatures going after the "intruders from the other side". The action scenes all work well for the most part – the giant spider, the battle in the burial ground and the final fight. On the other hand, the plain and nonsensical dialogue, especially between the soldiers, was a real problem. Of the cast, I was most impressed with the unhealthily deranged Samuel L. Jackson and the healthily deranged John C. Reilly. In the end, this is a typical popcorn flick that you shouldn't expect too much from, because then you'll enjoy it all the more. Unfortunately, there were some expectations on my part. (20/03/2017)

Kong: Skull Island is very different than it is presented in trailers. It has much closer resemblance to a classic adventure film, and those expecting the seriousness and maturity hinted at in the trailers will not find it. That said, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, an debutant blockbuster director, occasionally delivers some very nice shots and handles the epic monster battles flawlessly, and there are more of them than you would expect. Unfortunately, when Kong disappears from the scene and it comes to the human characters, it becomes significantly worse. For a moment, the film tackles Samuel L. Jackson's war traumas from Vietnam very seriously (and quite impressively), only to change into John C. Reilly's comedic relief the next minute. And in the meantime, a boring Loki and a bunch of other people run around, whom you really won't care about. Overall, it's okay, but I won't deny a slight disappointment. I suppose I'll watch a compilation of the battles at most in a year, but the entire film will be quite difficult. (15/05/2017)

You won't find a more fun adventurous expedition. Kong; Skull Island has the advantage of having a very good cast, something that can't be said much about competing blockbusters. Tom Hiddleston is a likable hero, Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson adds pizzazz, Samuel L. Jackson is once again a great psychopath, and even the wisecracking John C. Reilly is impressive. The biggest plus is the visuals of the breathtaking island and the monsters, whose appearance is one of the best we've seen so far. The spider scene is begging for a horror sequel, and it's a shame that the ants don't make an appearance. The biggest highlight is the final fight with Kong and the giant lizard, which was very spectacular. What disappointed a little that they didn't show more monsters, I believe this island had a lot to offer and the film runs out of breath halfway through, with the viewer just waiting for the finale. I was surprised that the film was quite gritty and uncompromising in places, I was amazed at how many kids were sitting in the auditorium. Personally, I wouldn't take kids to see it. The post-credit scene is a nice touch. 85%. (14/03/2017)

A rather weak screenplay, balanced by excellent tricks and fine actors. A movie buff’s enthusiasm is evident in Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ work as director, and lots of great ideas and situations are just what I hoped for. Unfortunately, some catalysts leading to these situations don’t make absolute sense (very conveniently located chains and ship’s propeller in the last fight, gas grenades and the simple stupidity of some characters). This is a great shame, because it really spoils the effort. Interesting casting is confronted by a screenplay where for instance the wonderful Sam L. Jackson’s behavior occasionally defies common sense. But all it needs is a little more depth to his motivation. (14/03/2017)

I have an idea. Let's make another version of King Kong, but this time in a Vietnam War style. - All right, what's it going to be about? - That giant ape. - Wait, but the story... - Yeah, the story, it's secondary. If we don't know, we'll put Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin in there and some silhouettes in the backlight. - Isn't that too little? - No! We'll put Samuel L. Jackson in there, too. He will always say some awfully deep things and look like a crazy Maca Wind. Something between Colonel Kurzt and Captain Ahab, but blacker. - Okay, but what if it has runtime of almost two hours? – Then we’ll put a lot of useless characters in there who can be eaten by some giant beast. - Fine, sounds fun, green light. (10/09/2017)