Despite the big budget special effects, this movie felt like a very cheaply made movie with some of the most awkward cinematography i have ever seen and a script that feels like it was written by a bunch of kids.

The cinematography especially really got on my nerves. The colouring was ridiculous, everything was over-saturated and there were too many random slow-mo shots. The camera felt like it was under the control of a child with A.D.D who couldn't stop rapidly zooming in on peoples faces and briefly focusing on random objects.

The writing was also just terrible. All of the violent encounters they had on the island were extremely random and were over before you could even blink, there was no attempt to build tension or keep viewers at the edge of their seat. The only monsters on the island that were a threat (Skull Crawlers) were incredibly overpowered and were pretty much only there to fight Kong. Compare that to the 2005 movie where the humans were constantly fighting for their lives against a wide range of animals/creatures.

The only good thing about this movie was of course the final fight between Kong and the giant Skull Crawler. It wasn't shrouded in darkness and the camera work was smooth. One thing that annoyed me though was how the girl that was there to take photos didn't take any photos of the fight but instead idiotically stared at it through her camera lens for a few seconds before running off. Her character in general had no purpose, and the other characters were also extremely dumb and cartoonish.

Glad i didn't waste money on this one. Can't believe this is in the same universe as the 2014 Godzilla, a beautifully crafted film. But at least the next movie wont be directed by the idiot that directed this.

I really wanted to give this movie a better score but I just could not bring myself to overlook the stupid and crappy story.

Okay, let’s start with the bad. The movie is about a group of explorers exploring this Skull Island. No surprise there. They are accompanied by a military detachment. Somewhat okay still, there is a half decent explanation for that. One of the main characters in the movie is Lieutenant Colonel Packard. At first, I quite liked him, especially when he told off the journalist informing her that they did not loose the war, it was abandoned by the politicians.

However, from then on it goes really bad. Warning, spoilers ahead!

[spoiler]Once on the island Kong is revealed rather quickly. Something that I felt was a bit of a shame. There was no suspense building up for the reveal of the mighty ape. Okay, I could live with that. What I cannot live with is that these total dumb-asses, having discovered a scientific find of unprecedented magnitude, goes straight on to shooting off their guns. What the fuck? Not only that, they just keep shooting and circling around him while he trashes them one by one. That scene, while sporting some impressive action and CGI, was just so fucked up that one wondered if the author deliberately wanted to insult the audience.[/spoiler]

From then on I just cringed every time Colonel Packard was in the picture. He was clearly mentally unstable. He doggedly continued to want to kill Kong and used retrieving his men as a poor excuse. This is just the kind of shitty, overused and cliche’d Hollywood script that drives me nuts.

Now, with that over with, the movie was technically quite good. The actors are doing a decent enough job of their roles. The story, excluding the Vietnam references and general let’s make the military look bad old bullshit, was actually not to bad. It was a different take on the King Kong history for sure.

The CGI, the action and the various monsters were very cool. Not surprisingly King Kong was not the only threat on the Island. This time they did not just throw a few dinosaurs in but was rather creative bringing in creatures from all kind of animal (and insect) families as well as some home cooked ones, the skull crawlers.

The scenery is also very enjoyable. Apart from my gripes mentioned above I did enjoy a lot of the movie. However, the military clusterfuck that the script writer threw in there severely diminished my enjoyment of the movie and I cannot really bring me to give it more that a 3 out of 5 score.

"You hear that? That sounds like a bird, but it's not, it's a fucking ant."

I can't get enough of this film.

I love every thing about it. Jordan Vogt-Roberts more than pleasantly surprised me. I will not doubt him in the future.

The set-up, the story, the characters, the set pieces, the direction, the soundtrack, visuals, the colors, the action, just, everything. I don't understand how someone could not love this.

Even though the original 1933 King Kong is still the best film to date, Kong: Skull Island comes close to matching it's brilliance. Many people have to remember that while the 1933 classic was undeniably groundbreaking for it's time and carries a more subdued and personal story of beauty and the beast, the core story of the film is very much basic.

Here's a rundown:

A group of people are brought together for a mission to go to an uncharted island in the south pacific, dubbed Skull Island. They don't know what's there, but decide to head there to finally unravel the mystery behind one of the last unexplored places on Earth. Once they arrive, things go to hell. They meet natives, all sorts of creatures that want to eat them alive, and they encounter a giant destructive ape. The surviving explorers have to survive the horrors of the island and make it off alive in one piece.

Did I just describe King Kong (1933) or Kong: Skull Island (2016)? Eh, they sound similar? Both have different characters, subplots, and completely different tones, but metabolically is the same.

John Goodman is great in any role he's in. His best scene is his monologue towards Sam Jackson's character, Packard. Tom Hiddleston plays a standard mercenary, named James Conrad. He's a badass bar-fighting navigator who's paid to join Monarch's escort mission. Just same the as Goodman, he's great at delivering memorable lines. He reminds me a lot of Indiana Jones. But the emotional core of the film comes from John C. Reilly's character, Marlow. He lands on Skull Island back in World War 2 and is stranded there for over 20 years with a fellow enemy from the war. After the uniforms come off, they practically become brothers. He makes for a good comic relief, but soon takes over the story, as he reveals he has a wife and possible son that he's never met. He's the one you really root for, hoping he makes it off the island alive. I was surprised how deep Packard got as far as a character. He becomes a more tragic villain towards the end, as he slowly grows more and more obsessed with taking down Kong. After witnessing the giant ape take down all of his men, he kind of snaps. He couldn't handle another defeat after Vietnam, or has he says it, "We abandoned the war," and so his sanity was barely hanging on. Very pleasant surprise and Jackson does a great job as always. My favorite line of his is, "Bitch, please!" that he snaps at Brie Larson. Pretty epic shit.

Of course, Kong is just as amazing as ever. They perfected him this time around, the special effects are as good as you can get, on-par with the amazing Peter Jackson version. Before I went into the film, I was worried Kong was just going to become a standard giant monster that you wouldn't be able to relate to or get emotional with, but I was proven dead wrong. When I look at this ape, I see the same Kong I love and grew up with in the 1933 and 2005 versions; he's just a lot bigger here.

Jordon Vogt-Roberts absolutely nails the style of this film. I suppose a lot of the credit could be given to his cinematographer, who also does all the work for Zack Snyder, on films like 300 and Watchmen. But the slow-motion shots of the helicopter blades rotating, sunrise backdrops with Kong in the foreground, and Hideaki Anno style shots are littered all throughout... and it is just glorious. This is one of the most gorgeous films I've ever watched in a theater. The colors just pop out in every shot; every shot is just teaming with detail and beauty. I can't get enough of it. The slow-motion sequence with Tom Hiddleston in the green smoke, the blue and red color contrast in the bar scene, the sunset backdrop with the helicopters flying, the IMAX camera shots of Vietnam mountains, and the final monster battle are all wonderful. I can't list them all, because the entire film is just beautiful. Absolute perfection on a technical level here.

As I said in my previous review, This is the movie Jurassic World wanted to be. It's an epic, funny, loud, explosive, and visually incredible film giving us tons of great character moments and monster action. I absolutely love this.

Alright. So i like action movies. I like King Kong. So when you have this idea of having the traditional king kong story made into a action movie about monsters in the skulk island, that sounds like a fcking great idea. The best part of King Kong was all this other monsters in the island. But this film is the first one to tell the story of kong completely from that perspective. What i also really liked was that it was still very human even though its a monster movie. I personally enjoyed it very much like with any other Kong film there is the love angle which is done with brie larson character which i thought was really sweet to put into a movie that concentrates on being a fun movie. And it achieves being a fun movie. I had a lot of fun watching this film. The plot is simple. The vfx is really done well. The action sequences where good. Is it forgettable? Kinda. You have that nice 70s nostalgia around it but it doesn't stay there because after all its all in the island of the world. It was a very fun experience and very satisfying. I didn't get bored with it. It had my attention. It was good. So overall, should you see it? Yes, if you have the time and you are in the mood for an action movie go watch it. It will entertain you for most of its run-time.

Don't let the title and promotional material fool you: Kong Skull Island is more military commentary and homage to Apocalypse Now than simply _another_ King Kong movie. In that sense it brings something new and fresh to the series, and is also very much a period piece--a period that all too recently seemed to be contemporary history, not the distant and unfamiliar past in which the film takes place.

After a prologue set during WWII, the current setting of the film opens in the waning days of the Vietnam War. While plenty of films have explored the war in Vietnam, Kong eschewed using combat or anti-war demonstrations on the homefront as the focal point. The Draft, flag burnings, use of the term "Charlie," etc are all absent from the film. Instead, it takes the unique perspective of war from an elite group of soldiers contemplating going home--back to "The World." While some characters look forward to reuniting with friends and family, the contempt for the army and the war that is seen in other Vietnam movies is also absent. These guys are soldiers and they are proud of that; it means something. Their commander is portrayed as an old war horse who is contemplating a future with no war to fight.

In the midst of all this, two scientists named Bill Randa (John Goodman) and Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins), lobby to have a military escort assist them in exploring an uncharted island. Randa and Brooks assemble their team which consists of tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddelston) photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) a geologist San (Jin Tian) and a few other scientists not fleshed out enough to even remember.

They meet up with Lt. Col. Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) and the the soldiers we met earlier in the film. With all these convenient characters in place, the movie really begins.

The film shifts gears from being a period piece that goes out of its way--sometimes with distracting effect--to showcase outdated technology (a scene in which the camera pans to a table of rotary phones and then lingers for a few seconds comes to mind), to a Tarantino-esque homage to Vietnam War movies. The cinematography is excellent. Jordan Vogt-Roberts makes good use of the physical environment (coincidentally, Vietnam) and made me realize just how in need we were of a beautiful Vietnam War movie in the age of 4K and Real 3D.

Complete with Credence Clearwater Revival and Jefferson Airplane songs, equipment-laden soldiers marching through swamps, dogtags clinking together, their helmets advertising what they decided to scribble on them, the jolly Green Giant presses on through the jungle--the director's love of Vietnam War movie visuals on full display, the movie moves along with great fun.

However, when the titular character first shows up, the action-packed visuals begin to detract very quickly from the mood Jordan Vogt-Roberts established in the first third of the movie. In the excessive age of more is better, the movie stumbles a bit, threatening to collapse under the weight of its title monster.

Thankfully Kong is reigned in and the human characters are able to command some attention. At this point, the camp is divided in two: Military vs. Civilian. While the Army soldiers are on a rescue mission to bring back one of their own, the civilian folks meet up with the island's native population--including a downed WWII pilot (John C. Reilly) who's been on the island for 30 years. Through him we learn that Kong is a protector of the island. That he is, in fact, not the monster at all.

Packard is not having any of this, of course, because Kong killed some of his men. This is where the movie makes its statement. Kong is the combatant that fights to protect the natives--much the way Packard and his men are portrayed. Packard mentions that soldiers do the dirty work so our friends and family back home don't have to be afraid. In this, Kong and Packard have a kinship--common ground shared by all soldiers: They do the dirty work so you don't have to. Unable or unwilling to see this, Packard decides to wage a personal war against Kong.

This is unwise as Kong protects the island from "Skullcrawlers"--massive lizard-like creatures who would eat any living thing on the island if not for Kong's presence.

The civilians begin to see Kong as not only necessary, but as compassionate and humane. He saves a trapped water buffalo, marvels at the sight of the aurora borealis, and has a brief but tender moment with Conrad and Weaver. He is the soldier whom, during a lull in the battle, is shown as a well-rounded individual, a reminder that being a soldier is something one does; not something one is. This is also true of other soldiers in the film, such as Cole and Mills. Packard, however, has gone off the deep end. A showdown between he and Kong is inevitable, and with Kong out of commission, the Skullcrawlers are able to run amok and create problems for our heroes.

At this point Kong is miraculously resurrected to save the day because the scrip said so. And he does. And the film ends on the sappiest, corniest, and most contrived of happy Hollywood endings.

Where the film works, it works well. Its commentaries on soldiers and soldiering are interesting without being heavy handed. Despite the Vietnam backdrop, Jordan Vogt-Roberts avoids making a commentary about the Vietnam War specifically, avoiding political controversy in the process. The actors make good use of what material they have to turn in decent performances. In a movie with Brie Larson, Tom Hiddelston and Samuel L. Jackson, it's John C. Reilly, Jason Mitchell and Shea Whigham who steal the show. Also, Kong looked terrific. The CGI work is better than what the Peter Jackson remake gave us--though the Skullcrawlers looked laughably cartoonish.

But, the movie has its faults as well. Its parallels to Apocalypse Now can be distracting at times. As is common with ensemble pieces, there are too many characters on the screen for any one of them to get enough screen time to become memorable. Hiddleston in particular had the least material to work with. His character--such as it was--had no depth or personality. He was simply action movie trope. The interactions between Larson and Kong only work because we know that King Kong has always been a Beauty and the Beast tale. It's forced. Giant ape and pretty blonde get along, because it's a Kong movie. For the uninitiated, it could just feel jarring and uneven.

All in all, the film succeeds as a blockbuster to eat popcorn to. Yet it tries, with varying degrees of success, to reach beyond that. While Kong deserves an A for effort, a B- is all it achieves in its execution. Also, the interesting and unique aspect of combining Vietnam War movies with the Kong mythos is highly rewarding for the audience.

Better than average, but still far from perfect.