Kong Skull Island (2017)

I believe whenever a movie is remade, or revisited, or continued (as in a sequel) there needs to be a reason. It needs to offer something new, something that gives us a purpose in seeing a new film and not just rewatching what has come before. In the case
of King Kong this is especially true as what has come before has been so strong.

The original King Kong is famously classic. It, like most of its successors is a critique of colonialism and imperialism. It has its flaws but remains powerful in its imagery and narrative. The 70s remake was an entertaining exercise in high camp. Peter Jackson's visually stunning 2005 take is a post-modern reminagining of the '33 original, glorious is scope if a little excessive. Each touched in its own way on the themes of empire. So what new can this new Kong film offer.

Kong Skull Island is the most unique of the big remakes. It is a hybrid of sorts in that it mixes the camp of the 70s remake (the era in which this film is set), a ties it to the grandeur of the other films to create something new. This isn't the Kong story we've seen before. It makes references to the original stories but tells something new. This, it turns out, is what I needed in a new Kong film. As I don't like to be fed the same thing I've already seen, I appreciated seeing something brand new.  The originality of this film is partially due to its role in setting up a "shared universe" for giant monsters (along with Godzilla - stick around past the credits) but mostly due to the masterful direction of Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kings of Summer) who gives us something wholly kinetic and lush to watch in this adventure/morality tale.

Kong Skull Island takes very little time setting up its story and soon grabs you and throws you into the mess of things. Vogt-Roberts revels in his 70s camp and fills his story with character archetypes just up to a limit, and then uses that setting to tell what turns out to be a very smart and exciting adventure story. The theme of things "not belonging to us" is laid over a story which invests us in his thin but familiar characters. Vogt-Roberts shows us how a tent-pole film is done right. His film turns out to be 2 hours of intelligent, stylized fun. And by paying homage to but not repeating Kong films of the past, he refreshes the ideas for us so nothing feels stale.

The recent Godzilla remake which is tied to this film series, in its attempt to be serious, lost steam as it went along. But Skull Island will have none of that. If this series is going to find its groove hopefully it can ape this film's tone and style and make us excited about giant monsters again.

Kong Skull Island
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Jing Tian, John C. Reilly
Writers: Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein, Derek Connolly