‘King Kong: Skull Island’ Not Worthwhile for Brainy Types

Photo credits to IMBD.

Photo credits to IMBD.

By Alex Marshall, Reporter

On the big screen this week is Jordan Vogt-Robert’s King Kong: Skull Island with an amazing cast of Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John C. Reilly, and John Goodman.

The story takes place in the mid 1970’s where a new island, known as Skull Island, has been discovered in the Pacific Ocean, and a crew of scientists and soldiers go to explore.

No one on board expected the gravity of what they would discover.

Larger than life monsters, fantastic landscapes and constant danger surrounds them as they make their way to the North end of the island to escape.

On the way, the group splits as one side led by Samuel L. Jackson’s character wishes to put down King Kong to avenge their fallen brothers; whereas, the other side recognizes King Kong as hero figure for the island, and wants to  protect them from something much worse.

The movie falls into the same category as the Transformer movies, where the movie in itself is very appealing in terms of visual and audio effects, but actual substance in the movie seems to be lacking.

Twenty minutes into the film, and the audience is subjected to an overload of explosions and destruction with fighting scene after fighting scene.

The only moment the audience gets to catch their breath is when the Reilly character is introduced.

Surprisingly, the Reilly character seems to be the only good character that has motivations backed by emotional development.

He was stranded on the island for 28 years, and that caused his character to be molded emotionally into a compassionate being that cares because he truly does care.

The other characters are either straight up bad such as Samuel L. Jackson character or sickeningly good like Brie Larson’s anti-war photographer character.

Besides some small exposition in the beginning, there is no reasoning for these characters, actions.

It seems as if they are just mindless, doing what they’re told, just like half the cast, who play as soldiers.

These soldiers lack of character doesn’t matter too much, since most drop like flies throughout the movie, they weren’t going to be receiving any real development anyways.

Besides the flaws in plot and character development, the special effects (especially those in the fight scenes) are outstanding and really give a full view of what’s going on.

The monsters on the island look impressive as well, though only seven made an appearance on screen.

Overall, this movie feels feels like a spin-off of Jurassic Park mixed with Transformers or Pacific Rim.

It’s a good movie to watch with friends and unwind, but don’t expect real thought provoking material.