KONG: SKULL ISLAND

Of course, it all rests on Kong himself, and considering how breathtaking Peter Jackson’s Kong was in 2005, it’s a remarkable feat that this new Kong is impressive all on his own. Younger and even bigger than ever before, this Kong is leaner, more muscular and meaner, the humanity we associate with the character buried even deeper. There’s a soul to this Kong too, but the emotional resonance that surprised in the 1933 original and blossomed in Jackson’s remake isn’t the focus here. This Kong is a brute, animalistic force, and achieves this in spades. He shares the island, not with dinosaurs, but with a bizarre and creatively vicious collection of creatures that help make this version of Skull Island distinct and original from what we’ve seen in the past.

The film kicks off beautifully in its first act and settles nicely into its second before predictably tripping over itself in the third, but by that point you’re having so much fun it doesn’t matter. The same can be said of the cast. Individually, none of them are particularly memorable, but as a unit their collective talents as great character actors give the film a playful and distinctive quality. Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman chew every bit of scenery they can find, John C. Reilly hits a surprisingly successful note with his over-the-top buffoonery, while Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston hold it together with dependable, sturdy performances. Hiddleston actually makes a surprisingly strong action hero, something I would not have expected. The script doesn’t offer anything that new for the cast to play with, and none of them leave much of an impression, but they all know they’re there to serve the action and the effects, and this makes them far better players in the grand tapestry of the film that if they had worked against it.

‘Kong: Skull Island’ isn't the most original blockbuster you’ll see, but this hardly matters at all. It may not be as elegant as ‘Godzilla’ or as powerful as Jackson’s ‘Kong’, but it had no intentions to be either of those things. It just wants to be loud, swift, bombastic and fun, and it achieves all of this with energy and aplomb. It also properly announces one of the most preposterous and unexpectedly promising franchises we've seen for a while, one where this world does not belong to us, where monsters are real and enormous, and where we get to sit back and watch them beat the living crap out of one another. Honestly, I cannot wait.