★ ★ ★ ½ ☆
We wave a cheerful goodbye to awards season and prepare for
the imminent onslaught of summer blockbuster season with this, the latest
incarnation of King Kong and the second in Warner Bros. monsters shared universe.
If even half of the franchise properties headed our way in the coming months
are as amiable as this fantastically enjoyable romp, we have little to fear.
Kong: Skull Island leaps
a few decades past the usual 1930’s escapades and lands just as the Vietnam War
is coming to an end, and so that conflict becomes the metaphor at the heart of
the film. A band of US soldiers led by war-starved Colonel Packard (Samuel L.
Jackson) and a constantly-sleeveless SAS tracker (Tom Hiddleston) are tasked
with protecting a scientific expedition to a hitherto unexplored island in the
Pacific. Brie Larson tags along as magazine photographer Mason Weaver (a decent
attempt to knock Mark Wahlberg’s Cade Yeager in Transformers from the top spot of dumbest action movie names).
You’ll notice I just sort of stuck Larson on the end there
as a footnote but believe me, that’s more appraisal than the film gives her. She’s
mostly there to provide (admittedly very convincing) horrified stares and
awe-inspired gawping. And, for most of the running time, we’re firmly with her.
To use a phrase I promised never to use; this movie is a visual feast. Cinematographer Larry Fong – so
usually stuck with adhering to the iron-grey sensibilities of Zack Snyder –
makes full use of an eye-piercing colour palette here, creating a myriad of
iconic shots that you just want to bathe in. Kong’s silhouette framed against a
burning sunset, napalm explosions reflected in a grinning pilot’s aviators and a
dozen others that I daren’t spoil ensure this film is at least a stylistic
match for Gareth Edwards' Godzilla.
While the first of Warner/Legendary’s series was about the
myth and mystery, Skull Island is all
about the monsters. Almost no time is wasted on shipping our intrepid cast to
the island, where they’re immediately set upon not only by the giant ape, but
also by skull-faced lizards, enormous spiders, tree-like carapaces and all
manner of creepy crawlies. The enormous success these creatures have on drawing
the eye is commendable, not least because they distract from the risible dialogue
(poor John Goodman’s professor is dealt a bad hand in expedition exposition
from the start).
Luckily, clunky lines are often overridden by thunderous
sound design or the music. Henry Jackman’s score plays much like his Captain America: Civil War album on
shuffle, but it works fine. His part usually plays second fiddle to the jukebox
collection of 60s/70s hits, just in case you forgot the whole thing was a metaphor
for Vietnam for two seconds.
The military forces ill-prepared to face a jungle-bound
enemy, extensive use of napalm, a sophisticated and resourceful indigenous populace
and more (Hiddleston’s character is literally called Conrad, for goodness sake)
create an analogy so heavy-handed they may as well have called the movie Viet Kong. But Kong: Skull Island is a film that thrives on lack of subtlety, on creatures
and camp and its British hero slicing up giant lizards with a samurai sword. It’s
one Wilhelm scream away from a classic.
