Kong: Skull Island

Kong: Skull Island poster

Kong: Skull Island

Apocalypse Kong

You would be well within your rights to have deliberately skipped Kong: Skull Island when it was in theaters. Every sequel and reboot of King Kong after the original 1933 film has been disappointing. Even Peter Jackson's 2005 remake while better than most pales in comparison to the black and white classic of six decades prior. And that's before we even talk about how many other tedious CGI monster films there've been lately.

But if you did skip it - you might want to go back and check it out. One of my favorite parts of the original 1933 King Kong are the scenes on Skull Island where soldiers armed with modern firearms and grenades have to take on the dinosaurs of the island. I always wanted to see an entire movie of that. I always thought a huge opportunity was lost to follow up the film Jurassic Park III with a special forces search-and-destroy mission like the movie Aliens except with dinosaurs. Well Kong: Skull Island is that film.

Some really memorable characters like Colonel Packard (Samuel L. Jackson), a mercenary named Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), a photojournalist peacenik (Brie Larson), a WWII MIA vet (John C. Reilly). and a cryptozoologist (John Goodman) lead a rag-tag group of scientists and soldiers (read: monster chow) on a mission to a newly discovered island in the South Pacific in 1973.

If you can't tell from the obvious homage in the poster above, Kong: Skull Island derives its inspiration not just from the King Kong films, but from Apocalypse Now as well. Featuring music by Jefferson Airplane, Black Sabbath, The Stooges, The Hollies, and that staple of Vietnam-era films, Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Kong: Skull Island is an obvious precursor of more to come. But it's been a dozen years since the 2005 King Kong. The custodians of the Kong franchise could've done what so many superhero franchises have done and just cranked out yet another remake fo the original. Instead they went with a fresh take on the material - and we should all be glad they did.

**** out of *****