Deviation Actions
There is a moment early on that sets the tone for the rest of the film. Two men are locked in a fight to the death, one of them has a knife, to prevent himself from being stabbed the other man grasps the blade, screaming as it slices into his fingers but it keeps him alive a few more seconds.
Survival can be a bloody business.
There a several brutal deaths throughout the film that really push the PG-13 rating to it's limit till even Kong gets beaten and bloodied by the film.
The plot is standard for any visit to a lost world: expedition attempts to explore an uncharted island, monsters show up, the survivors have to reach safety or be trapped on the island for the rest of their short lives. From John C. Reilly's slightly kooky survivor, to the natives and even Kong's slightly friendly monster there's really nothing new here.
For casuals that won't matter but for genre fans it's either the films most forgivable or most frustrating weakness. Ostensibly the period setting of the Vietnam war era is supposed to make it all seem fresh and new but without any engaging characters or plot twists, it's only a new skin on a game we've played beat for beat a dozen times before.
With the setting many are also claiming an anti-war theme rests under it's surface, which is false, what's really hidden underneath is a blatant hypocrisy. The film pays lip-service to the idea through Brie Larson's anti-war photographer and Samuel L. Jackson's increasingly irrational Colonel Packard, while Reilly brags about how there's no crime in the native village. All of this posturing overlooking the giant irony that all of that peace is bought through a giant wall studded with tree-sized stakes and the giant guard dog....
What about the big question on every fan's mind: Which is better, Godzilla(2014) or Kong: Skull Island?
Well, that's the biggest problem, because neither is really better than the other. You would expect that after Godzilla the filmmakers behind Skull Island would have worked to overcome the weaknesses from that film and they didn't. Both films suffer from this simple problem: they both have a plot, neither of them has a story. Look back four paragraphs, read my synopsis again. That's the plot in it's simplest form, what's the story?
Story is the Experience. It's what the plot looks like through the character's eyes. You can use the same plot ten different times but if you use a different character each time, with a different perspective and a different character arc, you will inevitably create a completely new story each time.
The problem with Skull Island is that it doesn't know who it's protagonist is. Unlike Godzilla the film does at least have a cast of interesting characters, with quirks, frailties and goals but it never builds beyond that. The only character with any kind of journey is John C. Reilly's Hank Marlow, the audience sympathizing with his plight of being lost for twenty-eight years away from his wife and a son he's never met. Is it any wonder he's the only character ANYONE who's watched the film remembers?
Tom Hiddleston's James Conrad is almost a complete cipher. Early in the film, John Goodman observes about Conrad, “Men go to war to find something. You're still here because you haven't found it yet.” The film does absolutely nothing with that. We never find out what he was looking for and we aren't given any moment of him finding a satisfying resolution to his journey. Which is frustrating because it's a problem fixed with relatively little effort, as Conrad explains that his own father, an RAF pilot, never came home from the war, which could be his motivation to see that no one here in his charge becomes lost forever like his father was, thus redeeming himself for what he lost. Maybe an extra scene and one or two beats is all you need to make that work.
Either that or a complete rewrite to flesh out a story somewhere from this script but... that's not the world we live in.
Well, that's enough running the film down, let's turn to the positives.
I've already mentioned the characters are okay, all of the actors are solid and reliable despite having so little to work with. Where the film really shines though is in worldbuilding. Skull Island has always been this vivid and imaginative place from the nineteen-thirty-three original's deep jungles to Peter Jackson's gigantic ruins and deep canyons, it has always been Kong's best co-star besides the Empire State building. While less grandiose than Jackson's version, this island feels more tactile and less computer generated, thanks to a lot of painstaking location shooting.
It's megafauna are more subtle but very believable, almost every creature feeling like another layer to it's ecosystem rather than just yet another one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater. They also look gorgeous, the standouts being the terrifying Skullcrawlers, from their unique design to their voracious personalities, they are a welcome addition to Kong's rather thin rogue's gallery (a certain giant sauropod* from Toho would have been welcome though).
In Godzilla the writer's reached all the way back to nineteen-fifty-five's Godzilla Raids Again to explain it's giant creatures. That they are lifeforms from “a world much hotter than the one we know today,” when the planet was more radioactive and these creatures were able to sustain their massive bodies by actually feeding on radioactive material. There is a line mentioning that as the earth cooled, the creatures retreated underground to survive, sustained by the heat and radiation of the earth's core. While one could easily assume that all they meant by that was that the creatures borrowed down and settled into a state of hibernation, Skull Island adds an entirely new layer with The Hollow Earth Theory, which is the idea from Jules Verne's novel Journey to the Center of the Earth (and others) that there exist massive underground caverns deep within the earth, with their own water, light and plant life, thus able to sustain an ecosystem of often prehistoric creatures. Which is a brilliant way of explaining where these kaiju are coming from and how they have survived unseen by the world until now. Hopefully in one of the following Monsterverse films we will see this Hollow Earth explored, it's just too easy a film and would be yet another opportunity to reveal some giant monsters. We already know it's where the Skullcrawlers originate from, so what could be down there driving them to the surface?
Makes me wish we could have a sequel before we get to Kong Vs. Godzilla in 2020.
So all of this worldbuilding works in the film and for the context of the larger universe it exists but what about Kong himself?
I've noticed some negativity toward this version of Kong which frankly baffles me. I do think we need to acknowledge that as a “character,” I don't think Andy Serkis and Peter Jackson's version will probably be topped. Whatever else one wants to hold against that film, it remains in many ways a masterpiece of the genre because Kong is so well developed as a character, who does actually go on an impressive emotional journey through the story.
However, that is an exception not a rule. Most giant monsters, whether they're destroying the Earth or saving it, don't have great emotional arcs, they have function to serve within the plot and that's it. So no, this Kong does not surpass the previous one in that regard, does that mean all the negativity is deserved? No.
First of all, Kong looks spectacular!
I wasn't sure about the design at first but it really works. The upright stance, the round head, the thick bristly fur, Kong looks not only as real as CG can get but he looks beautiful. Which is important because I can count at least two times in the film when everything just stops and all the camera does is stare at this beautiful monster. It is very rare for a modern monster film to be willing to spend the millions of dollars for a scene where it's CG character is doing nothing, not killing anything or breaking anything just pausing for a moment to contemplate.
Scenes like that are what allows Kong to straddle that important line of sympathetic character and monster. Our introduction to Kong is him slaughtering the humans trespassing into his domain yet we're still rooting for him by the end of film. Quiet little character moments are what create that.
Then when it is time for stuff to get wrecked, Kong proves why he is king!
Without question, these are some of the best fight scenes we've ever seen involving Kong. Again, all props to the epic three versus one fight in '05 but that Kong was older, past his prime but hardened by experience. This is a young Kong, full of vigor and aggression, throwing himself into battle heedless of risk. Kong's final fight with the large Skullcrawler is everything a kaiju battle should be, intense, well paced and creative.
Honestly, I think it's better than Godzilla's battle with the Muto's.
The fight also gives us a taste of what we can expect in their big showdown. Godzilla is in essence a living weapon, besides the fire breath he also has his claws, his jaws, his tail, armored hide and the rows of spikes protecting his back. There are very few weaknesses for Kong to exploit and is far more vulnerable to Godzilla's attacks, so the question has always been, “How is Kong supposed to match Godzilla's power set?” The answer: Tools. Improvising weapons and using the environment against his opponent is how this Kong will even his odds against Godzilla.
I'm ready to see that.
In conclusion, yet again we have a rather flawed but incredibly entertaining monster movie. It's beautiful, it's exciting, it's funny and a good time. I'm happy with that.
*(I confused Sauropod with Theropod. I apologize about that.)
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