The first trailer that was released for the film gained my interest and with every teaser released since comic con last year I became even more enthused. I liked the 70s-esque feel, I liked the John C. Reilly, I like the Samuel L. "mother fucking" Jackson and I liked Kong who was the bigger than I'd ever expected him to be. Low and behold I was free on the day it opened and as my friends had shown know interest in watching the film (well, the two I mentioned it to anyway) there was nothing stopping me from watching it in IMAX and apart from learning I couldn't handle watching movies in IMAX I loved the experience. It made me want to go to an Island somewhere and smash shit up until I realised that that was what the film was telling me not to do.
Kong: Skull Island follows Bill Randa (John Goodman) and geologist Houston Brooks (Corey Hawkins) at the closing of the Vietnam war as they assemble a team to map out a previously undiscovered Island that seems to be hidden by storms. The team includes members of the Sky Devils, a helicopter squadron of the US army led by Colonel Packard (Samuel L. Jackson), the SAS trained tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) as well as anti-war photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson). They also eventually connect with Hank Marlowe (John C. Reilly) who is an existing residence of the Island. With the help of some of their troupe (and with the protestations of others) they decide to start mapping the Island by dropping bombs onto it to see if the ground is hollow but it instead makes the fierce inhabitants of the island aware of their presence.
Although the film has a group of impressive actors the star is most definitely Kong. He is introduced in a rage and initially seen to be an antagonist figure but as the film continues it becomes shockingly clear that our snap judgements our false. His home has been invaded by people with bombs and he is protecting it, no matter the collateral damage, and in my eyes he ends up coming off as one of the more humane characters in the film. I was able to connect more with Kong in the film than the human beings and he is wordless! Even the scenes of him in isolation feeding or soothing himself pulled on my heartstrings. I was ready to say that the characters were slightly underwritten in Skull Island but then I remember Kong, and he is the only character I need to know, he's the one I'm supposed to be following through a franchise.
Kong isn't the only inhabitant of the mysterious land, he's sharing the land with the likes of his nemesis the Skull Crawlers as well as megafauna in the shape of spiders and buffalo and it doesn't feel forced. Given its setting in an uncharted Island it's believable (as believable as it could be) that there are these creatures living amongst Kong and I feel that this seems like the real beginning of the MonsterVerse and it effectively shows that we truly aren't alone on this Earth and the things nightmares are made of can be living among us. Even though in Godzilla the title character is fighting with two different MUTO it still feels like an isolated incident but with Skull Island I can plainly see anything is possible.
I also see Kong: Skull Island as the beginning of the MonsterVerse because it is a better film that Godzilla. Sure, Godzilla had an easy to follow storyline but it wasn't fun, it was mainly death and destruction. That and big things hitting each other which is admittedly cool. In all honesty Godzilla was a good watch at the time but I know for certain that I won't watch it again by choice, once was enough. There wasn't enough of Godzilla in the actual film for my liking and the human characters weren't compelling enough to bring me back for a re-watch. If it wasn't for my plans to watch Skull Island then in truth I probably never would've ended up watching Godzilla at all.
Skull Island on the other hand has me itching for more even though I only watched it a few days ago. It feels like an old school adventure/monster film which we haven't seen much of lately, the closest comparison I could think of was 2015's Jurassic World. Skull Island may have had one too many characters which led to them not being as fleshed out as I'd like but I still felt as if I got to know them and more importantly they got to know each other. There may have been some splintering in the group but they all still had chemistry with one another which made their interactions compelling to watch. The film had my pulse racing, frightened at times but still made me laugh and I think that's what is needed in a film like this. The stakes may be high but it shouldn't be doom and gloom all the time, I have to enjoy watching the film.
Skull Island also showed the lack of humanity within humankind better than Godzilla. The characters in Skull Island went to an uncharted Island and chose to use bombs to get a rise, effecting the creatures and the indigenous people without a second thought to the repercussions of their actions which actually does happen. I understand that the first response in Godzilla was to attack but that was when the events were spilling onto the US borders which would make it more understandable, not just understandable but in some people eyes it is heroic as well. Skull Island doesn't represent the human race as heroes but as flawed human beings who have a checkered past and unable to learn from their mistakes and in my personal opinion that is true.
So there you have it, to me Kong: Skull Island is the first film in the MonsterVerse and if what follows takes inspiration from it then I am eager to see Legendary's offerings. And thank you for introducing me to Jordan Vogt-Roberts, I am now looking forward to watching The Kings Of Summer.
Live Long and Blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment