Kong: Skull Island is simply a mindless effects-driven popcorn blockbuster. All the mythos from 'King Kong', the setting of 'Apocalypse Now' and the character depth of 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. As part of Legendary's "Gods & Monsters" universe, we encounter Kong himself...without the Empire State Building. A group of soldiers, explorers, photographers, geologists, biologists and every other "ologist" venture forth to Skull Island. Uncharted territory, unique creatures and full of mysterious enigmas. What do they do? Drop seismic bombs. What the actual flip!? No scientist in their right mind would drop a barrage of bombs to determine the island's activity. It's unfortunate this occurs right at the start, it left a sour taste throughout the entire film. Which is a shame because the action, cinematography, sound effects and pacing were all decent. Watching Kong, in all his CGI glory, wreck through a fleet of helicopters by javelining trees, stomping on soldiers and just generally making a mess felt satisfying. Serves them right! You hurt nature, well...nature is just going to bite back, using a gargantuan primate's teeth. Really adored the cinematography and colour palette, embedding various micro slow motion shots to enhance the action. Green, red, blue...it's extremely colourful and vibrant. Unfortunately though, the characters are lifeless and wasted. I literally did not care for any of them...no wait, John C Reilly's character was likeable. That's about it. Eat them, shoot them, explode them, drown them, stomp on them, slap them onto mountain sides...I don't care. Which, in turn, makes the story all that much boring as well. What I admired about 'Godzilla' was that less is more. We see Kong in the first five minutes so there is no mystery or intrigue. It sounds like I'm being too harsh, I did enjoy this. The visual effects were splendid, action was well filmed and everything looked aesthetically pleasing. As I've said before in various reviews, style without substance does not make a great film. Kong versus Godzilla best be better.
