I do enjoy a movie where the lead actress loses her top layer |
I enjoyed the conflicting priorities between the adventurers: John Goodman and Corey Hawkins are the eggheads who know the truth about Skull Island; Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, and John C. Reilly are the sensible and humane protagonists; Samuel L. Jackson is the Army colonel, bitter from defeat in Vietnam, who sets his mind against Kong at all costs. The push and pull between their interests, and Jackson's footsoldiers, made it interesting.
I liked Larson as the anti-war photojournalist; I'm guessing they gender-swapped her role, and it works. Besides one hug at the very end, and some affection from the giant gorilla, there's no concessions to her sex...except her clingy tank top in the second half of the movie. Hiddleston is cast against type as the rugged, cynical adventurer. Reilly is fun as the WWII pilot stranded on Skull Island for decades. John Goodman and his crackpot theories reminded me a bit too much of his HVAC Svengali from the tv show Community. I didn't recognize Corey Hawkins, but these type of movies often cast newly successful TV stars in supporting roles, and there's my answer: Hawkins was on The Walking Dead, a show I haven't followed.
The monsters are varied and interesting, without being as disgusting as the giant bugs in Peter Jackson's 2005 King Kong movie, which still gross me out. Human stand little chance against giant monsters, so making the adventure interesting without seeming hopeless is a challenge, and they mostly pull it off here. I liked how they were able to defeat a giant spider, and I appreciated the harmless buffalo and walking stick. I liked the design of the "skullcrawler", I only wish any of the bullets that him them had any effect at all. I also felt they settled for the "human goes flying through the air" trick too many times.
Which brings us to Kong himself. The advances in CGI have enabled moviemakers to create a wonderfully expressive face for Kong. This is the third Kong or Godzilla movie where the title character isn't onscreen nearly often enough, to the point of almost becoming a supporting monster. Only in the 2024 Godzilla x Kong have they figured that out. High production values, an excellent cast, and a direct, streamlined plot help this movie earn a B-minus. On MAX with H