Cinephile No. 635 "Kong: Skull Island"

 The first "King Kong" movie was released on March 7, 1933. Since then, we've been given 8 movies all of which have been reimagined to take advantage of the latest in filmmaking technology. My favorite version is Peter Jackon's 2005 "King Kong." Jackson of "Lord of the Rings" fame gave us a deeper, more human, noir Kong. The storytelling, graphics, and writing finally came together to produce magic. This, of course, brings us to the latest iteration, "Kong: Skull Island." 

Without a doubt, "Kong: Skull Island" is the worst Kong movie ever made. In terms of graphics, there is no contest. This movie takes advantage of every piece of the latest technology. Somewhere along the way, though, it forgets you also need a script people can tolerate, dialogue that doesn't make you laugh out loud at inappropriate times, and a character with at least one redeeming quality. Instead, Kong makes the mistake of trying to give us an origin tale no one wanted by way of a straight line survive and escape tale.  We get no character development. We aren't made to care for anyone beyond a superficial level. We see no reason to invest emotionally. Instead, we are left to swallow a cornucopia of computer animated graphics. Well, friends, this film proves even pretty cars can't go far without an engine people want to sit behind. 

I'll close on this point. "Kong: Skull Island" possesses some of the worst written dialogue I have encountered in the last 12 months. In fact, I swear some of Samuel L. Jackson's lines were ripped straight from the pages of "Snakes on a Plane." But who knows, Mr. Jackson seems to like to replay that character about every other film. Beyond that, much of the dialogue doesn't make sense for the time and place where this film is held. It is also overly dramatic in spots and funny in the wrong places. Seriously, there were times I thought, I wish the damn ape would step on them all and end this. Alas, my wish wasn't granted and I was left to write a half angry critique. Such is life! 

Be good to each other, 

-Nathan