{"id":63859,"date":"2017-03-29T15:00:11","date_gmt":"2017-03-29T20:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=63859"},"modified":"2017-03-29T11:43:24","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T16:43:24","slug":"go-see-kong-skull-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/go-see-kong-skull-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Go See Kong: Skull Island<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The giant monster movie revival is in full swing, and this Spring’s latest entry is a doozie. If you’ve seen one of the other three(!) King Kong<\/em> reboots, you may think you know what to expect from\u00a0Skull Island<\/em>. Forget that.\u00a0Skull Island<\/em> delivers a nominally fresh take on the giant ape that is as much a love letter to the kaiju genre as it is a big-budget action blowout. If you have even a passing interest in big hairy apes battling big lizards and rogue military elements, go see this movie.<\/p>\n

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Although\u00a0Skull Island<\/em> does touch on many of the common beats of past Kong entries, it only does so as homage rather than as re-tread, ultimately delivering a new story that feels as fresh as it does familiar. Sure, you’ve got the plucky cast of\u00a0imperialist<\/em> adventurers seeking fame and fortune in an unknown and alien land. Sure, you have a white, female protagonist who somehow soothes the heart of the savage beast. Sure, you have Kong beating down monstrous opponents. But so many of these familiar concepts are delivered in unexpected ways. The enemies are different. There is no sappy death of Kong due to love-induced cardiac arrest. And the monsters, of which there are plenty (and a healthy variety too, from ossified dinosaurs to sneaky spiders), are as interesting as they were in the original Kong film.<\/p>\n

Thematically, the film draws as much from\u00a0Moby Dick<\/em> as it does Joseph Conrad’s\u00a0Heart of Darkness<\/em> (the inspiration of the movie’s clear visual forebear,\u00a0Apocalypse Now<\/em>). Although the slick visuals are delivered in a suitably retro setting of just after the end of the Vietnam War, and with often breathtaking panache, the story truly follows a far more Melville-inspired arc. The chief antagonist of the film is not a capitalist extorter hungry for fame and fortune, but Samuel L. Jackson’s jaded and cynical army colonel, Preston Packard, hellbent on vengeance with Kong in his monomaniacal search for victory and absolution. Like Ahab, the clear archetype for the character, Packard projects all his loss and failure upon some mythical beast and sets up the true climax of the film in his quest for victory. It’s a great arc for a Kong film, and one that spares us the commonly trod ground of Kong’s extraction from the island.<\/p>\n

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Thankfully, Kong leverages plenty of visual heft to match its thematic weight. A common point of failure among CGI-driven monster films is a lack of tangible force and bulk to the creatures portrayed on screen; compared to the classic suitmation\u00a0Toho films or Willis OBrien’s\u00a0timeless stop-motion work on the original Kong<\/em>, the titans in films like\u00a0Monsters: Dark Continent<\/em> or\u00a0Cloverfield<\/em> just lack the tactile presence necessary to command filmgoer attention.\u00a0Skull Island<\/em>, though not perfect, gives us a monster that looks and feels real, one that bleeds and sweats and gets hungry. Little details, like Kong’s angry grimace and body scars, establish the giant ape as the king of his own film and lend the pitched battles against both Packard’s soldiers and the nasty beasts on the titular island a real sense of urgency. I haven’t been this impressed by an on-screen creature since I saw\u00a0Jurassic Park<\/em> as a little kid.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it’s that focus on Kong himself that makes\u00a0Skull Island<\/em> such a fun movie. Unlike 2014’s\u00a0Godzilla<\/em>, to which\u00a0Skull Island<\/em> is narratively linked (both films are set in Legendary’s MonsterVerse),\u00a0Skull Island<\/em> is unafraid to give screen time to its gargantuan hero. Although the film leverages some real star power, including the devastatingly suave Tom Hiddleston and the vivacious Brie Larson, it is Kong who drives the film forward as he defends his territory from invaders, both human and megafauna. Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts knew exactly what fans of the genre wanted, and he gave it to them in spades.<\/p>\n

Monster films tend to work best when they balance serious social commentaries against campy cheese, and Vogt-Roberts’s portrayal of Kong accomplishes both. While Kong does embody a rejection of imperialism, the big ape also revels in his own kitsch silliness as he swings a propeller attached to a chain like a gargantuan flail and batters rival monsters with trees wielded like clubs. In fact, there’s a scene depicting a fight against a giant octopus that is a clear allusion to the 1962 classic\u00a0King Kong vs. Godzilla<\/em>. Throw in some impressive pyrotechnics, the aforementioned jaw-dropping visuals (seriously, this is the\u00a0best-looking<\/em> monster film ever made), and an excellent soundtrack featuring classic rock favorites like “Paranoid” and “White Rabbit,” and you’ve got yourself a hell of a good time.<\/p>\n