Kong ; Skull Island

[Derek.McManus]

I am really enjoying the Vietnam war vibe in this movie and think it was a wise movie to go monster rather than dinosaur on Skull Island I think this is shaping up to be a very exciting movie!

[Patrx]

I don't wanna be that guy, but:
Man, American movie posters just don't get made the way they used to - and are surpassed, apparently, by their Japanese counterparts.

The movie itself looks like kind of a mess, particularly Kong himself. I really appreciated the 2005 movie's efforts to make him look like an actual gorilla, and this movie doesn't seem to be doing that. Still, my main gripe about Legendary's Godzilla was that it was dull and withheld its monsters for no good reason, which is also something this movie appears not to be doing.

[Sigmasaurus]

IMO, It looks good so far!

[Derek.McManus]

Just watched the London premiere live and the director said that one of his aims was to make a monster movie in the vein of the classic Ray Harryhausen movies! 😀 Let's hope he succeeded!

[suspsy]

Here's a rather positive review of KSI.

http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/kong-skull-island-review-1202000823/

I especially like the introduction. 100% agreement!

Two years ago, "Jurassic World" came out and made a staggering $652 million at the domestic box office, even though it was a messy and unimaginative piece of thunder-lizard junk: a movie so impersonal it felt genetically engineered. It was a depressing reminder of what blockbuster movie culture can get away with if the monsters are big enough and the franchise strikes enough reptile-brained chords of recognition. On that scale, "Kong: Skull Island" would seem to have a lot going for it commercially, even if it was just another shoddy and cynical reboot of a reboot — which is what a lot of people are probably expecting it to be.

The surprise is that "Skull Island" isn't just ten times as good as "Jurassic World"; it's a rousing and smartly crafted primordial-beastie spectacular. The entire film takes place on Kong's jungle island home (he doesn't scale any skyscrapers — in New York or Dubai), and you could say that it's more action-based and less ambitious than either of the "King Kong" remakes: the snarky, overblown, justly reviled 1976 knockoff or Peter Jackson's good but still not good enough 2005 retread.

[The Atroxious]

Never was a huge King Kong fan, though I enjoyed the 2005 movie since I like the work of both Peter Jackson and Adrien Brody. I watched a few trailers for this new one, and realized it hit a couple of sore spots for me.

1. Lazy creature design. Okay, lazy isn't quite the right word, but the fact that they made Kong into a bigfoot-esque, man-in-a-gorilla-suit-looking creature instead of depicting him as an actual gorilla, albeit monstrous in proportions, or even making him into some mix of traits from humans, gorillas and chimps just makes his design look silly and dull to me. I don't care how good a CGI model is. If it looks like a man in a gorilla suit, I can't take it seriously. Before anyone comes in and reminds me that the original King Kong movies used a man in a gorilla suit, I'm going to point out that I feel the lack of resources at the time made that excusable. That excuse is not valid in this day and age, especially not with the budget the filmmakers of the new movie had to work with.

2. This is a really subjective point, but I am so done with seeing the reptiles or reptillian creatures inevitably being the source of all evil in these movies. The skullcrawlers actually have a pleasing visual design, in contrast with Kong himself, yet the filmmakers expect me to root for the awkwardly designed Kong just because...he's a mammal? Would it kill someone to make the reptiles the good guys for once?

In short, watching the trailers made me flash back to the 90's when little pint-sized Atroxious would watch all the sci-fi and fantasy movies and then get annoyed at how the monsters were portrayed. Over the past decade or so, I've felt that movies slowly were moving away from the Mindless Evil Reptile stereotype, and that solid, plausible creature design was becoming more common, but Kong: Skull Island feels like a big step backward.

[stargatedalek]

I disagree about Kong's design, mostly because it's meant to look like a suit. This isn't an adaptation of "King Kong", it's very specifically "Tōhō's King Kong". The idea is to reboot Kong in the style of the Tōhō design using modern special effects, not to create a more realistic version. On that note I'm fairly certain the original King Kong was stop motion and blue screen and not using a suit and miniatures, but I could just be thinking of specific scenes.

As for the second point however; don't forget octopuses too...

[Derek.McManus]

At Stargatedalek yes you are correct the original Kong was a stop motion effect, the Kong in the 70's version ended up being mostly man in a suit despite the construction of a robotic Kong puppet which didn't work too well!

It's a tradition in Kong that he fights a large rival the Tyrannosaurus in the 1933 original a large snake in the 70's and of course the V.rex in Peter Jackson's reboot.

In the sequel to the original, Son of Kong the afore mentioned protagonist fights a cave bear and in this version we have an octopus!

I can't really comment on the non gorilla appearance other than to suggest that Stargatedalek is correct and it's a nod to Toho and the upcoming Godzilla vs Kong!

[CityRaptor]

I think a good explanation for the agressive behaviour of the reptiles would be that it is caused by them having to deal with large and agressive mammalian creatures like Kongs. Humans probably give off a similar scent to Kongs.  And of course are equally as agressive, even if smaller. It's like they are a bunch of Mini-Kongs! Of course that is probably never going to be brought up.

The Jurassic World comparisms will also get old and annoying pretty fast.

[suspsy]

Some clips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t268VO-KfzI

[Derek.McManus]

I must say that Kong Skull Island is shaping up to be quite a show! 😀

Between the Veitnam vibe the catchy 70's music and the rather good location filming I have high hopes for an exciting trip to the cinema and that's before we even get to the monsters!

[Gwangi]

Never was a huge King Kong fan, though I enjoyed the 2005 movie since I like the work of both Peter Jackson and Adrien Brody. I watched a few trailers for this new one, and realized it hit a couple of sore spots for me.

1. Lazy creature design. Okay, lazy isn't quite the right word, but the fact that they made Kong into a bigfoot-esque, man-in-a-gorilla-suit-looking creature instead of depicting him as an actual gorilla, albeit monstrous in proportions, or even making him into some mix of traits from humans, gorillas and chimps just makes his design look silly and dull to me. I don't care how good a CGI model is. If it looks like a man in a gorilla suit, I can't take it seriously. Before anyone comes in and reminds me that the original King Kong movies used a man in a gorilla suit, I'm going to point out that I feel the lack of resources at the time made that excusable. That excuse is not valid in this day and age, especially not with the budget the filmmakers of the new movie had to work with.

The original Kong was stop motion and the design of this new Kong is not far off from the original, which was also a biped. In fact, every iteration of Kong aside from Jackson's has been a biped. Personally I don't think Kong should look like a gorilla, because he's not a gorilla, merely gorilla-like.

2. This is a really subjective point, but I am so done with seeing the reptiles or reptillian creatures inevitably being the source of all evil in these movies. The skullcrawlers actually have a pleasing visual design, in contrast with Kong himself, yet the filmmakers expect me to root for the awkwardly designed Kong just because...he's a mammal? Would it kill someone to make the reptiles the good guys for once?

You mean, like, Godzilla?

[dragon53]

Here are a few early reviews:


Variety – Owen Gleiberman

    "The surprise is that "Skull Island" isn't just ten times as good as "Jurassic World"; it's a rousing and smartly crafted primordial-beastie spectacular. The entire film takes place on Kong's jungle island home (he doesn't scale any skyscrapers — in New York or Dubai), and you could say that it's more action-based and less ambitious than either of the "King Kong" remakes ..."


The Wrap — Alonso Duralde

    "Filmmaking doesn't get more corporate than "Kong: Skull Island," which scratches your monster-movie itch without ever once providing an injection of unpredictability or eccentricity that might confuse a single half-attentive moviegoer. It lacks neither fun nor polish, but it has the square tidiness of a compartmentalized fast-food meal."

Collider — Brian Formo

    "Kong: Skull Island, they appear to have workshopped the film based on Godzilla focus groups. The titular monster appears throughout, it doesn't miss a death scene and it still builds to a "let them fight" monster showdown."

THR — Todd McCarthy

    "In the end, though, it's not the characters the audiences will have come to see, but the monsters, and the film doesn't stint in supplying them. This Kong, who makes his entrance a well-timed half hour in, is far bigger than any before him, about 100 feet tall. Still, he faces fierce competition on the island from, among others, some toothsome lizards who happily take advantage of the change in diet offered by the new human visitors."


The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

    "This is a Kong deprived of his kingship and his mystery, and even the title is a jumble, unsure of whether it's the ape that's the star or maybe the island itself, seething with loads of huge animals, scaring the borrower-sized humans who have rashly dared enter this domain. It comes to us from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts – known for his comedy before this – and screenwriters Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein, Derek Connolly and John Gatins. The script here feels like the umpteenth rewrite with almost all the humour and nuance chucked out to make sure it plays in non-English-language territories."

[Patrx]

So, what, did they just listen to audiences saying that Godzilla should have had more Godzilla in it, then reverse direction completely to make a totally braindead moster-fest? There is such a thing as middle-ground. At least the Variety review is promising!

As I alluded to before, the big draw of Jackson's Kong for me was Kong as a real, but oversized, gorilla. That element of the film was executed so well that, for me, it made up for the slow pace and dodgy CGI dinosaurs. Ultimately, I am gonna see this movie at some point, and hopefully I'll even like it, but so far nothing about it has really stood out as interesting.

[suspsy]

Here's another glowing review!

http://io9.gizmodo.com/kong-retakes-his-throne-in-the-incredible-skull-island-1792897545?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

[Patrx]

Here's another glowing review!

Oho, that is much more promising!

[laticauda]

I am not sure if I'll like this film.  I tend to enjoy movies that can blend the fantastical without over stepping its bounds.  If I Look back at recent monster movies, my enjoyment has been 50/50.  The Peter Jackson version was only enjoyable due to the strength of emotion that was conveyed through Kong.  I thought Kong reacted and looked amazing while the rest of the film felt bloated.  Godzilla 2014 tried to do too much with the human charters and see Godzilla through their eyes.  Unfortunately the human story wasn't that interesting and we didn't get enough enjoyment of the title character.
 
Of course as I say all this, I have enjoyed some films that are easy to criticize.  For example, I loved Pacific Rim.  I know all the flaws about the movie, but I found it enjoyable.  It wasn't oscar worthy film, just a fun film.   It wasn't a bloated movie like the Hobbit movies, it was true to what it is, a fun monster movie with robots.  It didn't get bogged down in the characters, because in reality they didn't matter all that much. 

That is were I am stuck on Kong.  Is this going to be an all out bloated effects movie, that does a half hearted attempt at making the characters interesting, or will it be well thought out, realizing the Kong is the star and pace it correctly.   

[dragon53]

New positive review just released.

Link: http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/reviews/822879-kong-skull-island-review#/slide/1

[suspsy]

Rolling Stone likes it:

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/peter-travers-kong-skull-island-w469593

[Derek.McManus]

I'm hoping to see Kong Skull Island tomorrow it's on at 15.30 I'm my local cinema!