Film Review: Kong: Skull Island

Sometimes getting what you expected is great, like when you go to your favourite restaurant and order that one dish you can always rely on to make you feel warm and happy inside.

Even when you come home after a holiday and get to sleep in your own bed again, where the mattress is not too hard, not too soft, and you don’t have to throw five pillows on the floor before you can even get under the quilt.

But when you go to watch a film in the cinema and fork out a mortgage on a regular coke and popcorn that is most definitely an occasion where you want your expectations to be exceeded and more. Unfortunately, Kong: Skull Island, just didn’t do that for me.

If you don’t like surprises and struggle to follow twists and turns within a plot, then brilliant this one is for you. Let’s just say I went to the cinema having a rough idea of how the story would unfold and I got pretty much just that. Which left me leaving the cinema feeling like my name should have been up there in the credits with the producers if I could predict the basics of what was going to happen, then maybe I should change my career and give it a go as a scriptwriter, right?

However, some may argue that the previous King Kong film back in 2005 allows little room for change and is one of the reasons that makes Kong and the screaming civilians what it is. It is hard to deny that the film isn’t full of detailed action scenes, filled with explosions and battles that we all crave when going to watch a film like this, I just left wanting more.

What surprised me is that the lead parts within the film weren’t actually the outstanding performers, with the smaller characters being the ones who left a lasting impression. Such as soldiers Mills and Cole, played by Jason Mitchell and Shea Whigham, playing a vital, humorous part in the narrative. With the likes of Samuel L. Jackson's and Tom Hiddleston's characters almost dwindling into the background.

As well as this I felt that the female lead role was on the verge of being stereotypical and for a film that was released in the cinemas the day after International Women’s Day, this was disappointing for me.

Photo Journalist, Mason Weaver, played by Brie Larson, was very close to becoming the generic ‘damsel in distress’ and was the character that seemed to be the closest to building a relationship with Kong. Second place going to Tom Hiddleston’s character, James Conrad.

Why is it the female role who has to show emotion and compassion towards the monster?. Why not switch it up a bit and distract us from the predictable plot?

Overall yes Skull Island was lacking a whole lot of something. That something that makes you sit bolt, upright in your cinema seat and miss your mouth as you go to shove another handful of popcorn into it

But go and experience Kong and the mysterious Skull Island yourself for what it is.

Rating: 3/5.