"Kong: Skull Island" Review
Guess what, Legendary Pictures is building a giant monster shared cinematic universe. You know, like Marvel. But unlike Marvel, the only good characters in these movies are giant CG creatures that have zero lines of dialogue. A good movie is based on good characters. Godzilla obviously failed as a character piece but was able to build tension and dread and cash in on an amazing Bryan Cranston performance. With Kong, we have none of that. Maybe some cool shots of a giant gorilla wrecking house. But where's the dramatic impact? This is the most expensive ensemble cast to have been wasted on such abysmal material. The movie tries to cram in the best period appropriate music it can find to cheap effect (think "Suicide Squad" but marginally less on-the-nose). Also, it's noticeably lacking purpose in its cinematography and editing as well. We cut to a shot of a God's-eye view of a spinning fan without cross-fading to the blades of a helicopter, unlike "Apocalypse Now"; we see no build up to a fetishized cranking action sequence unlike "300". We get it, this movie loves making movie references. But what's the point if the homage don't accumulate to anything?
Godzilla 1. Kong 0.