Kong Skull Island Review

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What makes Kong 2017 so good, is the superb action scenes, great visual effects and, more importantly, a departure from the earlier King Kong renditions. When I watched King Kong, 2005, I thought it was just a good adventure movie with enhanced visual effects; more so than the earlier ones. I went to watch Kong Skull Island because I love action-adventure and the trailer promised that. I did not expect to like it so much.

The one thing that really put me off about the earlier stories was the ape’s obsession with the heroine of the movies. One may argue that it wasn’t love but a simple attachment like that of a human with a puppy; just to be clear, Naomi Watts (2005) is the puppy here. The truth is that no matter how broad-minded you are, the ape’s feelings towards the female human are clearly creepy. Kong of Skull Island, 2017, however is a much more impressive, kingly and frankly, well-adjusted ape without the kinky attraction to a female outside its species. I loved that about Kong Skull Island, no ape-blondie romance, seriously a big plus for me.

Speaking of romance, I also appreciated the depth of maturity shown by the director by refraining from having the mandatory love component; the hero and heroine falling madly in love (I mean the two lead humans here). No weird love triangles, and when I say weird, I mean weird, because one of them is an ape. I’m sorry but I just can’t emphasize enough on that. Mason Weaver, played by Brie Larson and James Conrad, played by Tom Hiddleston, do not fall madly in love; Kong and Mason do not fall madly in love. I mean, come on, people who live through traumatic experiences do not always fall in love, hardly ever actually. They may develop a bond, but it’s not love; and I thank James Mangold for being more realistic about this. I really like that Mason wasn’t just some damsel in distress (in divergence from the earlier King Kong movie), she actually showed grit and helped kick ass. The depiction of the primitive race living on the island had a whiff of colonial arrogance in the 2005 movie by portraying the tribals as crude, clannish, unkempt and violent. In Kong 2017, however, the primitive race shows signs of civilization and humaneness, a welcome change.

To reiterate, Kong has amazing visual effects and action sequences. If you like good action, you’ll love it. If you are new to King Kong and have not watched it before because of the freakish romance between the ape and the woman, watch this one. I found it very entertaining and much better than its predecessors.

Rating- 3.5/5

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