Kong: Skull Island review.

Certificate: 12A

Running time: 118 minutes 

Directed by: Jordan Vogt-Roberts.

What's it about: A team of scientists and soldiers undertake a dangerous expedition to an uncharted island in the South Pacific. Once there, they discover that they have ventured into the territory of the mighty Kong.

The verdict: I liked the trailers for Kong Skull Island and was looking forward to a fun, action packed film, that I was sure I would enjoy watching. Well the film was definitely action packed, but I can't say I enjoyed watching it.

The premise is solid enough, an expedition to an uncharted island. The two scientists that are leading the mission then go about recruiting soldiers to escort them, including ex British Air Service Captain James Conrad played by Tom Hiddleston and Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard played by Samuel L. Jackson. The start of the film jumps from place to place, and the main characters are introduced one by one, showing how they become involved in the expedition. This start feels quite disjointed, and doesn't give much time to getting to know any of the characters very well.

There is plenty of action - explosions, shooting and massive monster fights. The action is probably the best part of Kong Skull Island, and admittedly it does look good on the big screen. Unfortunately the impressive CGI is where the positives end for me. 

Firstly the characters are terrible. There is literally no character development at all, and the characters are clichéd and one dimensional. None of the characters are given much of a backstory either, save for a few offhand lines. This makes their motives hard to understand, but more importantly - it made it impossible to care about them. I found by the end, that I couldn't have cared less if they had all gotten eaten. Also some of the characters were set up to be one way but then acted completely differently. For example Tom Hiddleston's character is found at the start, brawling in a bar and seemingly only caring about money. Then for the rest of the film, he's the perfect British gentleman and the moral compass of the group. There is no explanation for this change. 

The female characters are awful as well. There are two female characters in the film, and they don't have an abundance of lines. Oscar winning actress Brie Larson is barely given anything to do, bar staring in disbelief/wonder and taking pictures (her character is a photographer). And this is incredibly pedantic, but it infuriated me that despite being in a number of life or death situations and being knocked/thrown around a lot - her camera remains completely intact hung around her neck. Next time I buy a camera, I'm getting whatever brand that one was! 

In terms of Kong himself, I don't think this film brought anything particularly new or original to the character. 

In general I found the performances weak. A shame when you consider the strong cast. There were a couple of parts where I was cringing - Samuel L. Jackson in particular was weak, overacting in parts and amateurish in others. This may be because of the material the actors were given, but certainly no one stood out.

Overall this film just didn't do it for me. I did stay to watch the end of the credits scene, which has set up a possible sequel. I'll be cautious about going to see it though! 

Should you watch this film? No, I personally would not recommend this one. Watch it on DVD.