MOVIE REVIEW: Kong: Skull Island 

YOU might be surprised to hear how many Kong movies have been released over the years. 

I counted 14, but that does include ‘Son of Kong’, ‘Queen Kong’ and an unpronounceable Japanese comedy short from 1933. Nevertheless, we do seem to have a curious and eternal fascination with the humongous hairy ape.

Well the King is back, only this time bigger, hairier, and more angry than ever. In this latest instalment of the series, a group of scientists, soldiers and adventurers all unite to explore a mythical, uncharted island in the Pacific. 

The year is 1971 and the head of a secret society (played by John Goodman) convinces his US congressman to allocate a team of returning Vietnam vets (headed by Samuel L Jackson) to provide backup for his foolhardy expedition into the unknown. 

But their violent arrival awakens the beastly Kong who they now target as enemy number one, little knowing that the cheeky chimp is more likely to protect them from an even greater evil that lurks beneath the undergrowth.

Tom Hiddleston stars in the lead role (although we all know he can’t compete with the King) with Brie Larson as an anti-war photographer who seems destined to fill the Fay Wray role of Kong’s human love interest. Or is she? 

The star studded cast is topped off with a show stealing performance from John C Reilly as a World War II pilot, stranded on the island some 28 years earlier and becoming a little cuckoo as a result. Reilly of course starred in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and this film, with a similar soundtrack and the same tongue in cheek tone, has many parallels. 

At times it also feels like a throwback to old-school adventure movies of the 1980s like ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’. That of course is no bad thing and ‘Kong: Skull Island’ is definitely great fun. 

Despite the cheesy lines and questionable casting of an unimpressive Hiddlestone, we score it a chest thumping 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Paul O’Rourke