Kong: Skull Island

Name: Kong: Skull Island
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Released: March 10, 2017
Duration: 118 min
Rating: 62
Cast: Brie Larson, Corey Hawkins, John C. Reilly, John Goodman, John Ortiz

2017

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 49 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 794 Ratings

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6.7

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6.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 794 Ratings

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Kong: Skull Island

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: March 10, 2017 | PG-13

Starring: Brie Larson, Corey Hawkins, John C. Reilly, John Goodman, John Ortiz, Samuel L. Jackson, Tian Jing, Toby Kebbell, Tom Hiddleston

Summary: When a scientific expedition to an uncharted island awakens titanic forces of nature, a mission of discovery becomes an explosive war between monster and man.

Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Fantasy

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 118 min

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Critic Reviews

Michael Phillips

Mar 8, 2017

Any movie with the sense, the wit and the visual instincts to introduce Kong the way this one does is fine with me. Read full review

The Telegraph Robbie Collin

Mar 2, 2017

A large part of the enjoyment comes down to the sheer earth-shaking lunacy of Kong’s daily grind, even before the human intruders are factored in. Read full review

Calvin Wilson

Mar 9, 2017

If you’re looking for a film that offers pure escapism, Kong: Skull Island should definitely meet expectations. Read full review

Alonso Duralde

Mar 2, 2017

It lacks neither fun nor polish, but it has the square tidiness of a compartmentalized fast-food meal. Read full review

Mike Scott

Mar 8, 2017

It's a heck of a cast, although the hands-down scene-stealer is John C. Reilly, in a gem of a comic-relief role that, in the interest of remaining spoiler-free, is probably best undescribed here. Read full review

Matt Singer

Mar 2, 2017

This is a creature feature, plain and simple — and, at least on a visceral level, a satisfying one. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Mar 2, 2017

This fantastically muddled and exasperatingly dull quasi-update of the King Kong story looks like a zestless mashup of Jurassic Park, Apocalypse Now and a few exotic visual borrowings from Miss Saigon. It gets nowhere near the elemental power of the original King Kong or indeed Peter Jackson’s game remake; it’s something Ed Wood Jr might have made with a trillion dollars to do what he liked if he’d been given a trillion dollars – but minus the fun. Read full review

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User Reviews

EdwardGerry

Mar 12, 2017

This is one of the most immersive and captivating movies ever made! Its literally insane and theres something you would never expect every five minutes I was totally loving it. It's a two hour movie but I was ready for another hour of these gigantic monsters! not a fan of samuel jackson though

5 of 24 users found this helpful519

DHChris

Apr 1, 2021

One of the high points of the Legendary MonsterVerse, Kong: Skull Island does everything Godzilla 2014 does not. It is a colorful, visually stunning film with a sense of humor, a likable (if not much more developed) human cast, and not the slightest shred of fear in being what it is. TheOne of the high points of the Legendary MonsterVerse, Kong: Skull Island does everything Godzilla 2014 does not. It is a colorful, visually stunning film with a sense of humor, a likable (if not much more developed) human cast, and not the slightest shred of fear in being what it is. The monsters are all on full display here, not just shown in broad daylight and allowed to do their thing uninterrupted, but given scenes to themselves that aren't just big battle set-pieces. Kong is given the chance to simply hang out and be a character, fleshing out both his personality and the fantastical world he explores around him. He shares the screen with a whole host of weird and interesting creatures that at times push the movie into borderline horror territory; creature feature fans who left the last Godzilla feeling shorted will have heaps to gush about here. Sam Jackson and John Goodman deliver solid performances, but the real standout isn't either of them, Tom Hiddleston, or Brie Larson- it's John C. Reilly. Movie-goers who might be going into this worried by his goofy antics in the trailers are sure to be surprised: his character is actually the emotional center of the movie, easily the best human character in the MonsterVerse and genuinely funny to boot. Ultimately Kong: Skull Island doesn't try to be anything more than a simple monster-driven action adventure movie, and that's okay: it's one of the best ones ever made.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

jdiaz

Mar 12, 2017

**** please!"

Kong: Skull Island is a movie that develops characters well enough to make the plot compelling while having awe-inspiring and impressive action sequences. Hats off to Industrial Light & Magic for the special effects, they are flawless. The cinematography is also very**** please!"

Kong: Skull Island is a movie that develops characters well enough to make the plot compelling while having awe-inspiring and impressive action sequences. Hats off to Industrial Light & Magic for the special effects, they are flawless. The cinematography is also very impressive, there are multiple shots that are landscape porn and beautiful sunsets all around. I want to see more blockbusters like this.

Also, Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, and especially John C. Reilly gave very good performances. Every scene looks believable and I flinched several times on some of the more visceral ones.

Go see it.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

Compi24

Mar 12, 2017

It may only occupy a runner-up position when stacked against some of the other, more formidable installments in the "Kong" cinematic mythos, but "Skull Island's" look alone makes it a monstrous force to be reckoned with, as director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and cinematographer Larry Fong haveIt may only occupy a runner-up position when stacked against some of the other, more formidable installments in the "Kong" cinematic mythos, but "Skull Island's" look alone makes it a monstrous force to be reckoned with, as director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and cinematographer Larry Fong have really crafted something with immense visual appeal. And even with an underdeveloped character here and a plot contrivance there, the jaw-dropping set pieces and majestic vistas are more than enough to compensate for any negligible script-based flaws. The ape is great, Sam Jack is as pissed as ever, and John C. Reilly offers up enough smirk-worthy light-heartedness to make this film a well-rounded and serviceable action experience from point A to point Z.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

EpicLadySponge

Mar 10, 2017

Kong: Skull Island builds up many improvements and marks it as the next generation of King Kong. If the next generation was ever on a track where it keeps losing itself after great moments, I'd believe that the driver on that road would specifically be Kong: Skull Island.

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

llamayarmybar

Jul 13, 2017

An embarrassing wet fart of a film. Absolutely boring monster designs, seriously a bipedal lizard? That's all you could come up with? It ends up trying to connect itself to "Pacific Rim" or something with the whole "Hollow Earth" theory they introduce one quarter of the way into the plot.An embarrassing wet fart of a film. Absolutely boring monster designs, seriously a bipedal lizard? That's all you could come up with? It ends up trying to connect itself to "Pacific Rim" or something with the whole "Hollow Earth" theory they introduce one quarter of the way into the plot. Speaking of which, what is even happening in this movie? Everything goes wrong because of the humans arriving, Kong is never captured, just yelled at by Samuel L. Jackson for the entire breadth of the movie. Other acting talent is totally wasted here including Jon Goodman, who granted is a heck of a lot better than say, Jack Black, but isn't well developed. I found Kong himself to be fairly boring, especially when compared to 2005's Peter Jackson's "Kong" film, he was just on the island as was John C. Reilly as I suppose comedic support in a movie that didn't need it. I suppose I ought to chalk most of the lack-there-of of charm was mostly due to the period, the 70's just doesn't work here, and it paints the military as these stereotypical grunts that are apparently all Vietnam vets too. Everyone in this movie is a veteran too! How about that? How inclusive of Hollywood. The only real highlight here, is some average performances, a bizarre giant spider battle, more-so with a focus on giant spider "legs" and a couple interesting entirely computer animated Kong fighting a lizard-thing battles. I suppose if that's all you wanted, and don't care about any people in this movie, then you can join me in being utterly confused as to why we even spend so much time with once again, totally wooden, boring, poorly developed characters. Its been done a billion times, we see this in every monster movie, why do they keep writing characters like this? At least, the Peter Jackson contribution had a focus, not an amazing one, not a stupendous one, but it at least showed very human performances, especially between the big ape himself and his beautiful self-imposed damsel in distress, Naomi Watts. You can argue that they're both not amazing films, but I could always go back and find something "fun" or engaging in 2005's rendition over this burning dog turd of a film. As it stands, the very original King Kong is still a great film and I'd still watch that before going to see another terrible attempt at a re-boot or a remake or whatever Hollywood wants to call this poor excuse for a film.… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

salazarj

Sep 5, 2018

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Underwhelming, predictable, and frankly, quite stupid. I know these kind of movies focus more on the mindless wrecking of everything around the so-called monsters, but really? They could have achieved so much more. The characters were bland, there was no development or generally anyone who made any sense, which bothers me because with a cast assemble like that, you could have taken risks and made it work in a great way.

I generally don't like movies in which the humans go nose first barging into the habitat of an animal (shark, monkeys, you name it) and in typical fashion, go destroy everything to their own benefit without thinking hey, that is the home of a living, sentient creature that yes, it can be aggressive when provoked but otherwise leaves you the hell alone, and then make the animal the **** ENEMY because it's pissed off that some idiots thought they owned it in the first place. Sam L. Jackson's role was **** which enrages me because he's a good actor, but the part they gave him here, with ****ty one-liners ("I am the cavalry"? Seriously?) to make him appear like this "bad-ass" sort of villain was so incredibly disappointing I can't even think about it. He's trying to take revenge on an animal that killed his soldiers because they dumped a ****load of explosives in his habitat in the first place? Cool. No.

They tried to include a lot of wannabe "cool" moments (I don't even know if that's what they were aiming for, but that's what it appeared to me) with the rock sounds in the background, without realizing it just looked stupid, plain and simple. The secondary characters were boring AND so obviously spare that I didn't give two **** when either of them died, even when they tried to glorify their deaths (it didn't work, by the way).

Don't even get me started on the main characters. We could ignore the whole trying-to-make-them-interesting-and-mysterious-and-horribly-failing thing they had going on (the introduction of Tom Hiddleston's character was sort of interesting, but then it went completely downhill from there, making him completely bland and uninteresting and empty with a lot of "intense" stares ahead and a whole lot of nothing), and focus instead of the fact that they tried to make them have a connection with Kong by one freaking second, not even that, and then suddenly make the "heart-stopping" (note the sarcasm) last minute decision to save him from the very team they came in with in the first place. And you'd think that the guy who'd been trying to drill some sense into them for their entire stay in the island would refuse and want to get the hell out because he's been there for years, but no, let's all run head first into the giant guy we were trying to kill and then love him because he blinked at me cute. What a freaking disaster.

The only good thing I can think of is that the cgi on Kong was pretty good. The lizard things were underwhelming and lacked imagination. Oh, and I almost forgot the part when they saw a **** bird and instantly went out to SHOOT it, because that's what you do, of course. If the other birds had had them all for breakfast after that, they would have had it coming. But no, bad, bad birds. And don't even bother to stay after the credits for the completely boring and senseless teaser for a sequel, it's a waste of time. This isn't a marvel movie, even if there are a few actors from there, so just don't.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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