What he should really do is book himself a ticket to New York, head for the Upper West Side and find himself a good therapist, but as its title suggests, Kong: Skull Island is as hung up on Kong’s island as on the great ape himself. His eyes hold both the warmth and sadness of a million suns, or maybe just the memory of the giant banana he may have eaten for breakfast--but no matter what, he's the movie's soulful center. The resulting film bears some relation to the menu at my local Chinese restaurant, which lists “soup with sweetcorn,” “soup with noodles” and “soup with egg drop" before reaching—with an air of summary exasperation or exhaustion—“soup with everything.” That’s pretty much what we get here: soup with everything. There's also a military escort, led by an army officer spoiling for a fight, played by Samuel L. Jackson--it's 1973, in the waning days of the Vietnam conflict, and he's still smarting from the effects of a war that couldn't be won. He is granted the protection of a full Army helicopter squadron, loaded to the gills with napalm and machine guns, led by an irascible lieutenant (Samuel L. Jackson) fresh from the fields of Vietnam. Tagging along are valiant combat photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson , radiant in that 1970s Bonne Bell no-makeup way) and studly-but-elegant soldier of fortune James Conrad (played by studly-but-elegant Tom Hiddleston ). Oddly enough, once we settle in for the Kong part of the movie, “Skull Island” isn’t quite as entertaining or edgy. John C. Reilly is wonderful as Hank Marlow, a World War II pilot who's been stranded on the island for years, living contentedly but somewhat forlornly among its natives, a tribe of sober, generous, silent people. As for King Kong: he might have to look for another address, because for being so mysterious and secretive and elusive, Skull Island sure brings in a lot of nosy tourists. But then the film, which was directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts from a script by Dan Gilroy and Max Borenstein, is driven less by curiosity about exploring the great unknown than by an urgent need to have everyone arrive at the threshold of the great unknown, guns drawn, and start blasting.
– A team sets out to explore a mysterious island in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and soon discovers the fist of a massive monkey in Kong: Skull Island. It might be a familiar story, but critics are mostly applauding Jordan Vogt-Roberts' telling. Here's what they’re saying: Richard Roeper calls it a "wildly entertaining" B-movie with an A-list cast. Among its best qualities are "remarkable visuals" and "perfectly timed moments of comedic relief," he writes at the Chicago Sun-Times. For those who want it, there's "shocking violence," too, yet the film also "has a sense of humor about itself," Roeper says. "It's great stuff." For a film that takes inspiration from Apocalypse Now, Kong: Skull Island is "surprisingly fun and fresh," writes Katie Walsh at the Tribune News Service. But though "never boring," it also "never sits still," a fault Walsh blames on too many characters. Samuel L. Jackson's Col. Packard isn't one she'd be willing to lose, though. He's "riveting." Tom Shone was not on the same page. Here's "the usual story: a lopsided mixture of mega-blast effects and a script that hasn't worked out what opposable thumbs are for," he writes at Newsweek. Thank goodness for John C. Reilly "stealing every scene," he adds. "You'd say he was the comic relief, except Kong: Skull Island can't seem to manage seriousness in the first place. Quit monkeying around." Stephanie Zacharek agrees Reilly is "wonderful," but that's not all she has to admire. "Vogt-Roberts knows he's gotta go big or go home, so he treads boldly." The result is a film that's "great fun" as well as "grand and nutty and visually splendid," she writes at Time. The real star, however, is Kong. "He's the movie's soulful center" and might even "make you cry."