Monkey Movie Madness!
It's movie time! The non-summer blockbuster season is out in full force, and high up on the list is a rebooting of one of the classic creature features: King Kong. And boy have we moved far past the days of a giant ape hanging on the Empire State Building...
Kong: Skull Island
Eighty-plus years ago, we first learned about King Kong, a giant ape with a penchant for blondes, punching, and roaring. It was a classic love story straight out of Shakespeare: ape meets girl, ape falls for girl, ape climbs skyscraper with girl, ape plummets to his tragic death. You can't beat this kind of storytelling. It was a cinematic masterpiece. This, of course, led to the Son of Kong, Kong vs. MechaKong, Mighty Joe Young, King Kong the remake, King Kong the other remake, and the soon to be relevant King Kong vs. Godzilla. Because while a classic love story may entice the viewers, what the really want to see is a giant monkey punching the crap out of a giant Japanese Tyrranosaurus Rex. But we'll get to that later.
In this, our newest incarnation, Kong is no longer a lovestruck ape standing a paltry fifty feet in height. Now Kong is immense, a towering behemoth from a land that time forgot, standing hundreds of feet tall and ready to beat ass and take names. This is not a creature to be fucked with.
The plot: Of course, a bunch of guys go fuck with him.
The pros: The timeline is well constructed; taking place just at the end of the Vietnam war and the rise of satellite technology, the concept of a "lost island" can be played as a believable fiction. Most of the characters have some depth - Samuel L. Jackson is trying to win a war with Kong as his new metaphor; John C. Reilly is lost and found and maybe a bit loopy; Brie Larson is a photographer looking for a new angle; and Tom Hiddleston is the man who is too smart to be on this trip but goes anyway. The romance angle is sacrificed for action and adventure and character drama; Kong is not the enemy of man, but the protector, and he only fights when he is provoked. And, most critical, we have a crossover with the 2014 Godzilla movie, enhanced by a post-credits scene, indicating that maybe this is the start of a larger universe. Like The Avengers, except they're all 500 feet tall and cranky like The Hulk.
The cons: That part above where I said it's like Shakespeare? Yeah, that was a lie. It's not really Shakespearean at all. But if you enjoyed Godzilla, you will probably enjoy this. If you did not, then same applies here. This movie isn't in it for the Academy Awards.
The verdict: The concept of a Justice League of giant monsters appeals to me more than I thought possible. I am 100% ready to ride this wave to the end.
Line of the show: [after Kong wipes out an entire helicopter squadron]
Mills: [agitated] Is no one going to talk about what the hell just happened?
Cole: [completely unfazed] That was a most unconventional encounter, I'll admit.
Kong: Skull Island
Eighty-plus years ago, we first learned about King Kong, a giant ape with a penchant for blondes, punching, and roaring. It was a classic love story straight out of Shakespeare: ape meets girl, ape falls for girl, ape climbs skyscraper with girl, ape plummets to his tragic death. You can't beat this kind of storytelling. It was a cinematic masterpiece. This, of course, led to the Son of Kong, Kong vs. MechaKong, Mighty Joe Young, King Kong the remake, King Kong the other remake, and the soon to be relevant King Kong vs. Godzilla. Because while a classic love story may entice the viewers, what the really want to see is a giant monkey punching the crap out of a giant Japanese Tyrranosaurus Rex. But we'll get to that later.
In this, our newest incarnation, Kong is no longer a lovestruck ape standing a paltry fifty feet in height. Now Kong is immense, a towering behemoth from a land that time forgot, standing hundreds of feet tall and ready to beat ass and take names. This is not a creature to be fucked with.
The plot: Of course, a bunch of guys go fuck with him.
The pros: The timeline is well constructed; taking place just at the end of the Vietnam war and the rise of satellite technology, the concept of a "lost island" can be played as a believable fiction. Most of the characters have some depth - Samuel L. Jackson is trying to win a war with Kong as his new metaphor; John C. Reilly is lost and found and maybe a bit loopy; Brie Larson is a photographer looking for a new angle; and Tom Hiddleston is the man who is too smart to be on this trip but goes anyway. The romance angle is sacrificed for action and adventure and character drama; Kong is not the enemy of man, but the protector, and he only fights when he is provoked. And, most critical, we have a crossover with the 2014 Godzilla movie, enhanced by a post-credits scene, indicating that maybe this is the start of a larger universe. Like The Avengers, except they're all 500 feet tall and cranky like The Hulk.
The cons: That part above where I said it's like Shakespeare? Yeah, that was a lie. It's not really Shakespearean at all. But if you enjoyed Godzilla, you will probably enjoy this. If you did not, then same applies here. This movie isn't in it for the Academy Awards.
The verdict: The concept of a Justice League of giant monsters appeals to me more than I thought possible. I am 100% ready to ride this wave to the end.
Line of the show: [after Kong wipes out an entire helicopter squadron]
Mills: [agitated] Is no one going to talk about what the hell just happened?
Cole: [completely unfazed] That was a most unconventional encounter, I'll admit.