Kong: Skull Island...
I went to the cinema this morning to see Kong: Skull Island. I guess they're positioning it as the first in a possible franchise - no movie has a colon these days without a franchise lurking somewhere behind it! But I hope not, because...it was not a good movie.
I mean, it wasn't bad, don't get me wrong. Or maybe it was, in the way that big mindless blockbuster movies can be thoroughly entertaining but still bad. And it's very much a movie that's aiming to be a blockbuster rather than a good movie - it's got the set piece action scenes, the 'cool guys don't look at explosions' slo-mo scenes, big guns, big bangs, massive fuck-off gorillas...
The dialogue is terribly wooden, there's no attempt at character depth or exploration anywhere. I can't even remember any of the characters' name, apart from Tom Hiddleston's and that's only because it was Conrad and I appreciated the Heart of Darkness nod. Because this movie is basically a big mindless special effects filled mash up of Apocalypse Now and King Kong, with Samuel L. in the role of Kurtz. But it's visually impressive, the special effects are amazing, some of the shots are just stunning, and Kong is about as real as you could imagine.
But hey, I was only watching for Tom Hiddleston, and the man is fine when he's bulked up and dirty and sweaty. So I'm good.
I mean, it wasn't bad, don't get me wrong. Or maybe it was, in the way that big mindless blockbuster movies can be thoroughly entertaining but still bad. And it's very much a movie that's aiming to be a blockbuster rather than a good movie - it's got the set piece action scenes, the 'cool guys don't look at explosions' slo-mo scenes, big guns, big bangs, massive fuck-off gorillas...
The dialogue is terribly wooden, there's no attempt at character depth or exploration anywhere. I can't even remember any of the characters' name, apart from Tom Hiddleston's and that's only because it was Conrad and I appreciated the Heart of Darkness nod. Because this movie is basically a big mindless special effects filled mash up of Apocalypse Now and King Kong, with Samuel L. in the role of Kurtz. But it's visually impressive, the special effects are amazing, some of the shots are just stunning, and Kong is about as real as you could imagine.
But hey, I was only watching for Tom Hiddleston, and the man is fine when he's bulked up and dirty and sweaty. So I'm good.