Kong: Skull Island (2017)

Elevator Pitch: It’s King Kong again. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War an explorer convinces the US government to finance an expedition to an unknown Pacific Island and so the team is got together which includes combat veterans led by Lt Col Packard, geologists, a former SAS man and a female photojournalist. They take ship and helicopter to get to the island, but when the giant ape swats all the helicopters out of the sky they must somehow survive the predations of other grotesque carnivors and get back to civilisation.

Content: There is no sex or nudity; a bit of drinking but only in the first sct. Many set pieces somehow reflecting Vietnam War scenes when the helicopters are in the air. Kong attacks the aircraft and once on the ground the surviving military and civilians must fight it out with a variety of enormouse creatures, including the macabre “scullcrawler” and some flying monsters. People are picked off and things only become clear when the core group reach a native village, and a surviving WWII airman who tells them Kong is on their side. But Col Packard still wants revenge for the loss of his team.

A View: I have watched some pretty dire stuff recently on your behalf – so you don’t have to – and so selected this outing because I though it would be a good popcorn presentation, and it was. There were a few too many monsters, and actually I think there were more helicopters in the air than there were on the ship. I found the soundtrack a bit unsuitable, particularly when it was echoing Apocalypse Now.  But these are minor quibbles. It is pretty well exactly what you would expect it to be so if you have a hankering for a monster film, give it a shot.

Aditional Info; Much of the film was made in Vietnam, which was considered by many of the actors to be the most beautiful country they had ever visited. I’ve been there, and I agree.