The Big Picture

  • Kong: Skull Island reinvents the classic Kong story by setting it in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and incorporating a 1970s aesthetic.
  • Marvel stars Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson deliver standout performances and are unfairly sexy in their roles, making the movie an entertaining watch.
  • The visual effects and cinematography in Kong: Skull Island are impressive, and the action sequences are well-crafted.

In the 2010s, there was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people and see if they could become something more. No, I'm not talking about The Avengers — although we're in a neighboring ballpark. This paraphrase of Nick Fury's speech refers to 2017's Kong: Skull Island, the second movie in the MonsterVerse franchise following Gareth Edwards' 2014 Godzilla. Sometimes, the most surprising movies bestow us with the greatest gifts: such as how irresponsibly, unfairly, and ridiculously sexy Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson are in Kong: Skull Island. What was the reason?

Perhaps the answer is a question in and of itself: do we need a reason? Tom Hiddleston had already established himself as a pop culture legend. Brie Larson was an Oscar-winner preparing for her Captain Marvel role two years down the road. The double-billing was already worth a chuckle, so why not create a branching multiverse timeline by adding in Samuel L. Jackson and Shea Whigham? Every actor could have phoned in this modern King Kong reboot, but they give it their all. As it turns out, so did the costuming and makeup departments. Kong: Skull Island is a gleefully fun time. Hiddleston and Larson's sweaty arm muscles and dirt-streaked faces as they run for their lives? That's the movie’s indisputable highlight. I bless them all even as I curse them for causing me lasting emotional damage.

Kong Skull Island
Kong: Skull Island
PG-13AdventureActionFantasy HorrorThriller

After the Vietnam war, a team of scientists explores an uncharted island in the Pacific, venturing into the domain of the mighty Kong and must fight to escape a primal Eden.

Release Date
March 10, 2017
Director
Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Cast
Tom Hiddleston , Brie Larson , Samuel L. Jackson , Corey Antonio Hawkins , John Goodman , Jason Mitchell
Runtime
118 minutes
Main Genre
Adventure
Writers
Max Borenstein , John Gatins , Derek Connolly
Tagline
All hail the king
Website

‘Kong: Skull Island’ Reinvents the Kong Story

Although Kong: Skull Island follows 2014's Godzilla and prefaces 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong, the movie operates as a standalone. Set immediately after the Vietnam War, a group of scientists and soldiers led by tracker James Conrad (Hiddleston) and joined by anti-war photojournalist Mason Weaver (Larson) race off to the newly discovered Skull Island before the government can reappropriate the trip's funding. (Politics, am I right?) Kong: Skull Island's 1970s aesthetic is purely aesthetic; there's no meat on these war-setting bones, but the flavor still makes the film distinct. Approaching a legendary figure is the key element of any reimagining, so the Kong: Skull Island creative team tackled King Kong, that Empire State Building-scaling big boy, by referencing classic cinema. "One of the big sort of conceits with our movie," director Jordan Vogt-Roberts explained, "is in the early ’70s [the United States] launched a satellite into space for the first time [and] we were finding places that we had never seen before." Accordingly, Larry Fong's cinematography and the editing team's color grading evoke the '70s film epics Vogt-Roberts modeled Kong: Skull Island after, primarily Apocalypse Now.

As for the King himself, Vogt-Roberts "wanted to make something that gave the impression that he was a lonely God, he was a morose figure, lumbering around this island." Industrial Light & Magic's work on Kong earned them an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects — no shock there, given the company's groundbreaking reputation. The camera framing and sweeping movements emphasize the enormity of Kong's visual scale, but the detailed effects and remarkably emotive motion capture by Toby Kebbell give Kong a soul. Notably and amusingly, Kong: Skull Island rejects the Jaws route of saving their monster for a grand finale reveal. When the characters drop seismic explosions onto Skull Island the instant they arrive (luring a creature out by making them mad never goes well!), Kong's clenched fists pulverize the helicopters out of the sky. Some of Kong's squabbles with the island's creatures verge on tedious, but the fights are surprisingly gnarly and the creative wildlife intentionally reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke.

Why Is Tom Hiddleston So Dang Hot in ‘Kong: Skull Island’?

Some of Kong: Skull Island's pleasures are simple. There's the joy of Samuel L. Jackson's enraged Colonel Preston Packard, the Captain Ahab to Kong's white whale, exclaiming "b*tch, please!" in all seriousness. Things explode in plumes of fire. And there's the element we're all here for: the pretty people. After playing superhero second fiddle, Tom Hiddleston finally gets to be a blockbuster leading man and makes the most of it. Skull Island introduces James Conrad in a nightclub set to the strands of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and backed by pleasing bisexual lighting. A war veteran, Conrad is a bitter pill made up of surly tension, intense glaring, and an artistically grizzled stubble. His first onscreen act involves silently beating people up with a pool stick. When he demands better pay for a trip to an uncharted land, naturally, the intimidated scientists agree. Not only is Conrad a lost soul, he's intimately familiar with nature's dangers; going to Skull Island is a terrible idea, but at least he'll get that bread.

Following Kong's dramatic entrance and the helicopters' subsequent crash landing, a freshly shaven Conrad guides the team through lethal terrain. (I mourn the facial hair, but at least he's rocking those blue eyes.) He prowls along, tracking footprints and delivering "they're two clicks north"-style directions with expertise. He gets greasy while fixing a boat engine, because of course he also knows mechanics. Is there anything sexier than non-threatening competence? If the answer is "yes," then said hotter thing is Conrad's other set of guns. There was no reason for Tom Hiddleston to wear a dark t-shirt fitted that snugly, or with sleeves that significantly cropped. Any part of his constantly straining arms could snap someone's neck. Adding a holster to the ensemble is just cruel. I'm a feminist, and that means admitting I'd jump from a small height so he could catch me.

However, this collection's crowning jewel is the ludicrous third act sequence. Conrad's brooding mask had quickly fallen away to reveal an internal softie; consider the Hiddleston secret weapon deployed. He wants to keep everyone safe ("he protec but he also attac"), so when a carnivorous Skullcrawler attacks the straggling survivors, our action hero lives up to his status. You can't turn his friends into lunch! Conrad catches a tossed sword while running at top speed, snatches a gas mask off a dead body with the other hand, and proceeds to slice and dice through a mass of small pterodactyls. Not only is this epic display in slow-motion, he's a lone figure drowned in highly saturated green gas. Am I cheering more than I'm swooning? You tell me. Conrad, and Hiddleston by association, is absolutely wilding. He tosses his rescuee over his shoulder with heaving sweaty breaths, and everything is absurd, wonderful, and worthy of preservation in the Library of Congress.

‘Kong: Skull Island’ Made Brie Larson a Blockbuster Heroine

Two years before Captain Marvel made history as the first women-led superhero film to make over $1B worldwide, Brie Larson dipped her toe in the Hollywood scene with Kong: Skull Island. In true Larson fashion, Mason Weaver is no damsel awaiting rescue. She's eager, driven, and sharp as a tack, staunchly holding her own against verbal and physical conflict. Also true to form for Larson, Weaver is believably shaken by Kong's violent appearance. Existing alongside her intelligent confidence is a realistic vulnerability. Her camera captures human joy, and her arm muscles save a trapped creature that's in pain. Her kind heart connects with Kong enough for the latter to scoop her out of the ocean, but this reboot thankfully avoids the romance angle.

Don't let that softness fool you: Weaver gets to be an egalitarian badass. Larson's accomplished presence is a sight to behold regardless of the project, but Kong: Skull Island drops her into the action genre's specific visual language. The Skullcrawler almost eats Conrad after his sword fight, until Weaver tosses a lighter into the gas cloud; the formidable creature dies in the explosion. (Go big or go home, girl.) She scales a mountain and defiantly fires a flare into a different Skullcrawler's, well, skull. Through it all, Weaver's well-conditioned blonde locks stay in intentionally messy waves. I guess she forgot to pack a hair tie. Once she ditches her utilitarian white blouse, the dirty tank top is refreshingly unrevealing. Instead, that undershirt lets Larson's Captain Marvel biceps do the talking, something her (admittedly) spectacular MCU costumes keep concealed.

Of course, two great bastions of hotness can't interact without sparks flying. Conrad and Weaver lightly but immediately flirt upon meeting, sizing one another up and showing off their combative wits. Facing a life or death scenario always involves bonding, so they swap intimate childhood details. Conrad lends Weaver a lighter for her long exposure photography. She rests a comfortable hand on his shoulder. Their cheekbones and jawlines grow ever more dirt-covered and blood-smeared. Both wind up soaking wet and traumatized, Conrad cradling Weaver while she clings to him. There's no kissing, but these two totally got married.

In a movie where even King Kong is caked up, perhaps an implosion of sexy was as unavoidable as the rising sun. It was a ruthless casting move, but Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson just look great together. They're both conventionally attractive, they're committed performers, and their energies complement. When they huddle close for survival or stare in horrified fear as the cameras dramatically spin, it makes me want to send the production team a belated gift basket. I also long for a spin-off sequel. Or perhaps a Captain Marvel/Loki team-up, because why limit my options? The universe has worked such random miracles before.

Kong: Skull Island is available to stream on Prime Video.

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