Kong Skull Island

 Kong Skull Island 2017

• Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L Jackson, Brie Larson, John C Reilly, John Goodman, Corey Hawkins, John Ortiz, Tian Jing, Richard Jenkins
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Tom Hiddleston – The Night Manager, High-Rise, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Hollow Crown, The Avengers, The Deep Blue Sea, Thor, Wallander
• Samuel L Jackson – Glass, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, Avengers, Jumper, 1408, Extras, Star Wars I-III, Kill Bill 2, The Red Violin, Jackie Brown, Long Kiss Goodnight, One Eight Seven, A Time to Kill, Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Johnny Suede, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues, Sea of Love, Do the Right Thing
• Brie Larson – The Glass Castle, Room, Short Term 12, Scott Pilgrim vs the World
• John C Reilly – A Prairie Home Companion, The Aviator, The Hours, Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Good Girl, The Thin Red Line, Georgia, Dolores Claiborne, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
• John Goodman - Atomic Blonde, Inside Llewyn Davis, Dancing on the Edge, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Artist, My First Mister, O Brother Where Art Thou?,  Barton Fink, Sea of Love, Punchline, Raising Arizona
• Corey Hawkins – BlacKkKlansman
• John Ortiz – Ad Astra, Silver Linings Playbook, Public Enemies, Amistad
• Richard Jenkins - The Shape of Water, Rum Diary, Burn After Reading, The Visitor, Rumour Has It, North Country, Six Feet Under, Intolerable Cruelty
• Why? Hiddleston and Jackson
• Seen: 17 July 2021.      

       Hotshot tracker (Hiddleston), hotshot photographer (Larson) and warmongering Vietnam helicopter pilot (Jackson) join a gang of crackpot scientists and reluctant soldiers to find the mysterious and legendary Skull Island, the last uncharted land on the planet.

       They find it. A few survive, and discover… oops, no spoilers.

       Saturday matinee meets King Kong meets Buffy meets Primeval meets Apocalypse Now… is it just a somewhat exciting adventure story or is there more to it?

       There are a few seconds of moving human (and human/creature) relationships, the 70s music is great, there are a few digs against the Vietnam War, a smidgen of philosophical existentialism and Hiddleston is gorgeous. So, the question is – do I like the film?

       I kind of do. Yay, Kong. 

3 ½ * of 5

 PS – to those of you who absolutely hated this film: c’mon! Lighten up! It’s not meant to be Shakespeare.