A generally entertaining monster movie that tries so hard to be other things that it never succeeds on its on merit. Primarily, this is yet another remake of “King Kong.” However, this time, the story stays on Skull Island. This is also a Vietnam War flick, with vintage helicopters and music from the era played throughout. I can’t forget to mention that this is also setup for what is planned on being a giant-monster themed cinematic universe. Plot wise, there’s most of the expected story beats from previous “King Kong” films, but this time it’s not focused on the female lead. There is a fair amount of action, and it wastes little time getting to it. The CGI is overall solid, with the exception of a few moments. A lot of strong actors do their best to get you invested in their characters. While Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman and Samuel L. Jackson have a stage presence that compensates for their underdeveloped characters, just about everyone else is forgettable. The wild card is John C. Reilly. He has the most interesting backstory and has a nice payoff the end the film. However, his quirky character tends to overdo it with the comedy. This offbeat humor can be found throughout and doesn’t seem to work. Another misstep is ignoring most of Kong’s gentle persona that bonds him with the characters and the audience. He is essentially portrayed as an action hero. There is a post-credit scene that is worth sticking around for.
**1/2 out of *****