Monster of the Day #1533

I was going to see Kong Skull Island on Saturday, but it was raining cats and dogs and I couldn’t bring myself to leave the house. Sunday was better, though, so I grabbed the early show. I had a BLAST. The two hour run time is pleasingly lean. Moreover, the film has learned from both Peter Jackson’s overstuffed Kong flick and even Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla movie. The monster scenes are shorter (thankfully) than Jackson’s and more frequent than Edwards’. The characters are all stereotypes, at least one of which is kind of irksome. But they use the stereotypes in the proper fashion, which is to say they take it we get everyone’s motivation and just move on with things quickly. And good actors cover up a multitude of sins, so really it’s all good.

The leads are fine, but better the film is peppered with veteran characters like a somewhat slimmed-down John Goodman. There are also a lot of solid TV actors in there, including a weird blink-and-you’ll-miss him appearance by the star of Longmire (and also the star of Jabootu subject Steel Justice). They clearly are heading to a larger Marvel-like ‘cinematic universe,’ and indeed much of the lead cast has appeared in (or will be appearing in) Marvel films.

Speaking of, this is the first time I’ve ever seen the post-credit teaser sequence completely blown by the end credits themselves, so be forewarned.

  • bgbear_rnh

    Oh no, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast

  • Gamera977

    I am having trouble seeing the forest… um… I mean spider for the trees…..

    I think I saw an Asian woman in the trailers for Skull Island? I hope Kong kidnaps her to make up for A*P*E stomping a bunch of Korean women while chasing a blonde….

  • Beckoning Chasm

    I assume that the end credits contain something like “Tony Stark/Iron Man …… Robert Downey Jr” so his post credits appearance is less than mindblowing.

  • bgbear_rnh

    or you know who Mr. Cameo in the credits

  • Flangepart

    More like ‘it was the choppers that ticked off the beast, and set up the next picture.’
    Yeah, ain’t seen it yet, not surprised at the set up for KK Vs. G. I mean, Kong’s ’embiggening’ pretty much foretold that.

  • Flangepart

    Wait…that’s an AK-47 in the pic. How did a bunch of U.S. Grunts get that? One of the guys had one from Nam?

  • bgbear_rnh

    True (I was actually alluding to the box office battle).

  • CaptNemo

    Hagrid showed off his new potion for dealing with the Acromantula colony to Harry Potter . He called it AK-47

  • Rock Baker

    To the film’s credit, the cast largely looked period-correct. This for some reason is a hard thing for a lot of pictures to pin down. The tone of the film, meanwhile, was rather 80’s, so that was fun. Sam Jackson was particularly strong for a character probably intended to be the heavy. His motivations and reactions are so natural and justifiable, however, he never comes off as a token military bad guy (though I admit I’m seeing this from an American view, as a Canadian friend of mine clearly saw Packard as the villain).

  • Ken_Begg

    Exactly. There’s actually a scene where he explains why he has it.

  • Ken_Begg

    I think the film half-heartedly set him up as a fanatical Ahab character. A less talented actor might have played him as overtly nuts, but as you note Jackson’s performance helps to mitigate that. (I remember seeing Man’s Best Friend, where Lance Henriksen’s performance was so strong that it literally wasn’t until his very cartoony death scene that I realized he was meant to be a ‘bad guy.’)

    One of the worst examples of period-(in)correct casting was Pearl Harbor. I didn’t see the film, but just from the trailer all the actors seemed ridiculously cut in a way that in no way represented the ’40s.

  • Rock Baker

    Watching the film, Jackson’s character seemed to be speaking and reacting as most Americans would have. By the time new information had been given to him, he’d already developed tunnel-vision which can be brought on by unusual stress. He struck me as a tragic character moreso than a stock heavy. A point to the film’s credit.

  • Marsden

    A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man, er… ape!