Kong: Skull Island

Man, oh man, was this movie fun! While I liked Peter Jackson's version, this definetly blows it out of the water! It's totally epic! I'm surprised this wasn't released in the summer, because it's definely got that summer blockbuster feel. One criticism people had with 2014's "Godzilla" was that it moved too slowly and took forever for Godzilla to actually show up, and I agree. This fixes that mistake by showing Kong in the opening scene to tide us over, and then doing the buildup. The tone and feel of this movie reminded me of "Indiana Jones." It's a fun island survival movie. In my opinion, one thing "Godzilla" suffered from was the human characters just weren't that interesting. That was not the case here. The characters are written very well, with clear goals and conflicts. The scale of Kong and the island as a whole are impressively huge. Do not watch this movie on your phone. Watch it on the biggest screen possible with an epic sound system for full immersion. Keep in mind the movie, in my opinion, really pushes the PG-13 rating. Some of the violence and deaths can get really brutal. Yet it still manages to balance it out with humor. (Particularly from John C. Reilly's character.) Godzilla had a very dark, bleak, and overall depressing and hopeless tone. (Although those monster fight sequences were awesome!!!!!) This has an action movie tone and is extremely intense at times. Some of the creatures they came up with for the island are really cool, and definetely not stuff I felt I had seen before. It's impressive that a movie that's been remade and redone again and again and again since the 30's still manages to bring something new to the table, while also retaining that classic feel. 

Grade: A-  9/10  4/5 stars