‘Kong: Skull Island’ review: Impressive revamp of classic monster movie

Film facts: Stars Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson and John C. Reilly.

It’s clear from the attention-grabbing first image – a flailing paratrooper spiraling out of the sun – that “Kong: Skull Island” has more creative juice than your average blockbuster. Indeed, Kong is king of his domain. Because unless it tanks, “Skull Island” sure looks like it’s setting the stage for an eventual showdown against Godzilla, who was similarly rebooted when he got to destroy San Francisco in 2014.

Once that happens, you’re glad you came, no matter whether the big brute is knocking copters from the sky or taking on some of the real problem inhabitants on the island. That is, if he can stay alive long enough.

The film, Kong: Skull Island, hits theaters today.

Previous retellings have set the bar fairly low, although this new one, a 1970s-set action adventure directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, starts like it has something to live up to. But at the end of the day, this is a movie about people getting eaten by exotic animals. Devoted viewers of the King Kong franchise might be surprised to see how the story unfolds. But his hulking presence is hardly missed amid the frenzy of activity. And most of the film consists of squabbling search party members being picked off one by one, sometimes by Kong himself, but more often by the various enormous creatures who also inhabit the island.

Overall, this is a fun film that at times will thrill you, scare you and entertain you.

“Mark my word – there will never be a more screwed-up time in Washington”, says John Goodman’s Bill Randa, in the first of many jokes landed in the film.

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (“The Kings of Summer“) tries hard to make it an “Apocalypse Now”-style war film, with mixed results”. The only significant complaint about that movie was its too-serious tone, which the studio has corrected with ‘Kong: Skull Island’.

But, as they say, the show must go on, and the premiere continued as normal despite the massive firing inferno. I wasn’t really looking forward to the more than one-hour drive to Chesterfield, Missouri to see some ape pound his chest for two hours but I felt I had no choice.