This was nominated for Best Visual Effects but it didn't win. And I didn't do an Oscar ceremony recap this year so I'm sorry for anyone who was looking forward to that. It's one of the many things that slipped away from me. (Two more months.)An entrepreneur (John Goodman) cajoles an overworked Senator (Richard Jenkins) into letting his team of scientists piggyback on a geological survey of a previously unknown island in the Pacific. He requisitions a military escort of soldiers on their way home from Viet Nam, led by the disillusioned Colonel Packard (Samuel L. Jackson), a jaded former SAS tracker, James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston), and a war photographer, Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), to also join the expedition. Ostensibly, their plan is to use explosions and radar to map below the surface of the island but this is disrupted by the arrival of a gigantic, pissed off ape who destroys their helicopters and strands them in various places around the island. Packard is all for finding his men and having a showdown with the creature, but Conrad and Weaver aren't so certain this is the best plan.
You already know that this isn't great. It's yet another attempt by a studio to forge a cinematic universe, this time based around King Kong and Godzilla. Ambitious, sure, but was anyone really clamoring for that to happen?
I had bought it before the nominations were announced because Tom Hiddleston is in it, but he's honestly not great here. There's not a lot for him to do. Brie Larson fares a little better but not by much. The standout here for me was Toby Kebbell, who plays one of the soldiers and also does the mo-cap for Kong. I've seen him in a couple of other small parts but he's rapidly becoming one of those Actors to Watch.
The special features were pretty entertaining but there's no distracting from the fact that this is just a popcorn summer flick with no real staying power. Rent it on a rainy day and then forget about it.
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