Kong: Skull Island

Story: A bunch of scientists accompanied by a tracker (Tom Hiddleston), photo-journalist (Brie Larson) and army soldiers, infiltrate a mysterious, uncharted territory (Skull Island) to examine it, without realising they have entered the land of King Kong. While a few seek revenge from the mighty ape for killing their compatriots, they soon discover he is not the enemy.

Review: You know exactly what to expect from this film before walking into it and it doesn't let you down. Given the genre, it’s no surprise that this monster movie is immensely formulaic but in its defence, it doesn’t have one dull moment. Fast-paced and gripping, this reboot of the franchise is a taut survival drama that gives you the chills.

Sadly, no matter how talented, since Kong is the king, he renders the A-list cast redundant. His only competition is the monstrous lizards aka skull crawlers and the two giants pretty much rule the roost and hog the screen space, literally and figuratively.

Despite being clichéd, you enjoy the two species slugging it out in the jungle as the humans run helter-skelter, becoming the mere spectators. The CGI-fuelled action in 3D keeps you on the edge of your seat. Watching Kong smash a fleet of helicopters to the ground as we tend to crush mosquitoes is oddly entertaining. The witty repartee between characters makes up for the lack of depth and drama in the screenplay.

While this instalment tries to match up to Peter Jackson's 2005 adventure, it lacks its epic cinematic moments, like Kong scaling the Empire State building. Though British actor Tom Hiddleston and Oscar winner Brie Larson have nothing much to do here except for gawking at the giants and running for their lives, they add credibility to this otherwise stereotypical franchise.

Leading to the big Kong vs Godzilla (2020) clash, if you don’t mind some shallow, video game-esque entertainment, this one doesn’t disappoint.