Kong: Skull Island embraces its silly premise, adds decent Vietnam allegories, and gets bogged down by superficial characters. There are weak motivations, shallow relationships, contrived villains, blunt backstories, strained dialogue, no arcs, and slim resolution. Emotions are cliche and the adventure is muddled by unnecessary threads. The plot is formulaic, leading to a generic climax. Its acting gives competently indifferent performances (except Reilly, who's having fun). Still, the script is adequately self-aware. Around all the hollow tropes are moments of playfulness. The story keeps moving and doesn't take itself seriously. Thus, Skull Island is a digestible guilty pleasure.
Skull Island has gonzo flourishes, scale, and uneven tones. The garish imagery uses lighting, depth, motion, framing, color, and angles. Its editing adds match cuts, inserts, cross cuts, choppy momentum, slo-mo, action, and energetic pacing. The sound offers split cuts, stings, emphasis, symbolism, silence, smash cuts, and genre elements. Its music provides mood and fit through obvious needle drops. The production design has era, setting, and monsters, yet nothing is particularly unique. Its cast is deep but underutilized. The inconsistent CGI sometimes feels weighty and detailed, and sometimes feels glossy and confining. Overall, Skull Island switches between audacious and reckless.
Writing: 3/10
Direction: 6/10
Cinematography: 8/10
Acting: 5/10
Editing: 7/10
Sound: 9/10
Score/Soundtrack: 7/10
Production Design: 7/10
Casting: 8/10
Effects: 6/10
Overall Score: 6.6/10