[u][b]My General Thoughts[/b][/u] Kong: Skull Island was an excellent monster movie. The characters, though shallow, were all like-able and well portrayed. The monster fight scenes were all brutal and highly enjoyable. Despite some verrrry minor gripes I had with some superfluous characters and weird cinematographic choices, I loved the film. I highly recommend you see this one in theaters, folks. The big screen makes the action that much more awesome. Now we delve into more detail on things I'd like to address in specific. Spoilers will be kept in the spoiler tabs, so don't worry! [b]The Characters[/b] The characters were all well written and portrayed. James Conrad and Mason Weaver (Tom Huddleston and Bri Larson) were the strongest and most fleshed out, but every character was easy to understand and identify with despite the relative lack of time we spend with them. John C. Reilly's character took me by surprise; judging by the trailer I thought he would be cheesy comedic relief but his jokes are sparse and funny when they [i]are[/i] delivered. He ends up being a natural medium for exposition and a overall cool character. There are three main scientist characters, and only the one played by John Goodman is memorable. The other two barely have any screen time or lines, and I feel like they were just in there to fit the diversity quota (they're played by a black man and an Asian woman). They hardly contributed to the film and should've been consolidated into one character, in my opinion. [b]Samuel L. Jackson[/b] The writers really knew how to play to Sammy's strengths. Epic speeches, funny phrases ("bitch please!"), and even a call back reference to another film he was in. It's in the spoiler tab if you want it spoiled. [spoiler]"Hold on to your butts!" Reference to Jurassic Park is in the film, and I found it quite funny.[/spoiler] One more spoiler if you wish to read. [spoiler]He even almost says "mother -blam!-er!", but alas, his character is killed midway through the phrase.[/spoiler] [b]The Action[/b] Every scene with a monster is tense and brutal. Violence and death occur so frequently and sometimes unexpectedly that you feel a genuine tension for the well being of the main characters. There were a few absolutely amazing set pieces, but unfortunately there was one action scene that I considered to be a misstep. Spoiler alert! [spoiler]At one point there's a scene where James Conrad uses a sword and a gas mask to run through a cloud of accidentally triggered gas grenades to save a soldier. He's chopping pterodactyls as he runs through the smoke. It's so stupid that it breaks the suspension of disbelief, just briefly.[/spoiler] One more spoiler. [spoiler]One scene where a minor unnamed scientist is randomly and brutally dismembered by pterodactyls occurs unexpectedly at one point during the film. It's meant to be a jump scare. The whole scene feels gratuitous and it felt choppily implemented.[/spoiler] [b]Cinematography[/b] The shots in this movie were downright gorgeous. One shot where the helicopters line up in front of Kong in front of the sunset was absolutely beautiful. There are some first person shots, but for the most part they come of as a brief and awkward distraction. One usage of the first person shot, during a frantic fight scene in the jungle works well, the rest were simply distracting to me. The opening scene is frantic. Although it's meant to be this way, I feel like it's almost a sensory overload since it's the first thing you watch when the movie opens up. It's a frantic opener, too frantic. An extra minute and a half of tension-adding transitional shots would've gone a long way. Otherwise it's a decent scene by its own merits. [b]Closing thoughts[/b] Overall it's a great movie. Had a hard time finding things to nitpick about it. Highly recommend you go see it in theaters! Discuss the film below if you've seen it.