A mighty fun monster movie, Kong: Skull Island perfectly treads the line between big budget VFX cinema & b-grade exploitation, resulting in a lively and at times gruesome wallop of entertainment.

The last time everyone’s favourite colossal ape King Kong was on the big screen, it was under the direction of powerhouse filmmaker Peter Jackson, who brought his immense blockbuster capabilities honed on the Lord of the Rings trilogy to a remake of the 1933 King Kong original, deemed by many as one of the greatest horror movies of all time. While Jackson’s version is indeed fine, it never quite established its own identity save for its incredible visual effects. Kong: Skull Island has personality in spades to go with its own impressive visual work, a reboot both entertaining and, perhaps most important, different to the Kong fare seen before.

Set days after the end of the Vietnam War, the film follows obsessive American government sanctioned monster hunter Bill Randa (John Goodman), as he successfully garners the resources to assemble a crack team of specialists, among them former SAS soldier turned tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) and war photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson), in an expedition to the uncharted and mysterious Skull Island in a bid to find proof of prehistoric life in modern day. Although escorted by a US army helicopter squadron led by zealous Lieutenant Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson), they are no match for the mighty Kong and the other terrifying monsters who call Skull Island home.

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer), known more for his work in TV comedy, successfully handles the scope and size that a colossal property such as Kong: Skull Island demands. While the post-Jurassic Park era has proven time and again that monster’s giant, winged, scaly or otherwise can be brought to life on the big screen, Vogt-Roberts fills his colossal stars with frightening power and a surprising amount of personality. King Kong has always been a monster deserving of our terror and our sympathy, and Kong: Skull Island delivers on those characteristics, never shying away that while this monster has no qualms in squishing puny humans at a whim, he is also a hero of sorts when compared to the villainous and absolutely frightening “Skull Crawlers” who look to usurp Kong on the food chain.

Great too are the humans in this monster movie, thankfully not repeating the bland portrayals in fellow monster mash Godzilla. Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson bring a striking aesthetic to their lead roles, while Samuel L. Jackson is at his shouty, wild eyed best. Most impressive is John C. Reilly as a WWII fighter pilot marooned on Skull Island, giving the lay of the land to not only the oblivious expedition, but to us the audience in an entertaining example of exposition delivered with key comedic timing and the right amount of fearful resonance.

And so is an example to the strength of Kong: Skull Island, a film which delivers those genre conventions, yet those so with an energy and humour that stays on the brain just as much as its striking visuals.