Kong: Skull Island
“It’s a relief to watch a silly action movie without worrying about misogyny or cringeworthy racism.”
Title: Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts 👨🏼🇺🇸
Writers: Screenplay by Dan Gilroy 👨🏼🇺🇸, Max Borenstein 👨🏼🇺🇸, and Derek Connolly 👨🏼🇺🇸, and story by John Gatins 👨🏼🇺🇸
Reviewed by Li 👩🏻🇺🇸
Technical: 3.5/5
Fun popcorn movie but super forgettable. I’ll give them points for keeping my attention for two hours, and there were definitely some laugh-out-loud moments from the silly, unabashedly CGI action scenes, but Kong: Skull Island doesn’t do anything that hasn’t been done before.
Gender: 3/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? NOPE
Kong: Skull Island is an ‘All Dudes and a Lady’ movie—the unfortunate club of Hollywood films that feature ensembles full of men and one token woman whose only purpose, more often than not, is to provide eye candy and sexual tension. Luckily, Brie Larson’s character of photojournalist Mason Weaver avoids that pitfall, instead seeing serious screen time and respectable character development. Unfortunately, female representation drops off after that.
We technically have a second woman: San, as played by Chinese actress Jing Tian. However, San barely has more than two lines and in a groan-worthy decision, is slapped into a scene that portrays a nascent romance with Houston Brooks, the Other Person of Color on the research team. It’s completely unnecessary and it feels like a misguided effort to pander, although to whom I couldn’t begin to guess. Mostly, you’re just surprised when Jing Tian appears at all as she photo bombs her own scenes—it’s that easy to forget she’s in this movie.
Race: 4/5
Kong: Skull Island does a decent job on racial diversity, especially when considering their all-white roster of creators. Though the film does skew white, particularly in main roles, we do see supporting actors of color including Samuel L. Jackson’s Preston (who’s character is, unfortunately, a villain), Corey Hawkins as a brilliant and endearing nerd, and Eugene Cordero (who’s self-proclaimed “Asian-ish” and plays a capable soldier with a conscience).
Less positive are Chinese actor Jing Tian’s empty role, Puerto Rican John Ortiz’s minor character, who displays some cowardly tendencies, and a Japanese character who exists to die and pass on his katana to white leads. And I was a bit apprehensive when the film first introduced the Indigenous islanders, introduced in tribal body paint; however, as the film progresses, they receive more backstory and eventually avoid the stereotype of being “primitive” through a white lens.
Mediaversity Grade: B- 3.50/5
Kong: Skull Island does fairly well on inclusion but falls short due to simplistic writing, which never lends itself well to complex characters. All in all, it’s a fun movie. It’s always a relief to watch a silly action flick without worrying about misogyny or cringeworthy racism—two pitfalls Kong: Skull Island manages to avoid, if narrowly.