Kong: Skull Island

Cert: 12A; Now showing

With the world running light on tolerance and elegance these days, we do love to see raging hulks or irritable giant apes giving vent to our existential angst. It also — as Kong: Skull Island reminds us 84 years after Merian Cooper’s archetypal simian romp — makes for a kick-ass creature-feature in which to set monster against monster in a bludgeoning battle royale.

So Legendary Pictures can stuff smaller, prettier characters like Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L Jackson into this reboot all it likes — ultimately, it’s all about the monkey, despite the sterling efforts of director Jordan Vogt-Roberts to lay down an intriguing premise.

It’s 1973 and the Vietnam War has ended. John Goodman’s government scientist brings a team including a tough photographer (Larson), a shady tracker (Hiddleston) and a load of soldiers (led by Jackson’s lieutenant colonel) out to a mysterious island where monsters may dwell. A mountainous Kong introduces himself in chopper-mangling style but it soon turns out that he is not their biggest threat.

Creedence Clearwater Revival numbers and nods to Apocalypse Now relentlessly remind us in what decade this is taking place, and the dialogue becomes stilted and rather useless by the third act. Concentrate on the magical CGI rendering, the surprisingly lush and tasteful cinematography and a nicely dotty John C Reilly as a Pacific War castaway and you’ll have a ball.