Kong: Skull Island

Cast View all

	Tom Hiddleston	James Conrad
	Samuel L. Jackson	Preston Packard
	Brie Larson	Mason Weaver
	John C. Reilly	Hank Marlow
	John Goodman	Bill Randa
	Corey Hawkins	Houston Brooks
	John Ortiz	Victor Nieves
	Tian Jing	San
	Toby Kebbell	Jack Chapman
	Jason Mitchell	Mills
	Shea Whigham	Cole
	Thomas Mann	Slivko
	Eugene Cordero	Reles
	Marc Evan Jackson	Landsat Steve
	Will Brittain	Young Marlow
	Miyavi	Gunpei Ikari
	Richard Jenkins	Sen. Willis
	Allyn Rachel	Secretary O'Brien
	Robert Taylor	Athena Captain
	James M. Connor	Gen. Ward
	Thomas Middleditch	Jerry
	Brady Novak	Base Guard
	Peter Karinen	Chinook Pilot
	Brian Sacca	Chinook Co-Pilot
	Joshua Funk	Seismic Soldier

Crew View all

Director	Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Writer	Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein, Derek Connolly, John Gatins
Producer	Debbi Bossi, Edward Cheng, Jennifer Conroy, Alex Garcia, Jon Jashni, Eric McLeod, Mary Parent, Tom C. Peitzman, Nicholas Simon, Thomas Tull
Musician	Henry Jackman
Photography	Larry Fong

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Notes

Christmas 2017 gift from The Carters

Kong: Skull Island was photographed digitally by Larry Fong (on the Alexa XT Plus, according to IMDb), who has shot most of Zack Snyder's effects extravaganzas and obviously knows how to create fertile raw material for effects wizards and digital colorists. Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray presents one of the finest digitally originated images I have seen to date, with exceptional sharpness and detail in both the realistic and CG-dominated sequences. K:SI has many dark passages, all of them featuring excellent blacks and shadow detail. Director Vogt-Roberts and his team aren't afraid to cloud the image with smoke or fog or to wash over the entire frame with tinted light (e.g., the intense red of Weaver's dark room), but they always maintain a level of visibility appropriate to the needs of the narrative. Fong and the digital colorists have aptly re-created the dull look of early Seventies film for the opening scenes in Washington, D.C., but the colors perk up as soon as the action shifts to Southeast Asia, achieving a green and golden richness when the expedition reaches the island. The opening scenes in 1945 have an almost storybook brightness and intensity, while a concluding sequence set in the U.S., which can't be further described without spoilers, accurately simulates the appearance of a home movie shot on 16mm.

One of K:SI's most impressive visual accomplishments is the seamless integration of spectacular location photography with meticulously detailed digital creations. The Blu-ray reproduces these effects flawlessly, allowing the viewer to slip into the action without distraction. Warner has mastered K:SI at an average bitrate of 24.09 Mbps. The theatrical group continues its stubborn refusal to use all available space on the disc, but the compression appears to have been capably performed.

K:SI arrives with what is fast becoming a standard choice on Warner's A-list titles between Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. I don't know why anyone would select the latter, since even for those without Atmos decoding, the Atmos track offers a 7.1 Dolby TrueHD core, making the lossless DTS track a lesser option and a waste of space. Still, Warner insists on including it, and in what is fast becoming a familiar slap in the face to 3D fans, the 3D Blu-ray of K:SI omits the Atmos track altogether.

The Atmos track is superb, and the dizzying effects begins even before the first frame appears on screen after the company logos. K:SI opens with an off-screen dogfight between a pair of World War II fighter planes, which swoop, dive, evade and fire their weapons back and forth and up and down throughout the listening space. The helicopter squadron's approach to the island through the surrounding storms is an organized cacophony of roaring winds, struggling engines and thunderous lightning strikes. Scenes on the island are accompanied by a symphony of jungle rustles, insect buzzing and animal noises, routinely punctuated by the thunderous roar of Kong and Skull Island's other mighty beasts. The precision of the Atmos placement of sound "objects" is matched by the track's broad dynamic range, with deep bass extension that will challenge your subwoofer.

Dialogue is clearly rendered and appropriately localized. The stirring adventure score is by Henry Jackman, the British composer of Kick-Ass, Kingsman and numerous films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The soundtrack is enhanced by a well-selected medley of period-specific tunes from familiar artists like the Hollies, Jefferson Airplane, Credence Clearwater Revival and David Bowie.

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