Kong: Skull Island

Hollywood's most iconic primate returns to the screen, but rather than circus ringleaders or showbiz impresarios it's the might of the US military that has designs on his humungous haunches. Army colonel Samuel L Jackson's last mission before leaving Vietnam is to ferry a party of civilians, led by pushy scientist John Goodman and steely Brit tracker Tom Hiddleston, to the mystical island that is the lair of not just Kong but sundry other ne'er-do-well beasties. Naturally, events don't follow the visitors' plans, and situations of the life-threatening variety come thick and fast, but it's a cracking white-knuckle ride from start to finish. The aforementioned players acquit themselves perfectly while not especially pulling any rabbits out of hats. The real (human) star of the show is John C Reilly's wild-eyed veteran pilot, the most grounded and logic-possessed of all the visitors, whose respect and even love for the ape gives the film a heart that previous incarnations never quite managed.