King Kong: Peter Jackson’s Latest and Greatest
Directed by Peter Jackson
Starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody
Released December 2005 worldwide
Summary from imbd: A film director and his crew go to a mysterious island to shoot their picture, when they find out the legendary beast on the island does exist, and troubles come when the natives capture the crew's leading lady as a sacrifice to the monster, King Kong. Thus, the crew ventures into the jungle of the island to find the creature, and capture it.
>>> My review contains some spoilers for the movie.
I greatly anticipated King Kong for many reasons. First of all, I’m a bit of a LOTR fan, so I knew that Peter Jackson wouldn’t disappoint me. As in the case with the LOTR series, Jackson was a fan from childhood. The audience was sure to be satisfied with his interpretation of the books, or in this case, the movies, because of this. So even before I was scheduled to see it in theaters, I did my research. I checked out the website, watched the trailers, and viewed every photo available to me on the internet. When I sat down with my popcorn, I was reasonably excited. And no, I was not disappointed, at least not completely. The movie was long. For the most part, I didn’t mind. The action sequences in which Kong takes on not one, but three large carnivorous dinosaurs was exhilarating (in my opinion). The action was well done and yet not overdone, as one might think it would be. King Kong himself is one of the wonders of computer animation himself. His expressions are very well done, along with his movements. Being an updated viewer, I couldn’t help but recall that Andy Serkis (who had previously helped in LOTR as Gollum’s reference for computer animation) was the reference for the movements. That man deserves some sort of award.
At any rate, before we even reach the island, the audience figures out that Jack Black might not quite be cast correctly. His somewhat comical character ends up a bit too comical, but it isn’t as noticeable until the later portion of the film. Additionally, we meet two other characters on the ship Venture before it reaches Skull Island: a boy named Jimmy and his friend and mentor, Mr. Hayes. From the beginning, Evan Parke plays Hayes with a punch in every stomach tacked on every line. The audience soon loses its wind and its patience with his character. His solemn and dramatic attitude are meant to set us up for what is to come, but it instead makes us wonder why he hasn’t been thrown overboard yet. Jimmy’s lost cause seems more lost to the audience as well, as his relationship with Hayes only annoys everyone and slows the main plot of the story. Ensuing events prevent us from every feeling sorry for Jimmy or for Mr. Hayes, even when terrible things happen as we knew they would. The fact that the high school boys in front of me sn iggered during their serious conversations was a negative indicator.
To change topics to a more positive note, I know that every female audience member enjoyed the romance between Ann Darrow, the actress (Watts), and Jack Driscoll, the writer (Brody). It had the right amount of intensity and chemistry that left us wanting more, as all good romance should. And of course, when the frightening natives capture Ann, we all cheer Jack on when he insists on a rescue mission. The comic moments with Carl Denham (Black) and his camera man were achieved as the audience hoped they would, and everyone was in awe of the dinosaurs grazing, and then again at the dinosaurs stampeding. The audience also enjoyed all of Ann Darrow’s scenes with King Kong. Her attempts to amuse him and his ensuing hooting laughter made even the old farts in the audience crack a smile.
One of the main problems I found with this film was what I like to call the bug sequence. It was enough to have Ann nearly bite the antennae of a long, crawling critter, but the extended death sequence in which the most disgusting bugs imaginable feast on the remaining men was too much. Throughout that sequence, I heard groaning from all directions and “ugh” and “gross” and “I can’t watch this.” The American audience, I gather, is more immune to violence than to insects. But really, it was nothing more than a disgusting way to kill off the remaining extras. Was there no other way? Couldn’t the audience have been spared the agony? In my opinion, that was a mistake.
When Ann is finally rescued, I’d decided that Naomi’s character was limited in some ways. Not in development, but in expression. Her terrified faces and screams were fair enough, but her distressed and devastated faces lost their effect after a while, similar to Frodo’s frozen-by-terror face, as LOTR fans will remember. For example, when King Kong is captured, I felt for Ann, but was personally more concerned with what was to happen next.
King Kong’s escape from the theater was very good, similar to many of the island sequences. His hatred for Jack, Ann’s lover, was apparent, and it raised hairs on my neck. Naturally, I was very concerned for Jack as he narrowly escaped. A bit later, I wasn’t really discouraged when King Kong slid happily around on a frozen pond in Central Park, holding Ann in one hand. I did, however, lean over to my sister’s friend and comment that the ice must have been “very, very thick.”
The final scene on the top of the Empire State building was very good, but long. As he slid away into death, Ann reached for him. They shared a glance for five full minutes before he finally let go. By the third minute, I was already checking my watch. Every second they bonded emotionally for the very last time, the audience slowly slipped from the emotional grasp that they were held in by the moment. When King Kong lay dead, we weren’t half as sad as we could have been. Yes, we were still sad, but yes, we could have been sadder.
Overall, the film was a spectacular thing to see. It was action-packed and exciting, it had romance, it was swashbuckling (sort of), it was scary (the natives, for example), and it was entertaining. As far as King Kong films go, I enjoyed this one as much as the original. So if you have the chance this holiday season, take a break and go see the movie!
STAR RATING: 3 to 4 out of 5
