Yes, the big fella is back. But don’t go to see Peter Jackson’s “King Kong”, expecting another “Lord of the Rings”, because it’s not. What “Kong” is, you’ll have to decide for yourself, but as remakes of classics go, even ones from the era of black and white film, this one stands above the rest….even though it was tooooooooo long.
The movie is true to the original plotline, which has a down on her luck but beautiful actress coaxed to join the impossible plans of movie director Jack Denham. He’s off to the exotic and little known Skull Island, where it’s rumored that creatures from the pre-Man era live today, never having evolved.
In true dramatic fashion, the ship is tossed upon the island’s rocky shore, where the innocent actress Ann Darrow is captured by the human natives and offered up as a sacrifice to the great ape god. For among the Neolithic dinosaurs and other assorted holdovers from the Stone Age, is a giant 25′ tall ape named Kong. The ensuing mayhem on the island is filled with one of the movie’s best features- its special effects, which bring you action and tension that was impossible to lend the original version, due to their technical limitations. But Jackson had no such problems, and literally took the possibilities that the story offered and ran with them.
If “King Kong” has a drawback (besides the fact that is toooooo long), it’s in the sometimes schmaltzy twist given to the love story between the girl and the ape, a sub-plot that went undeveloped in the original movie, where Fay Wray’s speaking lines were mostly screams. In the 2005 version, the actress’ character is allowed to develop a relationship with the ape that gives the filmmakers more latitude to imbue the ape with human characteristics.
After rescuing Darrow from the natives, Kong is lured onto the ship, and taken back to New York in restraints, where he escapes, scales the Empire State Building, and in one of the most memorable movie scenes ever, fights off attacking planes until he plunges to his death.
Before I go,
Public Challenge to Peter Jackson – Be Succinct! At a 3 hours and 5 minutes running time, methinks that Mr. Jackson needs to take a few film editing courses. The movie was great, don’t get me wrong…but when I’m dozing off in the last 20 minutes (this also happened in the 2nd Lord of the Rings movie), it’s a little frustrating to miss out on some of it. Cut out the fluff and you’ll have an even more captive audience.
Director: Peter Jackson
Producers: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Jan Blenkin
Starring: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis, Thomas Kretschmann
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