King Kong
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Written by: Merian C. Cooper, Edgar Wallace (story), Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson (screenplay)
Starring: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis

After successfully turning the Lord of the Rings books into critically and commercially successful films, Peter Jackson immediately took on another risky project, updating the film that inspired him to make movies: King Kong. The story is simple enough to have been echoed in countless films, from the Jurassic Park movies to Hulk… in this case specifically we find a filmmaker hiring a crew to find the mysterious Skull Island, where he intends to shoot his film. His leading lady is captured and sacrificed to the titular ape. Kong and the actress eventually pretty much fall for each other, as much as a woman and an 8000 pound orangutan can. Monster is captured, monster destroys city. Poor poor monster.

It’s harder to make a movie as groundbreaking effects-wise as King Kong was for its time, yet Jackson’s version still manages to end up as THE film spectacle of the year when it comes to visuals. Yes, even after Star Wars and War of the Worlds, this is the show. The look is often similar to LOTR, there are fights with dinosaurs, giant insects, weird leech things, giant bats, and an early 1900s New York City torn to pieces by the Kong. Jackson uses the CGI and action sequences to both make you squirm (there were several audible collective gasps in the theater in some scenes), make you laugh, develop character, or just make your jaw drop. Some scenes are frankly pretty ridiculous, even campy in the “Mummy Returns” sort of way, yet it is obviously intended and probably (I haven’t seen the original) necessary to pay tribute to the original.

The story itself is simple, yet engaging, thanks to a script that takes the time to develop almost every character. This way, any character that dies (and there are several that bite the big one) isn’t simply ‘meat’. I like it when this sort of attention is paid to characters you know will die anyways, like in “Predator”. The dialogue is fitting for the film, it doesn’t try to sound all that realistic, yet the lines from each of the characters seem so natural thanks to how well defined each character is, particularly the main team of Jack Black (as the sleazy filmmaker), Naomi Watts (the actress) and Adrien Brody (the scriptwriter). The best character of all though is Kong himself – who thanks again to the green screen acting of Andy “Gollum” Serkis – is amazingly expressive, is successfully turned from the big bad monster into a sympathetic character you’re rooting for by the end.

The few detractors of this film have mentioned the films length as its major drawback. While I could see how some would face frustration at the fact that it’s nearly an hour before you see the beast, I don’t want to live in a world with a shorter “Kong”, since
there’s just so much fun to be had. There have been better films made this year, but “King Kong” tops the list when it comes to the term ‘must see’. – Goon

SCORE:

Recommended If You Like: The original King Kong, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, The Mummy Returns, Hulk