"King Kong" - monkey talk and movie talk

[Alex]

I believe Jackson had arranged for Fay Wray to provide the final line but she died last year before doing so. I know I read that, but I don't know whether it was true.

I won't call you a stick in the mud, but the original never did a lot for me so despite it's many flaws I prefer this version over the original where I cared neither about Darrow nor Kong. Here, I at least cared about Darrow.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

I believe Jackson had arranged for Fay Wray to provide the final line but she died last year before doing so. I know I read that, but I don't know whether it was true.

I won't call you a stick in the mud, but the original never did a lot for me so despite it's many flaws I prefer this version over the original where I cared neither about Darrow nor Kong. Here, I at least cared about Darrow.

Listen, I loved Fay Wray in the original, though she had little to do but scream. But for Jackson to consider giving her the final line, now, that smacks to me of cheap sentimentality. Clearly, his film was intended on many levels to be a tribute to Cooper and Schoedsack and O'Brien (and no doubt everyone involved with the original). I don't have a problem with that, but I do have a problem with a film that belabors every single scene with no respct for what some judicious editing could accomplish. Much could be said of Peter Jackson with this film as was said with Erich von Stroheim with regard to his 1924 film Greed. Von Stroheim had to shoot every single page of the book, every single scene, every single awful nasty disgusting moment. Which is why he had 16 hours of film after the first cut. Where Jackson could have done with 3 minutes of a bronto chase, he had 20, etc. It was both exhausting and boring.

Unlike you, Alex, I felt nothing for Ann Darrow or Kong in the new version. Kong was rendered with the highest state of the art, and that was done magnificently. It's clear that is where all the money went. But is was rendered without a soul, to my eyes and heart. Little 1930's Kong made of foam rubber and rabbit fur showed more personality and heart to me. But, this is me.

And here I am, like Jackson, belabouring every point!

Donna

[Gemini Cricket]

Ralphie and I saw 'King Kong' on Xmas eve.

Here are a couple of my thoughts:

• The movie is too long. They could have cut out an hour.
• The movie should have been called 'Adventures on Kong Island'. A lot of the CG shenanigans that occurred on the island was unneccesary. The bugs, the stampede, the swinging T-Rex scene... Too much.
• The Kong on ice scene made me want to vomit. What the heck was that? That was totally not needed. Pure garbage.
• I loved the Jane Goodall 'I'm doing sign language with Kong scene'. That worked for me. It was a nice touch.
• I liked how Kong was all scarred up. Living on that island, one would be...
• It's nice that Jamie Bell is getting work. Is he old enough that I can say he's cute? Well anyway, he is.
• Whenever Jack Black is cast in a movie all I see is Jack Black. I don't see the character he's supposed to be portraying. I expected him to be dancing in his underwear in certain scenes. And, sorry, I don't think anyone could pull off the 'beauty killed the beast' line. It didn't work for me.
• I like Adrian Brody, but why was he in this movie? It didn't seem to work...
• Naomi Watts was okay. She resembles Nicole Kidman in certain shots, I wonder if NK was Jackson's first casting choice...
• The scene atop the Empire State Building was fantastic. Exactly as it should have been done. I felt like I was up there. Nice.
• There is a huge plot hole in the film. The show with Kong takes place maybe at 8pm? We'll say 10pm... Then all hell breaks loose and he stomps through town and then climbs the building to see the sunrise. We lost 6-8 hours in there somewhere...
• They took way too long to get to NY. They should have gotten there sooner.
• Loved the ship in the rocks scene. Very tense. Loved it.
• Kong Island reminded me of Mordor or Isengaard. Even the people were ork-like. And, by the way, what happened to them? They disappeared...
• How'd they get Kong on the ship?
• Jackson seemed to be one upping Spielberg. Let's see how many T-Rexes were in 'Lost World'? Two? Then in 'Kong' I'll put three in it... Bleh.
• Loved the theatre wrecking scene and the Kong smashing the awnings scene while Brody tried to drive away.
• The calm Kong zen moments were kind of cool. And showing him laughing... I bought that...
• I liked that Kong was not as big as the 70's version of him.
• Anyone catch the Kong skeleton on the island. Maybe he had a girlfriend?

All in all, it's a decent film. It's fun in places. I read a review awhile back where the reviewer said he was exhausted after seeing it. I agree.

I still like Jackson, this film was his baby. The original made him want to do movies, which we are all grateful for. But all of his films need not be 3 hours plus....

At one point, Black says something about wanting to cast 'Faye' in the part of the female lead. I thought that was kind of funny...

And this is a shallow thing but I kept staring at Brody's nose the whole way through. Like the way I stare at Owen Wilson's nose in his films. It's shallow, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of it.