"King Kong" - monkey talk and movie talk

[Not Afraid]

D. Answer your phone.

[innerSpaceman]

My one word review:






Why?






.

[Snowflake]

Well, I plunked down my $6.50 for an early matinee today of King Kong. Overall reaction, it had some enjoyable moments.

First off, I have to give some snaps to Peter Jackson for his nods to the original (and better) film and film makers. The nice touch in the first portion of the film, outside the screening room was an insert poster for Chang. It was one of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack's silent documentary films (and it's a great film too). Of course, to the average person going to see this film that was likely missed.

Secondly, in the theatre sequence when Kong is chained up. Jackson recreates the summoning of kong sequence from the original film down to accurate reproductions of the costumes and using Max Steiner's original music. Steiner's music was used throughout that sequence. I loved that.

As others have mentioned I felt the Skull Island section was overlong, like Flippyshark, I was exhausted by it. There were huge bleeding chunks that could have been trimmed a whole hell of a lot and the film would not have suffered one iota.

The CGI, as NA mentioned, was astonishingly poorly done and took me out of the film repeatedly.

Naomi Watts gets snaps from me for making me believe she was seeing and reacting to Kong. How she ran, fell and swam through all that jungle mess and barely tore her dress or got it dirty is beyond me. Not to mention, not a toe was stubbed. I can barely get through a lunch without dropping food on myself, it's a marvel she managed it!

The one gesture that I missed more than anything is that final, resigned, aching arching move Kong makes in the original before he lets go of the Empire State and falls. Watts provided some emotion in the farewell, kong with all the CGI art available, did not. I missed Willis O'Brien.

Jack Black was only annoying and stupid and I was sorry he got the final line (as Carl Denham did in the original), but it made my stomach turn hearing him say it without any point.

I appreciate that Jackson is a fan of the film and he had some nice touches. But this film missed the mark for me almost as much as the 1970s version did. Call me old fashioned, call me a stick in the mud if you will, but I will keep and treasure the 1933 original.

Donna

Adrien Brody has the dreamiest eyes. I could just fall into them.

[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.

[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.

[innerSpaceman]

I think Jackson actually did his film a disservice in having so many homages to the original ... as if to point to it and say, "that sure was the definitive version."

As a repudiation of the 1976 film, this new one has a decent place in my heart as not letting the Jessica Lange version stand as the last word of the subject.

But Jack Black's pointless delivery of the final Carl Denham line was the film's fiinal, and 110th, reminder that the original remains a triumph where this remake merely entertains (and sporadically, at that).

Perhaps there was a little more to Ann Darrow in this one, but for every improvement in that regard there was a horribly over-the-top set piece that was absurd, uncalled for, and took me straight out of the film. I can't honestly say that the improvements outweighed the flawed comparisons.


Thanks, Snowflake, for reminding us of the beautiful way the death of Willis O'Brien's Kong was played. For all the CG improvements, based on a human performance no less, the central character of Kong has scarcely been improved upon.

What exactly was the point?

[Monorail Man]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

What exactly was the point?

To make money.

[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.

[innerSpaceman]

There's nothing shallow about that nose. It goes as deep as noses go.



And if you didn't like the ice scene, be glad it was done as a montage that subbed for the fact that they sat on that ice for 6 hours. Kong's butt was sooo numb. Could've driven a city bus up there and he'd barely have noticed.