...the video and audio quality coupled with the abundance of extras makes this one of the best DVD releases of the year.
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"It was beauty killed the beast."
You could also say, "Was Peter Jackson over killed this film." The original "Kong" was a little over an hour and forty minutes, while Jackson's version clocks in at over a whopping three hours. Jackson has professed his love for the big ape and this remake was a dream project for him. He was, essentially, a kid in a candy store and truly allowed himself to indulge in his childhood fantasies.
Jackson originally intended to work on "Kong" in the late-90's, after "The Frighteners." But, his American film debut flopped and with the market getting crowded with remakes of "Godzilla" and "Mighty Joe Young", "Kong" was put on hold and Jackson set about adapting "Lord of the Rings." Needless to say, "LOTR" was an absolute juggernaut and it seems Jackson was given free reign to do as he pleased. That's not always a good thing to give a filmmaker. Anybody remember "Heaven's Gate"?
Now, I wouldn't dare say "King Kong" was a cinematic blunder like Michael Cimino's ill-fated Western. I just found myself a bit underwhelmed by it all. I'm certainly in the minority in my views since the movie got plenty of positive reviews.
It's the 1930's and the Great Depression brings hard times for the entire country. For some, hard times hits them in more ways than one. Movie director Carl Denham (Jack Black) finds his latest film behind schedule and well over budget. The studio heads are bringing the hammers down on Denham. Desperate to save his movie, Denham looks for salvation in a mysterious map to a place called Skull Island. The one thing his picture is lacking? A beautiful starlet.
Denham finds one in the stunning Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), whose pocketbook is just as empty as her stomach. Darrow joins a large cast and crew that includes writer Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), leading man Bruce Baxter (Kyle Chandler), and Denham's loyal assistant Preston (Colin Hanks). Along with a motley assortment of sailors, they embark on a long sea voyage (long on screen time that is), eventually finding their way to ominous Skull Island.
There, Denham's film shoot is interrupted when Ann is kidnapped by the natives as a sacrifice to the gargantuan Kong. Jack braves all manner of treacherous land, dinosaurs, and other creepy creatures to rescue her. He gets the girl and Denham gets his ticket to fame and fortune by capturing Kong. But, Denham gets more than he ever bargained for when Kong escapes and runs rampant in New York City. In one of cinema's most classic moments, Kong meets his end at the top of the Empire State Building as he battled a squadron of machine-gun toting biplanes.
"King Kong" scores big as a big-budget visual spectacle. Jackson and the folks at WETA manage to faithfully recreate the look of the 1930's through the magic of CGI. Unlike some films that rely on heavy greenscreen work, the cities and backgrounds in "Kong" look incredibly realistic. King Kong, himself, is brought to life like never before thanks to current technology. Using the same motion capture techniques as Gollum in "LOTR", Andy Serkis stretches his acting muscles in a big way to play Kong. Even better, Kong really does come off as a fully realized, three-dimensional character through his eyes and facial expressions. There are many times where Kong comes off as simply a big kid. Like any other child, he throws a tantrum when he doesn't get his way. He shows wonder and bewilderment when he encounters snow for the first time. He shows hostility and fear in an environment totally foreign to him. Jackson's Kong is much more than a hollow computer rendering.
I wish I could say I enjoyed everyone else's performance as much. I'm not a huge fan of Jack Black, I liked him in "High Fidelity" and "School of Rock", but he seems out of place here. His Denham is much more of a huckster than his predecessors. Maybe I had a hard time believing Black since I identify him so closely to his modern brand of frat boy humor. I also had a hard time believing in Brody's Jack Driscoll. Not that Brody did a poor job, it's just difficult to imagine a screenwriter suddenly able to morph into a Doc Savage/Indiana Jones-type so easily. Standing head and shoulders above the rest is Naomi Watts, who practically lights up the screen whenever she's on. Watts truly captures the look and manner of a starlet from Hollywood's golden era.
To paraphrase a line from the film, this isn't just an adventure story. The first act of "Kong" mixes in elements of comedy and drama. It has a feel reminiscent of Preston Sturges and Howard Hawks. The next act when they arrive on Skull Island is where all the action comes in. There are vicious natives, brontosaurus stampedes, giant insects, and bat-like monsters. Not to mention a rousing battle between Kong and a family of tyrannosaurus rexes.
Individually, the action set pieces are thrilling and well-done. Put together, it leaves you feeling a bit numb. Most of the Skull Island sequences remind me of "The Phantom Menace" or any of Michael Bay's films. The constant stream of action just blends into a senseless string of noise without any kind of logic to the plot. Watching one thing explode is fun. Watching twenty things explode afterwards is just redundant and tiring. The same could be said about chase scenes and dinosaur attacks. I'll have to concur with the opinions of my fellow DVD Town'ers, John and Dean, when it comes to "Kong." At times, it is a masterpiece of filmmaking. At other times, it is a product of the extremely sterile, effects-heavy movies that are prevalent today.
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[release]19510[/release]