The Monkey Speaks His Mind
Peter Jackson, I will never doubt you again. I didn't think anyone could pull off a reasonably loyal (or comprehensible) adaptation of Lord of the Rings, but you managed to do that and win the attention of geek-fearing Hollywood at the same time. And I never thought anyone would be able to remake such an inherently geeky movie like King Kong and actually make me think the original could or should be improved.
It's been a long time since I've had as much stupid fun at a movie as I did at Kong. The only comparisons I can think of are Jurassic Park (full of dinosaurs eating people), Raiders of the Lost Ark (a movie I knew little about when I walked in the theatre to see it for the first time, but was completely blown away by), and, of course, Star Wars (I'm talking here about the primal experience of seeing it as a 10-year-old).
Kong is a movie I loved as a kid, and Jackson's remake is a movie I would have loved as a kid, but that I love even more as an adult for making me feel like a kid.
Besides the enormously pleasurable screentime devoted to dinosaur stampedes, three-way T-Rex fights, giant head-sucking maggots, and a giant fucking ape towering above a 1930's New York City skyline, the film is also beautifully shot. Many of the shots in the film involve long close-ups of Naomi Watts as she gazes in wonder, terror, or confusion at the natural spectacle surrounding her, and that certainly doesn't hurt. Many of the other shots are devoted to the unbelievably expressive face and body of Kong himself, and, unlike many current CGI-heavy films of the past few years, there were almost no points in the film where I said to myself, "That looks fake" or "Real living creatures don't move like that."
The film isn't perfect, though. One of the film's set pieces is the aforementioned three-way between Kong and some of his T-Rex chums, and the hopelessly frenetic speed of the fight made some of the effects seem blurry or rushed. I also could have done without the jigaboo natives on Skull Island, who resemble nothing so much as potential cousins of the fighting Uruk-Hai. And I've yet to be convinced that Jack Black is ready for anything approaching dramatic acting, though the audience at the screening I attended seemed to be in love with his every smirk and sarcastic line.
Aside from these minor annoyances, Kong represents nearly everything I have loved about movies since I was a pre-pubescent doofus staying up late to watch Creature Features on Friday nights.
I was surprised that Kong is a more subdued portrait of a giant ape this time out. Jackson is definitely reaching for the sentimental members of the crowd, but his ape is interesting to watch, and not just because he likes to punch dinosaurs and swat biplanes. Andy Serkis is rightly given prominent placement in the cast credits as the performer behind Kong; his ape fulfills the CGI promise of flesh-and-blood characters that Gollum initiated, and, like Gollum, Kong is allowed to become more than just an object of the audience's bemusement and invokes the viewer's senses of empathy, delight, and respect.
This is the kind of movie that deserves a theatrical presentation and will only be diminished on DVD. It needs to be seen in the dark on a big white screen, all the better for the viewer to fall into this amazingly detailed and appealing world. What a great fucking movie.
It's been a long time since I've had as much stupid fun at a movie as I did at Kong. The only comparisons I can think of are Jurassic Park (full of dinosaurs eating people), Raiders of the Lost Ark (a movie I knew little about when I walked in the theatre to see it for the first time, but was completely blown away by), and, of course, Star Wars (I'm talking here about the primal experience of seeing it as a 10-year-old).
Kong is a movie I loved as a kid, and Jackson's remake is a movie I would have loved as a kid, but that I love even more as an adult for making me feel like a kid.
Besides the enormously pleasurable screentime devoted to dinosaur stampedes, three-way T-Rex fights, giant head-sucking maggots, and a giant fucking ape towering above a 1930's New York City skyline, the film is also beautifully shot. Many of the shots in the film involve long close-ups of Naomi Watts as she gazes in wonder, terror, or confusion at the natural spectacle surrounding her, and that certainly doesn't hurt. Many of the other shots are devoted to the unbelievably expressive face and body of Kong himself, and, unlike many current CGI-heavy films of the past few years, there were almost no points in the film where I said to myself, "That looks fake" or "Real living creatures don't move like that."
The film isn't perfect, though. One of the film's set pieces is the aforementioned three-way between Kong and some of his T-Rex chums, and the hopelessly frenetic speed of the fight made some of the effects seem blurry or rushed. I also could have done without the jigaboo natives on Skull Island, who resemble nothing so much as potential cousins of the fighting Uruk-Hai. And I've yet to be convinced that Jack Black is ready for anything approaching dramatic acting, though the audience at the screening I attended seemed to be in love with his every smirk and sarcastic line.
Aside from these minor annoyances, Kong represents nearly everything I have loved about movies since I was a pre-pubescent doofus staying up late to watch Creature Features on Friday nights.
I was surprised that Kong is a more subdued portrait of a giant ape this time out. Jackson is definitely reaching for the sentimental members of the crowd, but his ape is interesting to watch, and not just because he likes to punch dinosaurs and swat biplanes. Andy Serkis is rightly given prominent placement in the cast credits as the performer behind Kong; his ape fulfills the CGI promise of flesh-and-blood characters that Gollum initiated, and, like Gollum, Kong is allowed to become more than just an object of the audience's bemusement and invokes the viewer's senses of empathy, delight, and respect.
This is the kind of movie that deserves a theatrical presentation and will only be diminished on DVD. It needs to be seen in the dark on a big white screen, all the better for the viewer to fall into this amazingly detailed and appealing world. What a great fucking movie.
posted by Chazzbot at 2:53 PM
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