King Kong (2005)

Horrorphile

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King Kong (2005)

February 11th 2009 00:45

I was lucky enough to see Peter Jackson’s epic remake of the classic King Kong (1933) on arguably the biggest screen in Australasia (well, that used to be its claim to fame); The Embassy Theatre in my old stomping ground of Wellington. This is the same cinema that Jackson invested a substantial amount of money into to have completely redecorated (back to its art deco glory) and refitted with the latest cutting edge audio-visual technology so that The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) could have its Australasian premiere there.

On the day my wife and brother went to see King Kong (2005) the huge cinema had only a few people in it, so we chose prime seats and stretched our legs out. We were suitably primed for what we anticipated to be a real spectacle. And boy was it just!

Kong digitally performed by Andy Serkis

We had a rollicking time! The three-hours whizzed by as we were hurled around on an immense rollercoaster ride of romantic intrigue, endeavour, adventure, danger, terror, horror, sadness and despair. By the end the three of us were worn out, but thoroughly satisfied. Coming so soon after completing The Lord of the Rings trilogy Peter Jackson’s King Kong was really quite an incredible feat. It must be noted that after watching the original King Kong movie as a boy Jackson wanted to become a filmmaker, and remaking the movie was a dream come true (he even dedicated his remake to the key crew and cast of the original).

Jack Black as Carl Denham

Watching it again on DVD more than three years later my opinion of the movie has changed. Not drastically, but significantly. I still think it’s a superbly mounted movie, in the grand tradition of those epics back in the day, only with state-of-the-art special effects, but I have problems with the movie’s length. The first time around I didn’t really notice how long many of the sequences and scenes were, but on second viewing the movie drags.

Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow

The plot remains the same as the original, only it is embellished ten-fold: In 1933 New York, an overly ambitious movie producer, Carl Denham (Jack Black) coerces his cast, including playwright Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), and hired ship crew to travel to the mysterious Skull Island, where they encounter Kong, a giant 25-foot ape, who is immediately smitten with leading lady Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), whom Driscoll is also in love with.

Adrien Brody as Jack Driscoll

Andy Serkis as Lumpy

There are several elements that make Jackson’s King Kong stand out head and hairy shoulders above other movies of this fantastical kind: the extraordinary CGI, miniature and mechanical effects (supervised by Richard Taylor, the man behind Weta Workshop), and the brilliant production design work of Grant Major. However, the hat does need to be tipped to Jackson himself for possessing the meticulous attention to detail and the ingenuity at shooting such complex sequences.

Several sequences jump out and remain firmly lodged in the mind long after the movie has finished: all the scenes with Kong (“played” by Andy Serkis, who also “played” Golem in the Rings movies), the treacherous arrival at Skull Island, the hair-raising encounters with the Brontosaurus and T-Rex dinosaurs, and the ghastly and utterly nightmarish scene with the giant wetas (those tiger-striped insects with big mandibles and long feelers) and the God-knows-what-they-are giant flesh-eating worms!

The busy streets of Manhattan, 1933

In fact watching those disgusting worms (poor ship’s cook Lumpy!) and those hideous wetas again made my skin crawl; a delightfully novel horror injection into the movie. I’ve had a pathological fear of wetas since I was a boy. They don’t exist in Australia, thank Christ!

The Venture crew arrive at the Skull Island native's special gate

However, it is these scenes that go on too long: the dinosaur chase in particular. But also, it’s utterly absurd. In fact, much of the movie rests precariously on the absurd. The amount of times the crew of the Venture manage to escape serious injury is plain silly. But then, I suppose the whole movie is meant to be taken with a large helping of sea salt.

Ann is captured by the natives for sacrificial purposes

Contrasting with the absurdity and implausibility of much of the action is a sense of realism. Yes, it sounds a contradiction. There is much to marvel at in terms of making you feel like you are almost there in the middle of it all; from the bustling streets of NYC to the jungle hell of Skull Island. Special mention must also go to James Howard Newton’s emotionally rousing score.

Kong confronts a T-Rex and protects Ann

Kong himself is a tour-de-force. Andy Serkis (via an electronic sensor performance) gives him real personality, and I’ll even admit that I found myself weepy for a second time whilst watching some of his tender scenes with Ann Darrow. It sounds dreadfully soft of me, but I couldn’t help myself. Kong is a lonely old man who really only wanted a companion (preferably female) to watch the sunsets with. Despite the criticism the movie received, I’ll champion his death scene as one of the more poignant and moving death scenes in recent cinema; Kong falling silently from the top of the Empire State to the Manhattan streets far below is the movie’s most powerful image, and a genuinely powerful cinematic image, period (it is also a direct tribute to the original director who wanted to do a similar shot but didn’t have the technology).

Kong and Ann atop the Empire State building

King Kong demands to be seen on a big cinema screen (or at least the biggest monitor you can find). It’s overlong, and its characters are sketchy, but the performances are solid, and it’s a visual and special effects feast. Flaws aside, the movie still rocks hard, and no doubt will become a modern classic.

Having bonded with Kong Ann is in despair

Here's the trailer:

NB: Just as he did with the Rings trilogy, in November 2006, an extended edition DVD came out, with 14 minutes of additional scenes edited back into the film. Here's one of these scenes - and an excellent one too - of the Venture crew being attacked by a hungry giant prehistoric swamp fish:

And for added horror, here's that horrendous scene with the giant wetas and flesh-eating worms:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

6 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Damo

February 11th 2009 02:43

I liked it so much I saw it once.

But seriously I did enjoy the ride the first time but I found it long and exhausting.
There were some great scenes butalso some painful ones.

Ice skating Kong sucked big time.
Kong enjoying the sunset made me cringe.

I still have a fondness for the original.

However no matter the failings of this the 1970's version was the low point of remakes.

Comment by Bryn

February 11th 2009 03:02

Horrorphile

Damo, ahhh, yes, the ice-skating, I'd inexplicably forgotten that while I was reviewing it. Totally unnecessary. The sunset cringe I can understand, it just happened to pull the right strings with me, I can't really explain. Guess a lonely giant gorilla is my emotional Achilles heel .... go figure.

Y'know, I've never seen the 1976 version. Can't say I'm compelled to either. I do like Jackson's various tributes and homages to the 1933 original though.

Comment by charles

February 19th 2009 07:48

ZCars
Ponderous

Loved the scene where Kong totally pwns a T-Rex. I agree the movie is a bit long but it did have enough action to keep me awake!

Comment by Bryn

February 19th 2009 08:00

Horrorphile

Charles, oh yes, that's the amazing thing, the pace for the most part is very well sustained, but on a second viewing some scenes became relentless and thus became a bit tedious ... Still a monumental achievement, and I love Kong breaking the T-Rex's jaw (which he does in the original movie as well). It amazes me how Jackson made this huge movie so soon after the monstrosity of Rings.

Comment by Anonymous

February 2nd 2010 16:43

Where can you get that poster shown at the beginning of the article.

Comment by Bryn

February 3rd 2010 22:10

Horrorphile

Anon, to be honest I'm not sure, I find the image on google. But there are plenty of movie poster sites around where you might be able to find it. I think it was an early teaser style poster, because they were using the "eighth wonder of the world" tagline at that stage. Perhaps do a search using that.

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