[Spoiler warning: Plot and ending are discussed. If you don't want to know, stop reading right now.]

About two weeks ago, I caught the 1933 version of King Kong on TV again. No doubt they were re-running the movie to create hype for the new release by Peter Jackson. It had been years since I'd seen the black and white version last, but the thing that struck me most about it was the totally overdone drama (with an appropriately nerve-wrecking soundtrack) and how cardbordish the great ape looked.

So last night, I went to see the Jackson version. To pronounce the movie outstanding or even great would be ... unjust. Certainly, there were awesome things about it, but overall it just wasn't able to measure up to "Lord of the Rings". I pity Jackson for that. Had Kong had any other director, he would be most likely celebrated for this achievement. Juxtaposed to Jackson's previous movies however, it just does not satisfy completely.

And yet - I walked out of the theater wiping tears off my face. But - wait a minute. I'm getting ahead of myself.

The first hour of the movie (until the characters reach Skull Island) is an utter waste of time and the sole reason this movie can never be considered great. That hour could have easily been cut to half its length. It is slow going and many scenes hardly contribute to the overall feel or the telling of the story (like the big point that is made that this is the Depression area. Yes, we get it. One soup line looks just like the next.), nor do some of the scenes act as the comic relief they were intended to. The movie also goes off on tangents with relationships between different characters that we cannot relate to nor care about (like between ship mates Hayes and Jimmy, or Choy and Lumpy). It's quickly established however that Jack Black's director character is a greedy, selfish bastard. Equally, Naomi Watts doesn't waste much time anchoring Ann Darrow as the delicate, sweet blonde with the heart of gold. Andrian Brody's Jack Driscoll wins the audience's sympathy with close-ups of his gentle face and brown doe eyes. Again, all that could have been shown in less than half an hour.

Once on Skull Island however, the movie goes into overdrive. And together with its speed, it also finally shows off some of those much-hyped special effects. Indeed, they are the cream of the crop. Kong is the most realistically animated creature I've ever seen, and a world apart from the stop-motion ape of the 1933 version. Aside from the dead-on realism of ape-behaviour, this Kong also has depth, character and personality. A big kudo to Peter Jackson for resisting the impulse to humanize this wild animal, and make him behave in this sort of sticky-sweet way we are accustomed to seeing animals portrayed who forge a relationship with humans (I had some fears about that, especially after spending the last half hour of "Return of the King" wincing at those endlessly kitschy and sentimental scenes between Frodo and his companions). So Kong is definitely the crowning achievement of the movie.

Also outstanding are the scenes with the various dinosaurs. Again, the animals are utterly believable in look and behaviour, and I found myself tightly gripping the armrest of my seat during the sequences where the Brontosaurus tumble through the narrow canyon, or when Kong fights the Tyrannosaurus Rex. If you have a strong aversion to insects, spiders and other crawling critters, you might want to skip this movie on the big screen until you can edit out some of the hairy human-insect confrontations on DVD - they are exquisitely terrifying.

The most significant difference between Kong 1933 and Kong 2005 however is the relationship between the ape and the girl. In 1933, Faye Wray spent virtually every scene screaming in terror at the top of her lungs. She clearly did not care for the giant animal. In 2005, Ann Darrow returns the ape's affection in a way that turns the story completely on its head. In a good way. Her love for the ape is strong, sincere, tender, utterly believable and ultimately heartbreaking. Naomi Watts does an amazing job translating this without any words, but only with her huge blue eyes and body language. Her inner luminance and beauty make you understand why Kong fell so hard for her.

Appropriately also, the movie shows true compassion for the plight of a wild animal that gets torn out of its wild environment to be put on display as a novelty for the masses. I rooted for Kong like I'd never rooted for another animated character as he swung at the top of the Empire State building, defending himself and taking down a few of those pesky airplanes while at it. I knew of course how the story would turn out, but a part of me secretly hoped that Peter Jackson would break the rules and create an alternate ending where the ape survives and gets shipped back to Skull Island. Alas, it was not to be. And so I walked out of the theater, heartbroken and with tears on my cheeks (as did almost everybody else in the audience).

So had it not been for that first hour of boredome, this could have been an epic movie. The acting from Watts and Brody is solid (the rivalry between Kong and Driscoll for the love of Ann is an added complexity that played out nicely), Andy Serkis as Kong is a delight as always, and although I was shocked and appalled when I first heard that Jack Black was going to be in this movie, it was ultimately a good move by Jackson - because which other actor is so annoying that you can come to truly hate him over the span of mere minutes?

Thank you!
[url=http://mzlykwlx.com/ezyr/jfpc.html]My homepage[/url] | [url=http://faofrera.com/aups/cfuw.html]Cool site[/url]

Great work!
My homepage | Please visit

Nice site!
http://mzlykwlx.com/ezyr/jfpc.html | http://oodkesls.com/roew/btlk.html

Nice site!
http://mzlykwlx.com/ezyr/jfpc.html | http://oodkesls.com/roew/btlk.html