King Kong
Movie Review: King Kong
Stars (Out of 10): 5
One Word Summary: Looooong Movie Details: MPAA RATING: PG-13 for frightening adventure violence and some disturbing images Starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell, Kyle Chandler, Lobo Chan, and Thomas Kretschmann GENRE(S): Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-fi | Suspense/Thriller WRITTEN BY: Peter Jackson DIRECTED BY: Peter Jackson RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: December 14, 2005 RUNNING TIME: 187 minutes Relevant Sites: Shopping: "King Kong" Review: King Kong is quite a production in just about every sense of the word. With a $200 million-plus budget, thousands of special effects, and the name Peter Jackson (whose Lord of the Rings trilogy reigned at the box office and at the Academy Awards) attached to direct, Kong has been considered the remake to rule all remakes since it was first announced. Kong, of course, is a remake of the 1933 classic (which was then remade in 1976 and which inspired a 1986 sequel called King Kong Lives) about an inspired and somewhat evil film director in the Great Depression days who flees New York City with unknown actress Anne Darrow to film his latest epic on Skull Island. Few names were ever more suiting, and once the crew arrives on the island, Darrow is kidnapped by the natives and offered as a sacrifice to King Kong. Instead of killing her however, Kong saves her, and in doing so, sacrifices himself. He is brought back to New York and hailed as the '8th Wonder of the World.” His journey, as well all know, ends atop the Empire State Building where he's shot down by fighter planes. Peter Jackson has made in quite clear in every interview he's given since this movie was announced that he's an absolute King Kong fiend, and that this movie is his labor of love, of sorts. In this film, he's made the movie that he would have liked to see when he was a nine year-old boy. Who wouldn't? Dinosaurs, giant gorillas, zombie-like island natives, little to no intelligent dialogue… maybe he actually wrote the screenplay when he was nine! Jackson's first mistake was casting Jack Black as Carl Denham. I commended Black for his performance in School of Rock, but this movie makes it quite obvious that Black is no Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler… he's not a real actor. He's a comic actor. Jackson's next mistake was making this Kong so goddamn long! This movie runs 187 minutes long out of which probably 115 were entertaining. There's nothing wrong with a long movie (Titanic was incredible), but there's a lot wrong with a bad long movie. Among Jackson's other mistakes: the dinosaurs (for whatever reason the fact that this island exists with a huge gorilla isn't that unbelievable, but that fact that there are dinosaurs as well is just annoying), the zombie-like island natives (I'm not trying to put ugly people out of work, but having to watch these people on screen made me sick to my stomach… will someone call the Queer guys?), and Jimmy and Hayes (probably the worst characters I've ever seen on film). All that being said, King Kong has its moments… and quite a few of them. Too bad not all actors can share the chemistry Naomi Watts and Kong have; plus, the scene where the two are playing on the ice is one of the most memorable film moments I've seen in recent memory. The best parts of the film are the scenes filmed in 'New York.” Too bad there wasn't more of that.
Fran Walsh
Philippa Boyens
Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace (story) 
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