Director Peter Jackson’s vision for his version of King Kong is big, artistic and emotionally deep. After proving himself as a high achieving cinematic director with his Lord of the Rings trilogy, which are actually some of the best movies made, he turns to what he wanted to do for a long, long time.
Having watched the original 1933 film when he was a kid, New Zealander Jackson had dreamed of remaking the film. Hollywood already did it for him with the 1976 remake that starred Jeff Bridges and was released to box-office success but mixed reviews. The experience Jackson gains from the Lord of the Rings is a pivotal moment in ensuring the film’s success.
The film focuses on Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), who is hired by Carl Denham (Jack Black, who adds comedic touch to the film) in his new movie, scripted by her hero Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody). They shoots the scenes on a German ship, which becomes marooned on Skull Island, home of the giant ape Kong, who captures Ann, causing a rescue party to be sent in to the rescue deep within the jungle.
One of the most accomplished films of 2005, the film, with all of its big and special CGI effects, keeps the center tone of plot upon the relationship between Ann and Kong, not losing the heart of the original. While Black doesn’t give anything particularly special, it’s his comedic touch that keeps us chuckling once in a while.
What I was expecting was King going all out killing dinosaurs and being machine gunned to death upon the Empire State Building. Rather, Jackson keeps the movie rightfully in the balance.
The film received positive reviews upon release, though the main criticism was drawn to its very long length of 3hours and 8minutes. While indeed the editing team could have cut it a little short by 10 or so minutes, it doesn’t take anything away from the overall neat quality of the film.
King Kong came as a massive surprise, to me an unexpected hit. This is the decisive King Kong movie.
**** ½ /5
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