Rate King Kong

[RigaMortus2]

With a story this old, and something that's been spoofed all over the place since the first movie back in the 30s...I think we've long past the point of spoilers.

Wait until Justin finds out about the whole Luke/Vader thing...

 

[Desdichado]

Hmm. I was going to see the movie this afternoon. Not having ever seen either the original or the remake and not knowing the storyline, I could go in fresh with no expectations, other than from the great reviews the movie is getting. But the above quote spoiled it for me. :\

C'mon; you've gotta be kidding me. Even if you've never seen either movie, how can you not know what happens at the end of King Kong? I did long before I had seen either of the older ones. It's a cultural icon.

 

[Elemental]

Wait until Justin finds out about the whole Luke/Vader thing...

Or the bit in Titanic where the ship sinks. I did not see that one coming!

 

[Rykion]

I love the original Kong and generally have no problems with 3 hour movies, but in the end I felt PJ's kong was a good movie on the verge of being very good. The opening was too slow. Skull Island looked perfect, but the creatures must of all been trained to attack people on sight. The whole Jimmy subplot served little, and I still don't know if Jimmy survived or not. The potrayal of Kong was excellent. The effects throughout the movie were all very good. Jackson did a good job expanding on the original characters and story to give it more depth, but the pacing just felt off most of the time. The deeper story also made the Skull Island action sequences seem over the top and more in line with a simple popcorn flick. I still had a good time, and will definitely pick up the DVD.

 

[Tewligan]

Or the bit in Titanic where the ship sinks. I did not see that one coming!

I, for one, didn't expect the protagonist to bite it in Last Temptation.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I, for one, didn't expect the protagonist to bite it in Last Temptation.

hyjacking the thread but Braveheart ending was a big surprise...just did not expect it, knew it but did not expect it.

 

[Desdichado]

Here's a cut and paste review I wrote for my blog. If, for some reason, you don't actually belong to any modern culture, and therefore are unfamiliar with the basic story of King Kong, like Justin apparently was, then there will be some minor spoiler herein:

Saw King Kong with the missus on Friday. Great flick. Great flick. But not a perfect one. In some ways, it still doesn't measure up to the original. Luckily for me, what I liked best about the original was the more straightforward aspects; a gigantic gorilla fighting dinosaurs and then running rampant through New York. Given the improvements in movie-making technology, there's almost no way that this movie could fail to be the best ever in those respects.

It also kind of monkeys (if you'll forgive the pun) with the high concept of the first movie. The Arabian proverb about the beast and beauty is still present, but it's not really whole point of the film. Maybe this is a conceit of Peter Jackson's too, but Kong is painted as the most sympathetic character in the movie by far, and it really changes the tenor of the movie from a monster movie to a tragedy about a really quite extraordinary individual creature. It's not really possible to imagine Faye Wray's Ann Darrow grieving for the death of Kong, or trying to prevent it in any way.

Still, I think the change works for me. Frankly, to me Kong himself was always the most interesting part of the movie too. But, like I said, I like the story for it's more straightforward elements; I'm usually either indifferent or oblivious to symbolism and "meaning" in adventure movies. On the other hand, I'm a huge fan of dinosaurs. And to me that was King Kong's strength; it was a great adventure movie. The symbolism only worked because it wasn't too prevalent, or too ham-fisted. In fact, I think that's exactly why the 1976 remake was so poorly recieved; it did have ham-fisted symbolism throughout the movie; all kinds of it; Kong as a representation of lust, Kong as a representation of nature, Charles Grodin as a representation of evil corporations despoiling the natural world and exploiting folks right and left, etc. And the adventure was sorely lacking; there weren't even any dinosaurs. Also the man in the gorilla suit was just stupid looking; Willis O'Brien's stop motion Kong looked tons better even 43 years earlier. But the point I'm trying to make is that sometimes an adventure story should stick to what it does best and not try to be anything more; it can tend to hurt it rather than help it.

Where the movie doesn't work well are some of the other Peter Jackson-isms. He seems to have a habit of "I'll force this scene to be emotional!" trainwrecks where overblown music, highly dramatic over-acting and directing tricks; slo-mo, long close-up focus on misty eyes, etc. to try and force emotion into otherwise fairly innocuous events. Ann Darrow taking the first step onto the steamer was a good example. In fact, I strongly suspect that the entire first hour or so of the movie will bore me to tears by the time I have this movie on DVD. The little sub-plot about Jimmy was unnecessary and didn't really go anywhere; the whole thing should have been cut in editing, in my opinion. That was an example of another Peter Jacksonism--throwing little subplots in that don't do anything other than bog down the pacing. Once the group gets to the island, though, the movie is pretty much just non-stop thrills and chills. Julie was literally sore after the movie because she had been so tense for so long. And the tragic spin Jackson took on the story made the last act surprisingly touching and moving.

Overall, I still highly recommend the film, and I highly recommend seeing it in theaters where you can take advantage of the huge screen and sound systems. I'll be seeing this again (and maybe again still) in theaters, and I will be picking this up on DVD as soon as it's available.

 

[johnsemlak]

One of the greatest movies I've ever seen.

I just about agree. I'm not sure about the 'greatest ever seen' bit but it may be that way for me over time. It was definitely one of the best movie experiences I've ever had.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I, for one, didn't expect the protagonist to bite it in Last Temptation.

The dame gettin' pregnant with Satan's kid was a big surprise in Rosemary's Baby too.

The Auld Grump

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

I enjoyed the movie.

I also made the mistake of purchasing a large popcorn and large coke. I had finished off the mop-bucket sized tubs of corn and drink and about the time Lumpy was fighting the leech-like monsters was when I decided it would be a good idea to go to the restroom and then get some more drink and pop corn….

’Cause the giant leech-like monsters gave me a royal case of what Strong Bad calls the jibblies.

I had fun in the movie. I did almost get weepy-eyed as Kong battled the planes. I ended up feeling pity for Jack Black’s character – he seemed oblivious to the fact every project he touched failed and got people killed. I found myself wondering about the history of Skull Island – and the possibility that the culture that left all those ruins had done something forgotten and terrible that resulted in the present state of affairs (abnormal predators, abnormal number of predators, overall persistent strangeness) on the island.

But it was not perfect. The pacing felt odd. I did wonder how such a small and seemingly fragile ship was supposed to have transported Kong back to New York. I wondered where all the native human islanders went after the brief skirmish.

But it’s fun.

I give it 8 thumbs up.