Brandon's Pop Culture Site

This review is a little late coming. I watched King Kong a couple of weeks ago. But you will have to pardon me because it has taken me over two weeks to catch my breath and get my heart rate down.

I spent the first hour of this movie wondering if anything was going to happen and when? And spent the last five hours wondering if it was ever going to stop? The ride this movie carries you on is unreal. There is a great build up in the beginning, which was not boring, but seems so in retrospect. Peter Jackson paints a beautiful landscape before he unleashes his beast upon it. Setting the stage with wonderful shots, most memorably of the ship and the sea and of course the creepy skull island. He smartly establishes his actors very firmly before allowing the monkey to steal the rest of the movie. This way you look back on the film and think Jack Black, Naomi Watts, and Adrien Brody did a fantastic job. If the ape would have came in sooner you would barely remember their characters though. Naomi Watts really stands out in this movie because she really brought her character to life. She stands by her morals early on and displays an always believable and endearing emotional capacity throughout the entire film. I can't say I have been a fan of hers in movies past like I was with Adrien Brody and Jack Black, both of whom I remember fondly from other pictures. Naomi Watts has made many pictures most of which I have never had any interest in watching. The only real point of reference I had for her going into the movie was The Ring, a movie which I loathed but thought she did an okay job in. But she did a great job in King Kong of establishing herself as an up and coming actress, by playing an actress who is trying to be up and coming.

Now the second part of the movie. I don't know what to write here. I really don't. It was simply amazing. Kong shows up in the movie with still two hours to go, but those are two hours you barely notice. There is no chance to turn and look at the clock, or desire to. When Peter Jackson decides to start throwing punches he doesn't quit. Peter Jackson is also not content to just physically excite you, he excites you emotionally. Getting you behind characters and leaving cheering and screaming at your television. The battle between the one hundred T-rexes and Kong was not only intense, Jackson did a fantastic job of making it harrowing by letting you experience it not just from Kong's perspective, but from Ann's also. Later you found yourself cheering for Adrien Brody in his attempts to rescue Ann, but at the same time you felt pity for Kong.

There is little I can say about the special effects that hasn't already been said. Peter Jackson is the new Steven Speilberg and George Lucas. Only he may actually be better. Kong looked and acted so real that during the movie you could actually suspend belief and accept that there might be an island somewhere with a giant ape on it. But to continue to harp on the emotional aspect, Kong's emotional depth is what really brought him to life. His curiosity at finding Ann. His rage at those who would take her away, and in what maybe my favorite scene his humor at watching Ann amuse him. I am not sure who should get the credit for all that, Peter Jackson, Andy Serkis, or maybe just the CGI team, but bravo.

The single biggest surprise of the movie was the ending. Yes I knew how the movie would end, but what amazed me was that even knowing this I was touched by the ending. It was very sad and very beautiful. This was Naomi Watts finest moment in the movie, she was the one who really sold the end, although once again that deeper emotion than I was expecting was right there in Kong.

One criticism of King Kong I have heard it that it was just "too much". I can see that and can understand how that would hurt the movie for some. That too much factor was a good reason why I loved it. Too much makes me want to see it again to see all that I missed. Too much was a nice surprise when so many movies offer too little. But it does make it hard for anything to stand out in a movie with too much.

One last thing, for all my pop culture knowledge, for all my ability to notice sublte influences in other movies, for all my expertness on picking up the roots and branches of films. I never realized until I watched this version of King Kong that Jurassic Park: The Lost World was a homage to King Kong. How did I not notice that? That couldn't be more obvious and yet somehow I missed it? My powers, they are failing.