Peter Jackson's King Kong

[orangerful]

Well, after hearing my babble about it so long, jimithingy said yesterday that we should just go see King Kong right now. So we went to the 8:30 show last night! 3 hours and 7 minutes later, I left a happy girl!

As Regards Spoilification.



Let me just say, WOW! I feel like Peter Jackson was able to achieve what he wanted to with this film. He was able to pay tribute to a movie that inspired him to become a filmmaker, yet at the same time change enough things to make it uniquely his own. Kudos should also go to Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens for making real people out of what were some pretty 2-D characters in the original film.

Okay, I'll get the complaints out of the way first: It really didn't need to be 3 hours long. There were lots of little bits that just went on about 3 minutes more than they should have. Seriously, it could have been...say, 2 1/2 hours if we really tried. But it wasn't that big a deal really. The only time you wanted things to be shorter was when the tension was too much.

And let me say, for a movie that I knew exactly how it was all going to turn out, I was pretty tense the whole time! I don't want to give too much away, my the discovery of Skull Island had my heart beating fast. the sacrifice scene was crazy! the t-rex fight, awesome! the capture of Kong, but intense and heartbreaking.

This movie was really all about the eyes. It's Kong's main form of communicating, looking soulfully at Anne Darrow, played by Naomi Watts, looking angry at any monster or man that comes near her. And so, she must communicate the same way in return. Her eyes go from wide in terror, to understanding, to love. Even between characters that can speak, the eyes are where most of the dialogue takes place. Jack Driscoll the screenwriter, played by Adrien Brody, practically confesses his love with a 3 minute gaze at Anne. We see the gears turning in Carl Denham's (Jack Black) head as he plots his film then his capture of Kong. When the natives prepare to sacrifice Anne, we see closeups of the girls with their eyes rolled back into their head, channelling something! Everything is there in the eyes.

oh, and the natives. yes. they were damn freaky. It wasn't like the original with people in blackface, or the 1970s one, with mostly black people in grass skirts. No, this was a new group of people all together. I loved that. When I saw the freaky ass kid waiting for them, with his hand outstretched...oh the chills. And the old woman was the stuff of nightmares.

zaubervz had recently rented the original King Kong, so I was able to pick his brain about what was in that film and what was PJ's own creation. He pointed out that some of the scenes from the original film, because part of Jack Black's film in the movie. We discussed it a lot on the ride home. In the original, the people were just sorta there, just getting us to Kong. Anne is just some vapid girl who could care less about the giant monkey and just wants to smooch with her boyfriend. Denham and the captain pretty much had this planned all along. I am so happy that PJ, FW, and PB were able to make these characters deeper than that. It's what they do best, adding those layers upon layers. The movie went from a film about a giant ape, to a sort of love story between these two lonesome creatures; the young girl and Kong.

I also like that Denham wasn't really a villian. He wasn't a "bad guy", he was just misguided. As jimithingy put it, he had his eyes on the prize and he didn't really pay attention to what he was doing to get there. I didn't really hate him, like I remember hating the character in the original film. I didn't feel like there was any malice involved in his actions. He was just a person.

Oh! and something I learned - it doesn't matter what your age or sex is; seeing a bug as big as a person come crawling out from under a rock makes ANYONE go "EWWW! oh GROSS!" hahahaha.

Yes, this film gets the "Sammo! Seal of Approval!" While it could have used a little tighter editing, I think that the characters and story were well developed and the action was edge of your seat, especially for a movie where 99.9% of the audience already knows the outcome of the film. And it's definately a movie theater movie - you want wide screen, you want surround sound, you want to be in the dark so the magic can surround you.

It also goes great with popcorn!

Comments

[teach81.livejournal.com]

>> And it's definately a movie theater movie - you want wide screen, you want surround sound,
>> you want to be in the dark so the magic can surround you.

What if you have a wide screen tv and surround sound system? Then can you see it at home if you get a bag of popcorn? lol

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

unless you have a private screening theater like George Lucas, I'd say it's not the same. When you're at home, you have too many distractions. The lights might not be as low. The phone might ring. Knock on the door, check your e-mail, pause fast forward rewind.

Nope, it's not the same.

The movie theater experience is the one you want for this film. You need the huge screen, the pitch black room, and that sort of quiet and seperation you get from a movie theater.

[bittertwee.livejournal.com]

Yay for movie theaters!

I just saw Pride and Prejudice. It was quite good, although I'm not sure why it's such a big hit. It's a solid period piece, but nothing really to draw in the period-piece-averse crowd. I thought the sets were really interesting- they were elegant but also captured the inevitable grubbiness of living way back when. I can't keep my Jane Austens straight very well, but I remembered this story from having recently seen Bride and Prejudice so there were no surprises.

I really want to see King Kong. Huge Adrien Brody fan. He doesn't, like, die or disappear halfway through, does he?

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

the reviews I saw of P&P were pretty positive, though they made the same comment you did, that they didn't stray to much from the usual interpretations so it didn't challenge the Colin Firth one that I think a lot of Austen fans worship. I haven't seen either soooooo, yeah don't really know. :)

Brody is in a whole lot of the movie. And he makes puppy eyes at Naomi Watts alot too. He is an odd looking dude. I need to see The Pianist still, though I know it's a bit of a downer so I have to be in the right mood.