King Kong - DJ
Growing up I always loved the original King Kong. Heck, I even enjoyed the 70’s remake, but it lost something when they took it out of the 30’s setting of the original. I was happy to see that Peter Jackson had decided to return to the original time period and Kong would once again be atop the Empire State Building at a time when it towered far above any other building in New York.
I’ll say right up front, this is a good movie, but it could have been an exceptional movie with some editing. The only thing I found wrong with this movie was that it was too long. Everything was done just a little too much and it eventually just overwhelmed me and I started to get bored.
The first half of the movie involved the setup of the characters and their interactions. Drawing this part out never really bothers me in movies as it usually makes me actually care about the characters and what happens to them (unlike Black Hawk Down where I couldn’t even tell the difference between them let alone care what happened to them). I figured that was Peter Jackson’s purpose in drawing out the sailing toward the island. Unfortunately as I realized later, he drew out everything in the whole three hour movie.
The second part involved the characters’ adventures on Skull Island in an attempt to rescue Ann Darrow. This was good….for a while. By the time they started getting attacked by giant bugs I was starting to check my watch. I mean I understand that the island is full of plenty of dangerous animals, but there are only so many times they can be attacked by something and I’m still going to care. By the time it was the bugs, it just didn’t matter to me. There’s one more thing that really bothers me still about the Skull Island section of the movie. The first thing that happens to the team is that they’re caught in a narrow ravine in the middle of a dinosaur stampede. Ok, that makes great action, but my problem is, they had just come out of a cave on the side of the ravine and were standing next to the entrance when the stampede started. Wouldn’t a normal person just duck back into the cave instead of trying to outrun an entire pack of dinosaurs? It’s like when people run away from a pillar as it falls toward them instead of just taking three steps to the side. This, in my opinion, made the entire 15 minute sequence completely unnecessary.
Finally, after god knows how long, Kong was finally brought back to New York City. Of course this is the classic part of any Kong film (except the 70’s one where I seem to remember the city was abandoned or something and Kong found the girl in a bar….hmm…that movie seems worse the more I think about it). I obviously have no idea what 30’s New York looked like, but the visuals in the movie made me feel like I was there. Unfortunately my same problem with the rest of the movie came back at a most inconvenient time. The scene with Kong at the top of the Empire State Building was once again too long. It actually got to the point where I didn’t care by the time Kong fell off the building. I was actually rooting for them to shoot him so the movie would be over.
What could have been as good if not better than the original was unfortunately bogged down and entirely too long. As a Kong movie, I’d say the settings, acting, and visual effects put it above the 70’s remake, but the lack of editing don’t allow this movie to beat the original King Kong. Thus assuming the original is a four out of four, this remake is only a three out of four for a Kong movie. As an action/adventure movie once again, it loses a star for lack of editing and thus I give it a three out of four. Same reason for why it gets a three instead of a four on my enjoyment scale.
King Kong movie: ***
Action/Adventure: ***
Enjoyment: ***
I’ll say right up front, this is a good movie, but it could have been an exceptional movie with some editing. The only thing I found wrong with this movie was that it was too long. Everything was done just a little too much and it eventually just overwhelmed me and I started to get bored.
The first half of the movie involved the setup of the characters and their interactions. Drawing this part out never really bothers me in movies as it usually makes me actually care about the characters and what happens to them (unlike Black Hawk Down where I couldn’t even tell the difference between them let alone care what happened to them). I figured that was Peter Jackson’s purpose in drawing out the sailing toward the island. Unfortunately as I realized later, he drew out everything in the whole three hour movie.
The second part involved the characters’ adventures on Skull Island in an attempt to rescue Ann Darrow. This was good….for a while. By the time they started getting attacked by giant bugs I was starting to check my watch. I mean I understand that the island is full of plenty of dangerous animals, but there are only so many times they can be attacked by something and I’m still going to care. By the time it was the bugs, it just didn’t matter to me. There’s one more thing that really bothers me still about the Skull Island section of the movie. The first thing that happens to the team is that they’re caught in a narrow ravine in the middle of a dinosaur stampede. Ok, that makes great action, but my problem is, they had just come out of a cave on the side of the ravine and were standing next to the entrance when the stampede started. Wouldn’t a normal person just duck back into the cave instead of trying to outrun an entire pack of dinosaurs? It’s like when people run away from a pillar as it falls toward them instead of just taking three steps to the side. This, in my opinion, made the entire 15 minute sequence completely unnecessary.
Finally, after god knows how long, Kong was finally brought back to New York City. Of course this is the classic part of any Kong film (except the 70’s one where I seem to remember the city was abandoned or something and Kong found the girl in a bar….hmm…that movie seems worse the more I think about it). I obviously have no idea what 30’s New York looked like, but the visuals in the movie made me feel like I was there. Unfortunately my same problem with the rest of the movie came back at a most inconvenient time. The scene with Kong at the top of the Empire State Building was once again too long. It actually got to the point where I didn’t care by the time Kong fell off the building. I was actually rooting for them to shoot him so the movie would be over.
What could have been as good if not better than the original was unfortunately bogged down and entirely too long. As a Kong movie, I’d say the settings, acting, and visual effects put it above the 70’s remake, but the lack of editing don’t allow this movie to beat the original King Kong. Thus assuming the original is a four out of four, this remake is only a three out of four for a Kong movie. As an action/adventure movie once again, it loses a star for lack of editing and thus I give it a three out of four. Same reason for why it gets a three instead of a four on my enjoyment scale.
King Kong movie: ***
Action/Adventure: ***
Enjoyment: ***
posted by DJ | 2:37 PM
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