King Kong Review

King Kong

Year: 2005
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Jack Black, Colin Hanks, Andy Serkis
Distributor: Universal Pictures
MPAA: Rated PG-13

When there was word that Universal Pictures was doing a remake of the classic "King Kong", I was kind of excited. I mean I never saw the original even though I knew what King Kong was, but what made me more happy was that Peter Jackson was doing it. I mean the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy is making a King Kong remake? It almost made me faint because I became a huge Lord of the Rings fan once I saw Peter Jackson's take on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic trilogy. I personally would have not seen this remake if it weren't for Peter Jackson's name being flashed upon in the trailer and neither would anyone else. The people have trusted Peter Jackson so much that this film was a box office smash, grossing over $500,000,000 worldwide, but was the movie any good? In short answer, yes.

Struggling actress, Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), who is being faced by the New York depression era. After having lost her acting job, she encounters ambitious film maker Carl Denham (Jack Black), who is desperately seeking a woman for a role on his next film. Carl lures Ann into accepting the role when he informs the actress that his film is written by New York play writer, Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody). The actress accepts Carl's offer and sets sail on The Venture to a fateful destiny that awaits her. While working on Carl's film during their long sea voyage, Ann and Jack build a close, but loving relationship that is later tested when the blonde beauty is kidnapped by the natives of Skull Island who without thinking, sacrifice her to the mighty Kong. It is now up to the crew of The Venture to rescue the damsel in distress from the many horrors of the island.

The story is great and charming. Peter Jackson creates a world that's full of detail and love. The chemistry between Ann and Kong is amazing, he shows us that a raged beast like Kong can be gentle and loving at times. Jackson also doesn't show us the mighty beast until 1 hour into the film, teasing the audience and keeping the excitement going. He follows the same foot steps as veteran Steven Spielberg when Mr. Spielberg didn't show us the great white shark in Jaws until later on.

The acting is great and everybody does their job pretty well. I mean you would think a funny man like Jack black wouldn't fit in this movie, but he proved me wrong. Naomi Watts does a wonderful job as Ann Darrow, I couldn't imagine anyone else playing her part. This movie would have been something else if it wasn't for Peter Jackson's passion for this film. His love for Kong and creativeness for the movie makes this a great film.

The special effects for the film is outstanding. From the detail in the leafs on the trees to the furriness of Kong is amazing. Even the facial expression Kong has is so touching and surprising. The T-Rex battles that Kong encounters during the film is breath-taking. Everything just goes the way it should be. If there is one movie out there that you should see in high def on HD DVD, its definitely King Kong.

The music in the film is lovable. The sweet melody that comes and goes is a daring touch. It makes the movie so much enjoyable that with these intense action scenes that there is moments where everything is pretty calm. The music really makes the film shine so much more.

What ultimately brings King Kong down is its length. By all means, this is not a short film. Clocking in at 187 minutes, King Kong can get alittle tedious. The people at the theatre felt it when this film was in theatres and even I felt it. I'm sure there are ways that King Kong could have been slimmed down, but I don't think it would have given us the complete experience that we got in this 187 minutes.

So in the end, is King Kong a perfect film? no, but is it a great film? yes. What Peter Jackson did with Kong is give us 187 minutes of dialogue, action and love. It showed us that he not only was great with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but that he can do other things too. I think King Kong was a great remake to the 1933 classic and I cant wait to see what Jackson is cooking up next.

Rating: 8.0 / 10