Film Review - King Kong

This is the third in a line of films made about the mighty gorilla, who ends up falling in love with the girl, only to have his lfe threatened in the big city, swinging iconically off the Empire State Building. So what could this version offer that the previous attempts couldn't? Well, the obvious thing is the visuals. Director Peter Jackson is no newcomer to CGI, having used it extensively in Lord of the Rings, and he uses it to largely great advantage here.

Kong is a movie of three parts.The first begins in Depression-era New York, where Carl Denham, played by Jack Black is trying to fund a new movie. He manages to deceive and connive to recruit actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) and screenwriter Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), and bribe a freight ship to set the movie location on an unexplored island. Thus begins the second section. Here, we meet Kong, and after Ann is captured for sacrificia purposes, there begins an all-action rescue mission, when all the excitement takes place. The third section, as per the previous movies involves bringing Kong back to New York, and watching him haplessly out of place in the so-called 'civilised' world. What gives all three added dimension is the relationship between Ann and Kong. There is a tenderness in the beast that is both endearing, and ultimately the reason for much of its later trouble.

The human input to this is fairly solid. Adrien Brody does a decent job; Jack Black himself plays an untrustworthy selfish schemer, exactly as he has in most of his movies, but with less of the smirky wisecracks that would parody the role. Naomi Watts plays the heroine, and carries off demure and ambitious in a good, if uninspiring performance. People aside, it's the CGI that everyone's talking about. Kong himself is extremely impressive. They took Andy Serkis (Gollum from the LOTR Trilogy), and mapped the graphics to his gorilla-like movements, and an excellent job it is. Some of the scenery is stunning, and the Empire State sequence is a heart-in-mouth thriller of a scene, with a gorgeous skyscape backdrop. The whole section on the island, however is a chance for the Graphics guys to fill their boots. And go crazy they do. As such there's two ridiculous moments; there's a brontosaurus stampede, underneath which 10 or so humans manage to run with them, only one of them sustaining any kind of injury, which is frankly ridiculous. Then, being assaulted by hundreds of giant insects, stowaway Jimmy manages to shoot them all off Jack's back, firing directly at him, with perfect accuracy, which begs a little too much of the audience. Actually the whole storyline around Jimmy seems pointless, and completely unnecessary. Cutting that and those terrible CGI scenes above would have saved about 30 minutes off the 3 hour running time.

Not that the time drags at all, but these inclusions detract from what is otherwise a great movie. Kong's movement and tenderness, the relationship with Ann, the 1940s look and feel, the action on the island, and the CGI of Kong fighting are spellbinding, and the whole thing rips by. Considering that the first hour passes without mention of Kong, there is plenty of space given to setting the scene and developing the characters, making the climax more tragic and believable.

As a revisited love story, an action adventure, and a morality tale of how man subverts and ultimately destroys all the beauty around him, it's a great 3 hours. The updated visuals make this worth remaking, even if the "less is more" maxim isn't always followed. 7/10.