The Eighth Wonder of the World!
May I start off by saying King Kong was AWESOME!!
Ok, Peter, you have outdone yourself. I can say this for myself, personally because LoTR obviously rocked (I have a point I promise). I was, however, already a fan of the "series" and already had a huge "personal" connection with all of the characters of Middle Earth (Some moreso than others *coughFrodocough*). PJ could have totally destroyed the story, but he didn’t, and though he did some tweaking, he did a great job (I believe that was the major consensus of the fans). However, with King Kong, I admittedly went in with some preconceptions, but overall, I had no clue what King Kong was about. If you had asked me yesterday I would have said something about a big ole mean monkey that gets what's comin' to him in the end. However, after 3 hours with PJ's masterpiece I've learned the true greatness that is Kong.
Now, I'm not the best at reviewing movies. I can't get all technical and talk about how amazing the score is or how great the cinematography is (at least not with any conviction), but I do have my personal opinions. Those being:
1). The CGI was AMAZING. King Kong could have looked a total fool up there on screen, but take any of the CGI from LoTR and multiply it by 3,000. I completely believed that ape/gorilla thing was REAL. I would not have been in the least surprised if when the credits were rolling there had been some genetic freak of nature monkey listed as playing Kong. It was THAT good. Remember Gollum/Smeagol and how human he was? And the cave troll? Anyone remember the poor cave troll? Yeah, like that. And the dinosaurs were SCARY as all get out. Huge, disgusting icky bugs, prehistoric creatures, all kinds of flora and fawna… yeah, it’s just an amazing movie to look at.
2). But you hardly have time to enjoy the greatness of what’s on screen because the story is so AMAZING. I’m telling you, I covered my eyes so many times and shrieked and jumped and the whole nine yards. Remember PJ’s penchant for monsters? Yeah, he had a HAY DAY with this movie. He got to put all the monsters from his deepest darkest dreams in this one, and let me tell you, those were the only parts I could have done with less of. But, like a true master, PJ managed to evenly balance the heart of the story with the horrific.
3). The acting. Remember Jack Black? That guy that makes a complete and total ass of himself in every movie he appears in? Yeah, I had my doubts, but he was great. Complete and total scum (and pretty believable). Adam Brody was amazing as the atypical hero, while Naomi Watts… well, I don’t even know what to say about her. I’ll let you go see it and understand what I mean. I really don’t know what to say, except that she was right on target. As I’ve said, the monkey they got to play Kong was awe-oh wait, I forgot, CGI.
4). Most of all though, was the heart of this movie. Kong is portrayed as both a monster and a hero, and somehow, the hero wins over. It’s rare that I see a movie of this caliber that both men and women will enjoy to the extent I did. But really, the men get their action and guts and machine guns while women get the romantic love story-a love triangle if you will.
Be forewarned though, if you are a movie crier. The movie ended and I could not stop crying. It was that good.
I feel like I’ve hardly said enough, though as I type this in Word I realize I’m at a page and a half and that is ridiculously long. So though I want to say more, I will leave it at that and let you all go and form your own judements. Dang, I hope I haven’t talked it up too much. No… not possible. Please go see it, and enjoy!!!
Ok, Peter, you have outdone yourself. I can say this for myself, personally because LoTR obviously rocked (I have a point I promise). I was, however, already a fan of the "series" and already had a huge "personal" connection with all of the characters of Middle Earth (Some moreso than others *coughFrodocough*). PJ could have totally destroyed the story, but he didn’t, and though he did some tweaking, he did a great job (I believe that was the major consensus of the fans). However, with King Kong, I admittedly went in with some preconceptions, but overall, I had no clue what King Kong was about. If you had asked me yesterday I would have said something about a big ole mean monkey that gets what's comin' to him in the end. However, after 3 hours with PJ's masterpiece I've learned the true greatness that is Kong.
Now, I'm not the best at reviewing movies. I can't get all technical and talk about how amazing the score is or how great the cinematography is (at least not with any conviction), but I do have my personal opinions. Those being:
1). The CGI was AMAZING. King Kong could have looked a total fool up there on screen, but take any of the CGI from LoTR and multiply it by 3,000. I completely believed that ape/gorilla thing was REAL. I would not have been in the least surprised if when the credits were rolling there had been some genetic freak of nature monkey listed as playing Kong. It was THAT good. Remember Gollum/Smeagol and how human he was? And the cave troll? Anyone remember the poor cave troll? Yeah, like that. And the dinosaurs were SCARY as all get out. Huge, disgusting icky bugs, prehistoric creatures, all kinds of flora and fawna… yeah, it’s just an amazing movie to look at.
2). But you hardly have time to enjoy the greatness of what’s on screen because the story is so AMAZING. I’m telling you, I covered my eyes so many times and shrieked and jumped and the whole nine yards. Remember PJ’s penchant for monsters? Yeah, he had a HAY DAY with this movie. He got to put all the monsters from his deepest darkest dreams in this one, and let me tell you, those were the only parts I could have done with less of. But, like a true master, PJ managed to evenly balance the heart of the story with the horrific.
3). The acting. Remember Jack Black? That guy that makes a complete and total ass of himself in every movie he appears in? Yeah, I had my doubts, but he was great. Complete and total scum (and pretty believable). Adam Brody was amazing as the atypical hero, while Naomi Watts… well, I don’t even know what to say about her. I’ll let you go see it and understand what I mean. I really don’t know what to say, except that she was right on target. As I’ve said, the monkey they got to play Kong was awe-oh wait, I forgot, CGI.
4). Most of all though, was the heart of this movie. Kong is portrayed as both a monster and a hero, and somehow, the hero wins over. It’s rare that I see a movie of this caliber that both men and women will enjoy to the extent I did. But really, the men get their action and guts and machine guns while women get the romantic love story-a love triangle if you will.
Be forewarned though, if you are a movie crier. The movie ended and I could not stop crying. It was that good.
I feel like I’ve hardly said enough, though as I type this in Word I realize I’m at a page and a half and that is ridiculously long. So though I want to say more, I will leave it at that and let you all go and form your own judements. Dang, I hope I haven’t talked it up too much. No… not possible. Please go see it, and enjoy!!!