King Kong!
Well we went to see Kong last night. Here's what I thought.
The movie opened with a nice little montage of 30's life, from the dirt poor shack dwellers of the depression to the over the top theatre performances of the time. This was well done, with the ironic "top of the world" (which by the way was a nice hint to the end of the movie) music in sharp contrast to the reality of the time. Eventually we are introduced to our main characters, out of work actress Ann Darrow, and conniving movie producer Carl Denham. Ann has just lost her job at the vadevillian theatre where she used to work, and Carl has just lost the star of his upcoming adventure film. The two meet and it's off to Skull Island.
The CG New York looked excellant, and the atmosphere of the 30s was very cleverly portrayed. Immediately upon arriving at Skull Island, we are given some beautiful flyover shots and some enticing views of ancient statues and buildings. Coupled with the crazed natives, the island immediately portrays a sinister and foreboding feeling. When I first saw Kong I was impressed, since I had heard before that the ape was obviously CGI. However this is some of the best CG work I have seen. Almost right away I forgot that the ape was indeed a computer generated image, and I really bought him as a real flesh and blood animal. The same visual treatment was not evident in many scenes however, including the dinosaur stampede scene. This was an unecessary scene in the first place, and I couldn't help but notice how fake the dinosaurs looked throughout. There were many great effects shot later on that made up for this problem, such as the fantastic battle between Kong and 3 T-rexes. This was one of the most intense action sequences I have seen in a long time, and had me nearly on the edge of my seat. Follow this with some very interesting creature design and great animation, with beautiful scenery and a truly believable (for fantasy) world, and it all but makes up for it's flaws. At the end of the film we see Kong on the Empire State Building, with bi-planes buzzing around him, and the entire cityscape stretched around on all sides. It is very hard to believe that most of this entire sequence was entirely done in CG.
Peter Jackson has a definate love of characters, and developing them to the point where they become real people, not just props. However in this film his character development was wasted on way too many secondary characters that just didn't even need to be there. We see an entire subplot about a boy and his mentor, who end up just being killed or dissapearing from the plot halfway through the film. It was wasted time and the characters were annoying and cliched anyway. I actually was relieved when they were killed off, so the movie could get back to the only characters I cared about, who were Kong, Darrow, Denham and Jack Driscoll. Immediately the character of Ann is sypathetic, and Naomi Watts did a great job portraying the right emotions (without too much screaming). Jack Black seemed at first to be an incorrect choice for Carl Denham. However later in the film I began to change my opinion on him, since his personality really came through on the island. Adrien Brody is a great actor not usually seen in an action oriented film, but his portrayal of a writer forced to become a hero for the love of Ann was very well done and I think the right choice was made there. And of course I couldn't forget Andy Serkis, who played Kong. All the extremely realistic facial expressions and emotions that the CG Kong shows aren't so much the result of great animation as the result of Andy's acting skill.
This is a classic story which has been around for decades, so the plot was clear to begin with. Jackson sticks to the original faithfully, while adding a lot of backstory which for the most part was welcome. Everyone who went to see this film should have known what was going to happen anyway. However I was still in suspense as the first hour of the film played out without having seen Kong, which was a great choice in that it made his entrance that much more fantastic. I have to say however that for the most part I was dreading what I thought would be awful CG, but I was pleasantly surprised. As soon as we reach the island it is nonstop action and adventure right to the end, and other then a few long scenes, the last 2 hours feels like it goes by quickly. Jackson added many scenes that weren't in the original, including the bug pit scene, which was expertly done with the use of soft chanting vocals in the background instead of bombastic action scene music. All the additions add up to a fantastic, entertaining, and emotional film. Still, although Jackson's name is on it, it is still no Lord Of The Rings. It will take a lot for him to top himself on that one.
The movie opened with a nice little montage of 30's life, from the dirt poor shack dwellers of the depression to the over the top theatre performances of the time. This was well done, with the ironic "top of the world" (which by the way was a nice hint to the end of the movie) music in sharp contrast to the reality of the time. Eventually we are introduced to our main characters, out of work actress Ann Darrow, and conniving movie producer Carl Denham. Ann has just lost her job at the vadevillian theatre where she used to work, and Carl has just lost the star of his upcoming adventure film. The two meet and it's off to Skull Island.
The CG New York looked excellant, and the atmosphere of the 30s was very cleverly portrayed. Immediately upon arriving at Skull Island, we are given some beautiful flyover shots and some enticing views of ancient statues and buildings. Coupled with the crazed natives, the island immediately portrays a sinister and foreboding feeling. When I first saw Kong I was impressed, since I had heard before that the ape was obviously CGI. However this is some of the best CG work I have seen. Almost right away I forgot that the ape was indeed a computer generated image, and I really bought him as a real flesh and blood animal. The same visual treatment was not evident in many scenes however, including the dinosaur stampede scene. This was an unecessary scene in the first place, and I couldn't help but notice how fake the dinosaurs looked throughout. There were many great effects shot later on that made up for this problem, such as the fantastic battle between Kong and 3 T-rexes. This was one of the most intense action sequences I have seen in a long time, and had me nearly on the edge of my seat. Follow this with some very interesting creature design and great animation, with beautiful scenery and a truly believable (for fantasy) world, and it all but makes up for it's flaws. At the end of the film we see Kong on the Empire State Building, with bi-planes buzzing around him, and the entire cityscape stretched around on all sides. It is very hard to believe that most of this entire sequence was entirely done in CG.
Peter Jackson has a definate love of characters, and developing them to the point where they become real people, not just props. However in this film his character development was wasted on way too many secondary characters that just didn't even need to be there. We see an entire subplot about a boy and his mentor, who end up just being killed or dissapearing from the plot halfway through the film. It was wasted time and the characters were annoying and cliched anyway. I actually was relieved when they were killed off, so the movie could get back to the only characters I cared about, who were Kong, Darrow, Denham and Jack Driscoll. Immediately the character of Ann is sypathetic, and Naomi Watts did a great job portraying the right emotions (without too much screaming). Jack Black seemed at first to be an incorrect choice for Carl Denham. However later in the film I began to change my opinion on him, since his personality really came through on the island. Adrien Brody is a great actor not usually seen in an action oriented film, but his portrayal of a writer forced to become a hero for the love of Ann was very well done and I think the right choice was made there. And of course I couldn't forget Andy Serkis, who played Kong. All the extremely realistic facial expressions and emotions that the CG Kong shows aren't so much the result of great animation as the result of Andy's acting skill.
This is a classic story which has been around for decades, so the plot was clear to begin with. Jackson sticks to the original faithfully, while adding a lot of backstory which for the most part was welcome. Everyone who went to see this film should have known what was going to happen anyway. However I was still in suspense as the first hour of the film played out without having seen Kong, which was a great choice in that it made his entrance that much more fantastic. I have to say however that for the most part I was dreading what I thought would be awful CG, but I was pleasantly surprised. As soon as we reach the island it is nonstop action and adventure right to the end, and other then a few long scenes, the last 2 hours feels like it goes by quickly. Jackson added many scenes that weren't in the original, including the bug pit scene, which was expertly done with the use of soft chanting vocals in the background instead of bombastic action scene music. All the additions add up to a fantastic, entertaining, and emotional film. Still, although Jackson's name is on it, it is still no Lord Of The Rings. It will take a lot for him to top himself on that one.