King Kong

KING KONG

Review by: Tanner Phillips


Peter Jackson has once again exceeded all expectations with his outstanding creative mind and his fantastic film directing abilities. King Kong has proven to be yet another winner. Now, when I say winner I am afraid that it tends to be an understatement. Let me put it this way… King Kong is probably one of the most well done films I have ever seen. It is probably in the top 10 at least. With brilliantly mastered cinematography along with CGI (Computer Generated Images) that never presents itself as being CGI. I believe this movie to be the best movie of the year.
I have found that many people believe the movie to be overlong. I wholly disagree. If any of you understand what it takes to present a film that fully covers all of the necessary aspects to deliver an extremely well done product, then you know what I mean. For example, character building. I think Jackson wanted to really build this film around the characters and who they were, instead of just dropping a few strangers that you don’t have any personal ‘relationship’ with on an island to be accosted by a 10,000 pound gorilla. I think had he simply forgotten about the plot building in the first hour there would have been people complaining that King Kong was just an action thriller that had no story line or plot. You can’t satisfy everyone I suppose.
As far as a story line and plot goes, from what I understand this version of King Kong follows the book with a very accurate flow.
I think that one of my favorite things about this movie was the fact that Jackson did such an incredible job at making Kong have a real personality. His facial expressions, movements, etc… (which were done by Andy Serkis who also did Gollum for LOTR), and manner made the 25 foot gorilla believable and real to the audience. You felt for him, and had feelings toward him. I found myself feeling bad for this massive beast. I think that it takes a special talent to be able to build a character without ever having him say a word. That is where Jackson hit the nail on the head.
I also think that he hit the nail on the head with a select few scenes that will blow your mind! Namely the T-Rex scene and the dinosaur stampede scene. The T-Rex scene is probably one of my top 5 favorite action sequences in any movie that I have ever seen. It is incredible. It was long and yet still not long enough. Once it was over you still found yourself wanting; which is exactly where Jackson wants you. It is also a very important transitional scene. It’s when Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) chooses Kong as her protector, which causes Kong’s infatuation with her to increase all the more.
All in all, this is just an EXTREMELY well done film. Peter Jackson strikes again, and hits a bull’s eye. I truly enjoyed this movie more than any movie I’ve seen for a very long time. I loved it… In fact I can honestly say that I cannot wait to see it again for a second time… and third… and fourth…