King Kong

A superb film. Peter Jackson has really captured the essence of the 1933 original and, with very few changes to the plot, remade it using all the wonders of modern technology.

What stands out? A thrilling face-off between Kong and three T. Rexes (or some such similar dinosaur) which carries on long after most other directors would have called it off and the many shifts in tone, encompassing a surprising amount of comedy. Yet all this pales in comparison with a scene in which many of the principals fight off innumerable creepy-crawlies in the depths of a ravine, insurmountable odds slightly spoiled by the knowledge that a plot device has to save them for the rest of the film.

When it comes down to it, however, this success of this film was always going to come down to the believability of the relationship between Kong and Ann Darrow. Andy Serkis' performance as the former is impressively subtle, but for my money it's Naomi Watts who's the clincher, making us believe not just that Ann comes to love Kong, but that she can also love Jack Driscoll.

For all that, in many respects the 1933 original still triumphs, in part because it achieves the same in half the time and much cruder means. There are occasions when Peter Jackson's version feels like an extended cut, albeit a truly spectacular one.

(16th December 2005)

Comments:
can't wait to see it!!
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 2:02 PM
 
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