Charlatan

Just got back from a screening of King Kong with my son and three of his friends and other than the print having bad sound it was awesome!

I have to divulge that I am a fan of the original film and actually saw the 70s version in the theatre when it came out.


You all know the story (and if you don't what planet were you raised under?) so I will dispense with the plot summary and get to the good stuff...

The film clocks in at over three hours and in my mind it is too long. Not that I don't enjoy watching Kong go nuts, and believe me the film does not disappoint in that department, I just felt that the pacing was off. It took over 70 minutes before we even get to see the big ape! That's a lot of back story that just isn't all that neccessary.

The main reason anyone wants to see this film is for Kong and he doesn't disappoint. Looking just like a giant Silverback Gorilla, Kong emotes better than some actors I know. Andy Serkis (the guy who did the motion capture for Kong - as well as Gollum in LOTR) should get some sort of award for this. I came out the film feeling for the big ape and not just because of the end of the film. For the first time I understood him to be a loney sort... the last of his kind. When he finds Ann... his whole world starts to change. The film brings all of this out where the other films just couldn't... they were hampered by the ability to get their ape to act.

In the end, the action scenes are over-the-top in all the good ways (even the creepy scenes that simply gave me the willies). The big set pieces from the original are all there... only moreso. In fact, I would argue that the original film is there, it's just been lovingly embellished by a man, Peter Jackson, who is very clearly a fan.

This is definately the best popcorn film of the year.

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