King Kong

Peter Jackson's Tragic Rendition of the Great Kong Stands Over The Rest

Official King Kong Site
Action-Adventure/Drama
Starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black Adrien Brody
Rated PG-13 (for language, action/violence and disturbing images)
Running Time: 187 Minutes
Released:December 15th, 2005





4 Out Of 5 Bites


In this cinematic era of remakes, rehashes and regurgitations, King Kong might be one of the very few that warranted another effort. Taking into obvious consideration the way technological advances have affected movie-making, we've also had a generation of culture to assess and reinvent. Since the Kong franchise makes a moral statement on culturally besetting vices such as greed and our irresponsibility, inhumanity and ill stewardship with the natural world, I was eager to see director Peter Jackson's take, now almost 30 years removed from John Guillerman's dim 1976 version, starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange.

KONG EFX

Coming into the film, you know you will be rocked by the special effects. Compared to the 1976 Kong, which tagged itself as "the most exciting original motion picture event of all time," the 2005 installment makes it look laughable. At least some voters in the Academy agreed with the above tag-line because that film garnered the 1976 Oscar for special effects, which primarily consisted of a man in an ape-suit replete with requisite snarls and low-angle shots so as to enlarge the beast. Makeup artist Rick Baker did provide some performance and makeup for the creature, ranging from noteworthy to downright silly (by today's standards). It does, however, take almost an hour into the movie before you get to the creatures. While some consider that at least quirky or tiresome (at the most), when the beasties do show up, it's non-stop from there, and quite tantalizing.

Perhaps to his credit, Jackson chose to place the story in the 1930's (the era of the original)- a time wraught with poverty and burgeoning fascination with an entertainment industry that was invading society's sensibilities and moral boundaries. The opening scenes are filled with choked streets with cars, shanty-towns and beggars eating from garbage cans. Juxtaposed to this are the cuts of cheesy vaudeville acts and burlesque adult parlors. Hard times are all around and people are just trying to get by through any means possible.

AND NOW, YOUR KONGIRL

We are introduced to Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), a vaudeville staple who sees her days of employment come to a crashing halt when her theater is locked up. She's the
epitome of the 1930's, crystalline-pure beauty of an American woman who's also next-to-last in gaining the attentions of reputable directors who can get her ahead. She's directed to an adult-venue by a puffed-up production company suit in order to make a buck.

A VERY JACK-BLACKY ANTAGONIST: TREACHEROUS, BUT LOVABLE

In the meantime, movie director Carl Denham (Jack Black) bucks his financial backers who are about to give him the boot at a viewing of his current project. The supreme opportunist, Denham scrounges together the remaining film he has left and dashes off with his assistant with dubious plans to continue filming the project. The problem is that he is short one female lead capable of fitting into a size four.

Denham and Darrow happen across each other, as fate would have it, outside of the burlesque adult show that the principalled Darrow is now retreating from, now that she realizes she's been had. The unprincipalled Denham sees her and chases her down to coax her into his project over a dinner for which she's famished. Denham somehow taps into her wanderlust and fading hopes and she jumps on board.

The plan is more extravagant in Denham's words than it is in reality and he must employ some deft conniving to bribe his shady ship crew in place enough to push out of harbor toward their destiny. What beckons Denham comes cloaked in the mysteries and horrors of Skull Island, a place Denham is banking on bringing him noteriety and wealth regardless of the expense. By the time the savvy crew catches on, it is mostly too late, as Skull Island looms and literally catches them.

Finally at sea, Denham begins his filming and Jackson unloads a bevy of characters upon the viewer- perhaps too many. Another of Denham's principals is Bruce Baxter (Kyle Chandler), who captures the superficially pretentious movie-star persona in the film's most outspoken comic relief. Denham's reluctant and conned screenwriter Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) is set as Darrow's unflappable human love interest. Beyond these, there are many more characters given attention in the film's first hour than is necessary. Those unfamiliar with the first two movies still know that the Kong-collusion is inevitable and most of these characterizations are furballs obstructing the airway of the story.

THE GLORY OF KONG

When Kong does appear, he is a CGI masterpiece, down to the ruffling of his hair in the breeze. Natives have taken Darrow captive to ceremonially offer her to Kong, who is happy to oblige and go rollicking with her in hand in the countryside. Lengthwise, there is enough action in the jungle scenes to effectively end a movie there and be satisfied. Other large creatures are to be seen and reckoned with, but the most alluring and compelling sequences are cinema's first Brontosaurus stampede followed by the multi-Rex-ruckus, which closely coincides with the 1976 version of Kong's tangle with a humongous snuppet (snake-puppet). Why the 1976 version left out the dinosaurs is still up for grabs.

AND NOW, ABOUT THAT FORBIDDEN RELATIONSHIP...

This is all while the ship's crew and passengers are set out to rescue Darrow, who has now bonded with the gargantuan silverback, thank you. She is such a lost soul you get the sense she would have fared better reclining with Kong before the ruddy sunsets as she is wont to do. Compared to the 1976 movie (and to some extent, the 1933 version), the bond is less sensually-toned, which pares away the ickiness therein. This is critically depicted when Kong takes Darrow up to his perch and roars and thumps his chest in classic alpha-male style. She senses this and connects with him in an impromptu vaudeville routine, flipping about, juggling rocks and ogling him. Something of a primal bond is formed between them, with Kong instinctually supposing her to be some sort of prize he gets to protect, if not a part of his family unit. And this is what the indefatigable Jack Driscoll eventually finds....a sleeping beauty cupped in the protective, leathered palm of Kong.

The complexities of the Kong-Ann relationship are relieved of their preceding sexual ambiguities and infused with a more deserving heart and character. Additional turns in the female character are present. In 1933, Fay Wray was more or less consigned to screaming in the presence of the great ape. For the 1976 version, Jessica Lange's character was more suited to roiling her nubile self around as if to proclaim, "look how cute I am!" In 2005, Naomi Watts peers into Kong's eyes and sees a sympathetic beauty in the nature of the beast and in the beauty of his haven. One of the few oversights regarding her character is editorial and admittedly, quite technically nit-picky. After a nasty butt-slide down a jungle slope in a silken under-gown, she seems to come out cleaner in the next few shots. Maybe just a continuity error- but it had to have scraped and soiled the dress just a little bit.

THE EVIL HATCHES

While Darrow is whisked away by the unstoppable Driscoll in a fanfare of monster bats and Kong tantrums, a plan is concocted by Denham to chemically persuade the beast to become a "performer" in New York City and thereby line Denham's pockets. This is possible by virtue of the fact that Denham's rag-tag ship captain (Thomas Kretschmann) happens to smuggle exotic animals and has a supply of chloroform.

But by the time Kong gets to New York, much of what happens there is a flash in the pan compared to the time spent in the jungle, which is too cumbersome. Battles gallore- with insects on roid-rage and confusing critters with fangs- all colluded to detail the demise of characters that may have been unnecessary to begin with. With a 187-minute run-time, Jackson may have gotten tangled up in a few vines.

Post 9-11, Kong is relegated to climbing the Empire State Building, while his '76 predecessor is eerily perched on the Twin Towers on the movie's promo posters and clutching what appears to be an exploding aircraft. Subtracting several lost airplanes, multiple windows, an antenna, windvane and a fallen King Kong, an unstoppable Jack Driscoll finally climbs atop the Empire State Building via an exposed ladder and embraces a distraught Darrow. At this point, Driscoll's pursuit of her is either admirable or as quirky as Darrow's relationship with the ape, given that he's standing on top of the world's tallest building with a woman he's attracted to at best.

THE TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Andy Serkis gives Kong (as well as the crewman, Lumpy, sans the technology) his physical expressions via a similar complicated method of technological achievements with which he did Gollum in Lord of the Rings. The ape here is much more in tune with what you would imagine an ape to be in mannerisms, vocalizations and intelligence. He is not just another brainless monster nor is he a man in a monster-suit. Thus, Kong more ably bonds with the audience, who must simultaneously deal with the growing affection toward the ape and the inevitable and foreboding doom reserved for him. In this, Jackson succeeds.

Kong would rather have his place alone on the island that time forgot except that man won't leave him alone, be it the natives or the erudite Westerners. This is the problem and the lesson...neither man nor ape gets by when subjected to the desires of man run amok.

I expect Kong- one of the best in a weak years'worth of films- to edge out War of the Worlds, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and The Chronicles of Narnia for the effects Oscar.

And now it's time for Kong's final thought: The essential message here is not primarily in over-moralizing the greediness of man. It's that beauty can threaten the core of our identities and aspirations, whether misaligned or not. For those who can responsibly possess the inward changes for the good it invokes, beauty need not necessarily be solely in the eye of the beholder. It must be willingly perceived in its pure form, untampered with- hirsute or not. Until next time, take care of yourselves, and each other.