Since Bummerman weighed in with a comprehensive review of King Kong, and since Otis and I went to see it last night (at the Majestic Bay Theatre), I thought I'd give you my own response.
Too.
Too long: This whole movie reminded me of the last half hour of LOTR:ROTK. It just went on and on and on. "Where a normal film maker uses two or three shots to establish a setting, Jackson uses twenty." Bummerman sees this as a virtue; I saw it as overdoing it. Being able to set a scene in two or three shots is not an inconsiderable virtue.
Too many: I like the Brontosaurus. I liked a couple of Brontosauruses. A whole herd of Brontosauruses stampeding down a valley, with our heroes running between their legs like cartoon mice, just struck me as silly.
Similarly (and this is the only direct comparison to the original I will make), in the RKO version, Kong fights a T-Rex. It is a great scene, spare and powerful. Jackson has him fight not one, not two, but three. And throw them off a cliff. And fall off the cliff himself. And land on vines and fight two of them some more. And then fall to the valley floor and fight the last one some more. That seems a bit overwrought.
Too many taxis, too many rocks, too many bugs, too many everything. Just because you can CGI a bunch doesn't mean you should.
Too much: Don't just have Ann teach Kong sign language for "beautiful" and have him use it later; make sure Ann tells us that's what he's doing. Don't just use one of the best closing lines in all of cinema; make sure you clumsily foreshadow it. Don't just tell us an adventure story that is more than an adventure story; make sure two characters discuss Heart of Darkness so they can tell us that.
Jackson seems to need a little more respect for his audience.
Overall, I think this is what happens when there is no one to say "no" to self-indulgent creators, however talented they may be.
So this is not all bummer, there were a lot of things I liked: Ann's character was changed for the better (stronger and more interesting); some insight was provided to Denham's character that made him more complex; the monsters looked good; New York looked good; Andy Serkis was wonderful; most of the performances were fine. It was just a little too baroque for me.
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6 comments:
How many trips to the bathroom?
You.
Not Kong.
I think the title of bummerman has been passed. Not really, I just liked saying that.
Josh and I also saw it yesterday. I was actually pretty engaged most of the time (ues I admit I am easily amused), and even did quite a bit of talking out loud to the screen (especially during the bug scene- to the horror of my teenage son!). It was a bit long though and is no one going to comment about the racism in it? Pacific islanders my a$#!
Just one, but it was a long trip...
Dude, it's not the absolute length; it's the length-to-content ratio.
Mark Twain is said to have once closed some correspondence with "Sorry this letter is so long, I didn't have time to write a shorter one."That's what I am talkin' about.
I've sat through The Seven Samurai engrossed. I knew the Seven Samurai; the Seven Samurai were friends of mine. And this movie, sir, was no Seven Samurai.
I prefer "Yojimbo," but that's...me.
Will attempt "Kong-ing" on the 'morrow. Should one avoid coffee? Seems like it might help.
Want to see "Munich," too, as I enjoyed it when it was "The Sword of Gideon" on HBO (with Stephen Bauer as Eric Bana and Michael York as Daniel Craig and Colleen Dewhurst as Golda)
I LIKED KK!
I LIKED the three T-Rexes (and especially the final coda to the third, as in the RKO version).
I LIKED the brontosaurus stampede down the canyon, with the crew running between their legs like mice AND the raptors snapping at their flying limbs, and especially the Warner Bros.-like elephant-pile at the end. Laughed a lot.
What didn't I like? Minor things. Too many shots of pistons. (???...!!!) Too much "crazy-cam" shots where the editor slows dowwn aaa sceeeennnne toooooo aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa jjjjjjjjiiiitttttterrrrrrrryyyyyyy craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawl.
I hate stuff like that. It was at once too obtuse, while drawing out some aspect that "had" to be hammered home.
Didn't like some of the "vine-work." Whether it was Kong, Ann, T-Rex 2&3, or another character who inexplicably grows a pair at a critical time.
I thought everybody did some fine work in the acting, and was surprised that Black was as good as he was. Serkis rocked as both characters he played.
Noticed that Rick Baker--the makeup man who created some of the best apes in movies (Greystoke, Gorillas in the Mist) and was the Kong-in-the-suit (which he made) in the 1976 version played one of the biplane pilots. That's pretty inside.
I enjoyed it. Lots. No bathroom breaks, and I checked the time only once...right when they hit New York. ("They've got some ground to cover quick" was the thought.)
Two audio-animatronic ape thumbs up!
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