Imagine you are very hungry and come to a house where there is a table spread out with the best of every delicacy that your heart could ever crave for... Now if this house was a theatre and you a movie lover: this is what you get in KING KONG!
I have been waiting for this movie for quite some time. Today, I am just out of the theatre and I must say that my senses are satiated with whatever I had been expecting and beyond! Well this movie by Peter Jackson is a perfect mix of all the right elements. It says - Tell me your dreams and I will give it to you! I dont want to give any spoilers to the storyline but I will just mention a few scenes here that kept me glued during the 3 hour movie - please, I have to or I will burst! ;-)
The story is all familiar for old fans of the giant ape and tells the tale about a film crew bound for Skull Island, ’’the last spot left to be technically discovered on the map’’. The roller coaster ride takes us through an unemployed vaudeville acrobat’s trials, a storm, an encounter with tribal people, dinosaurs, creepy-crawly giant worms, giant bats, spiders, a falling cliff, battle between monsters, the ape dancing on ice, dodging bullets and going berserk in the city as well as a couple enjoying the sunset and the sunrise!
Jack Black, who acts as the director who is ready to go to any ends to make a film; gives a good performance. Adrien Body as the lead male (apart from Kong!) has a limited role in the film, but it catches the right tone - after all the film is bout an ape, right? The casting is good and the lead lady Naomi Watts as Ann is just fantastic. Actually I expected the lead lady would not have to do anything other than to have that horrifying look of terror in her eyes and scream her lungs out all along... but was I wrong! The screenplay is so good that it allows her to display a spectrum of emotions ranging from awe, sympathy, fear, romance, playfulness and many more which Naomi does full justice to.
Well Kong is the best actor of all for sure! In him you see more than just a beast who terrorizes. He is someone on whose side you will be from the moment you see him and his gentleness towards Ann. Kong loves watching the sunset, dancing on ice, as well as tearing apart a heard of dinosaurs and giant bats that threaten Ann. He loves beauty and falls for it. There is something so human about him that it haunts you.
Ann and Kong share a chemistry that is unique and shows the director’s prowess. In this movie Peter Jackson knew he didn’t have three movies to dish out to the audience, like the ’’Lord of the Rings’’ trilogy, and so he jam-packed his bag of tricks into one cool movie that is non-stop entertainment. The special effects are cool and the movie feels like a global conference for ALL the ugly creatures in Hollywood that can be seen with a single movie ticket! Some scenes are like poetry, some will have you crawling and many a times you will gasp with the impact of what you have seen. The camera work is lovely and you can see what I mean by comparing the camera work on the boat (rocking gently with the waves), in the Jungle (awesome and fast) and in the city (perfect stationery and aerial shots!)
Well in short: see it, to believe it (in a theatre of course!) Happy viewing and do restrain yourself if you feel like thumping your chest and screaming with satisfaction after the film - Kong style!