The new “King Kong” is two-thirds of a terrific movie.
Peter Jackson’s take on this timeless tale is epic, a three-hour-plus visual extravaganza featuring a computer-generated Kong so lifelike that when he roars you can almost smell his breath.
It has thrills, chills and as many varieties of monsters as can be found this side of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
And at its core it has an affecting love story between the big hairy galoot and the pretty blonde from the Big Apple.
But more isn’t necessarily better. In the wake of his “Lord of the Rings” triumph Jackson seems to think everything he touches attains instant greatness. Sorry, but no.
In fact, this “Kong” suffers from elephantitis, which becomes apparent immediately. It takes an hour for Jackson to get around to landing his characters on Skull Island, where the real fun begins.
Much of those 60 minutes is spent re-creating Depression-era New York City, depicting the life on the vaudeville stage of singer/hoofer Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) and the fly-by-night machinations of unscrupulous movie producer Carl Denham (Jack Black).
Little of this is necessary. The original “Kong” dispensed with all that stuff in about 10 minutes. Jackson is trying too hard to flesh out characters who have always been cartoonish and shallow. They can’t support the weight. And the delay in delivering what we all came for is irritating.
But at last the tramp steamer with our characters on board arrives at the primordial island with the big stone wall, and things kick into high gear. The natives — who seem to belong to no known racial group … they’re gray — kidnap Ann and sacrifice her to the monster on the other side of the wall. Of course, that’s Kong, who grabs the girl and disappears into the jungle.
In pursuit are Denham, playwright Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), who fell in love with Ann on the voyage, and the crew of the ship. About half of them won’t make it back.
The Skull Island scenes are the film’s best, delivering one tour de force action sequence after another. The men are caught in a stampede of dinosaurs, become Kong’s victims while trying to traverse a chasm on a fallen tree and find themselves up to their necks in huge slimy insects (the latter a scene planned for the original “Kong” but never filmed).
Meanwhile the terrified Ann realizes her big captor is actually pretty smart. She gets on his good side by showing off her juggling and dancing skills (a really delightful scene); he reciprocates by protecting her from countless predators who want to make her dinner.
But even these beautifully designed scenes go on too long. Jackson doesn’t know when enough is enough.
The final 45 minutes, of course, find us back in New York City, where Kong goes on a rampage and trashes Times Square. There’s an enchanting scene in which Kong takes Ann to Central Park and the two “lovers” briefly play like children on a frozen pond. Then the Army shows up and it’s off to the Empire State Building for that final confrontation with the biplanes.
The screenplay by Jackson and his “Rings” co-writers, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, pays homage to the 1933 Kong, recycling scenes and even swatches of dialogue. But it never quite finds its own tone.
This is never more apparent than in the character of Carl Denham. Here’s a brash scalawag who tells Ann: “Trust me … I’m a movie producer!” But the character, and Black’s performance, never settle down. Carl isn’t a comic figure, exactly, but you can’t take him seriously, either — especially since Black has the same manic look in his eyes that he has used in his comic roles. He may have been miscast.
Ditto for Oscar-winner Brody. Not only is Jack Driscoll an underwritten role, but his alleged love affair with Watts’ Ann is tepid. Brody seems way too intellectual. We could have used someone more manly. (German actor Thomas Kretschmann, who plays the ship’s captain, would have done nicely.)
No, the real romance here is between Ann and Kong. Andy Serkis, who created “LOTR’s” Gollum for the digital animators, does the same thing for the big ape, and the results are wonderful. Kong remains an animal (Serkis has mastered gorilla behavior), but he has a range of expressions that allows us to recognize his personality as a lonesome warrior (and the last of his race, if the giant gorilla bones we see in one scene are any indication). As the lady in distress, Watts gets to shriek her lungs out. But she’s at her best in quiet moments, when we can see her growing awareness that Kong loves her and is willing to die to protect her.
For unfathomable reasons, the writers have invented a whole slew of new characters who do little but complicate the storytelling. I suppose we can forgive Jackson for casting Serkis in a second role, that of a one-eyed, gravel-voiced cook who puffs a tiny cigar even when running for his life.
But totally unnecessary is a subplot involving a young deck hand (“Billy Elliot’s” Jamie Bell) and his mentor, the ship’s first mate (Evan Parke). Same goes for Colin Hanks as Denham’s assistant.
One new character has promise. Kyle Chandler plays a Hollywood matinee idol who signs up for Denham’s film and finds himself having to actually perform the sort of heroic deeds he’s used to faking for the camera. But then the film never does much with him.
So, no, this new “Kong” is far from perfect. But despite all the overkill and side trips, the film still succeeds at telling the story of a woman and the gorilla who loves her.