Friday evenings are when I hang around with friends for a coupla rounds of beer. We gossip about our work, bosses and ladies at our respective offices :) Yesterday at our routine rendezvous someone suggested we to go for a movie. We had Bluffmaster and King Kong as candidates and we picked KK.
KK starts off with a motley crew setting sail on a ship aptly named ’The Venture’ to Skull Island - the last unmapped land. Those on board have nothing much to boast about. Jack Black is a film maker aspiring for great things in life and like many who aspire for great things in life, hes pretty much broke. He hires the services of Naomi Watts, a struggling actress and Kyle Chandler as the lead pair for his movie. Adrian Brody joins in as his screenwriter. Jack’s plan is to find Skull Island and shoot the movie there. Something that can make him famous and rich overnight.
Now this part of the movie is the one that drags the most. I thought that there was no need for spending so much time setting up the plot for the movie, as the story of the movie is pretty straight-forward and doesnt depend anyway whatsoever upon the detailed sequences elaborated in this section. The only thing that is kind of important is that Naomi and Adrian fall for each other. So the movie is a bit of a bummer taking off.
And then they reach the island. They run into natives there that can make Arnold Schwarzenegger pee in his pants. After a face off with the natives, the rest of the crew manage to escape, but Naomi gets caught. Yet another proof to my theory that girls cant run away from trouble as fast as men can :)
She gets tied to a pole and offered to Kong as sacrifice. Now why are people sacrificed to Kong is something I dont understand. Because for one thing, I dont think Kong is non-vegetarian. There was no indications of the same in the movie. We saw him eating eating leaves and shoots, but no meat.
Whatever the intention, Kong takes a liking for the girl. The scene where she does some juggling and dancing to impress the primate was hilarious and funny. I have never clearly understood this fixation of overgrown apes about lovely ladies :) No offense to the fairer sex (or to my fellow sex) there. I mean - was it just coincidence that it was Naomi who gets caught and on whom Kong starts having a crush (is it a crush?) I ask this everytime I see such movies...even Mighty Joe Young. Why always the girls..cant an ape become friends with just a man or a kid - like Free Willy...does it need to be a beautiful girl all the time?
So I wondered loud at the theater about what would have happened if I were offered as a sacrifice instead of Naomi? Would I also get saved from the dinosaurs by Kong? My friends assured me that I would also get saved like Naomi, though this time it would be for the reason that Kong would find it amusing to discover a miniature version of himself! Wasnt an exactly flattering observation, but anyways I dont want to even conceive an inkling of an idea involving a 25 ft tall gorilla having a crush on me!
Whatever! Sorry for that interlude...let me get back with the tale. So Kong saves the girl from the dinosaurs. Yeah! there are dinosaurs. Lots of them. Skull Island is Jurassic Park reimagined. Though how those prehistoric reptile comes to being around is not answered. But then u are not looking for answers, are you? Come on! You are watching a movie with a 25 ft tall gorilla as the lead character, who has a crush on a lovely lady- how can u even expect logical answers??:) There are dinos. period. no arguments.
While at the jungle, the crew led by Adrian Brody chase Kong around, trying to rescue the lady. He gets captured in the end, but not before entertaining us and killing half of the rescue crew. Kong gets captured and taken to Manhattan. Where hes put on show before an awed audience. But the chains are not enough to keep the beast for long. Kong breaks open and rampages across Manhattan, finally locating Naomi. He takes her with him and climbs on top of the Empire State Building. Has a final face off with the military planes and falls to his tragic death. Naomi finds solace in the arms of Adrian who has been running all over the place and in the end manages to be near Naomi at her time of grief. (Good timing. Easiest way to get a girl in ur arms :)
I think there are two main areas in this movie. One is the special effects, the CGI and the other is the storyline about Naomi and King Kong developing a liking for each other - Naomi’s special effects on King Kong. I think the first area was wonderfully conceived and executed. Though I thought that the fight sequences of Kong and the dinosaurs was jerky and not clearly pictured, I read on the Net that that was intentional! It is a new style of picturization. Well:) Sometimes im soo outdated. So apart from that I thought that the graphics and effects were pretty thoroughly portrayed. King Kong is one of those movies, which with each new version will be more astounding than the other. Because the main essence is the effects. 15 years later, if King Kong is remade it will all over be a completely different effect than what we see this year.
Regarding the development of a relation between girl and ape, it didnt appeal much to me. For one thing, as I mentioned above, I kept thinking what would have happened if it was me:). One a more serious note, I think they could have made it a bit more stronger and charismatic.
One thing that I really thought was inappropriate was that Naomi is all so sad and upset when they capture Kong at the island. And thats obvious - he had saved her from certain deaths all the time she was at the island. But when he is shipped to Manhattan and displayed in the show, Naomi is nowhere around. Instead she is at some opera (or something) dancing around. Though she seems to have moist eyes. Hrmmph. I thought she should have been at the show. Anyone would have been.
There are some tender and heart-warming scenes, like Naomi and Kong sliding through a frozen pool. And at Skull Island where they climb high on top of a hill and watch the sun set into the sea...lovely.
So thats it - My verdict? Nice movie for the effects. Though they should have added some more substance to the story, I felt. Cant say its a modern day classic like LoTR from the same director but you can safely go to see this movie - King Kong is any day worth the money.