Peter Jackson’s King Kong cannot by any stretch of the imagination be dubbed as intelligent viewing. It is not, in my belief, made with the purpose of inducing any thoughtful reminiscing on the part of the viewer. Peter Jackson, through this movie, has created one of the most compelling and sumptuous visual feasts of this decade.
As all ardent movie buffs will be aware of , this movie is a remake of the 1933 original which had set hollywood on fire and till date remains one of the most loved cinematic spectacles of all time. I have not been fortunate enough to have viewed the original kong and therefore (thankfully) do not have any benchmarks to compare this movie with. I went in to watch this movie expecting at best a scary monster movie which, surprisingly, in these times of fantastic graphical capabilities has become very difficult to come by.
What I found, to my complete surprise and delight, was a wholesome treat of a movie.
This film can be broadly divided into three parts. The first one hour (my personal favourite) deals with the character set up. PJ wonderfully recreates depression era New York and introduces us to Carl Denham (Jack Black) an eccentric movie director who is at the end of his financial tether. When his producers refuse to finance him in his ambitious plans he virtually steals his movie making equipment and gathers to himself a motley crew in order to sail off to an exotic , albeit undiscovered location with the sinister name of skull island. His actress deserts him at the last moment and he is forced to scout the streets of erstwhile Manhattan where he discovers an out of work vaudeville Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts-looking utterly gorgeous) who requires some persuasion before she agrees to join the expedition. Denham also beguiles a playwright Jack Driscoll(Adrian Brody –rather wasted) into remaining onboard the ship. PJ takes a dig at hollywoods priorities when he shows that jack is forced to work out of a cage which is used to transport animals. After the principal characters have been introduced the rest of the hour is spent on building an air of tension as the crew inches towards their yet undiscovered destination.
The action and the special effects kick into high gear as the second hour of the movie begins. To term this hour as a roller-coaster ride would be an understatement. The arrival at the island itself is freakish to say the least. The natives are scary as hell (at least initially). Kong’s first appearance with the mist swirling about him is rather spectacular.
Once the crew starts exploring the island the gamut of prehistoric creatures that we are introduced to is mind-boggling (at this point in the movie you just have to keep your brains aside and go along with the ride). Peter Jackson through his stunning imagination displays the extent to which the line between reel and real can be blurred through cutting edge technology. The sequence where Kong takes on three T-rexes is so astounding that just this sequence will be your moneys worth. It stuns, amuses, horrifies, exhilarates and even touches you all at the same time. After seeing these T-rexes and the treatment that is meted out to them by Kong I think Steven Spielberg should shelve plans of anymore sequels to Jurassic park.
The last hour of the movie is a bit of a stretch, where Kong is brought back to New York and put up ‘on display’ at Broadway. As can be expected Kong goes on a rampage as he tries to locate Ann with whom hes built quite an emotional connect (if it sounds odd just go check out the movie). This scene could have done with some thoughtful editing as it really has nothing new to offer. The climax atop the empire state building more than compensates for this glitch. Beautifully imagined and viscerally shot, it achingly drives home the point how helpless the mighty Kong is from warding off his imminent downfall (no pun intended).
The cast provides a bravura performance keeping in mind how many portions of the movie have been filmed against a blue background. Naomi Watts pitches in one of her finest performances, almost managing to outshine Kong himself in the process. When Ann is captured by kong, she is terrified but not intimidated by Kong’s antics and refuses to be pushed around (literally) in what is one of the finest scenes of the movie. She emotes through her eyes, and keeping in mind that Kong is complete CGI, that is really commendable. Andy Serkis, the man behind the creation of the deliciously twisted Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, once again provides us with an outstanding performance as the man behind Kong. The facial movements that he lends to Kong give credulity to the seemingly unreal bond that develops between Kong and Ann. The scene where Kong and Ann watch the sunset is truly glorious and these are the moments where the movie becomes much more than a thrill ride.
The movie does have a rather lengthy running time and there are a few things which could have been left out. The character of jimmy (Jamie bell) for example was an irritating presence and could have been done without. The background score is well written considering that the composer, James Newton Howard was only brought on board before the date of release. All in all it can be said that Peter Jackson, after the success of his stupendous Lord of the Rings trilogy, does not in the least disappoint in this compelling remake of one of Hollywood’s most iconic films. PJ’s King Kong is an instant classic.