Saw King Kong last night. However… I’m moving today so don’t really have time to put up my full review (I’ll cover the review on Friday’s Audio Edition).
I just wanted to say a couple of things at this point to let those of you who have seen it already to discuss:
1) Very good and entertaining film. I liked it a lot… but honestly a little over-hyped by the critics
2) Maybe the BEST damn action sequence (which took what felt like 20 minutes) that I have ever seen in a motion picture! (If you’ve seen the movie you know what I’m talking about).
3) It was too long. Go ahead… start throwing stones at me for having the audacity to say anything not 100% positive about a Peter Jackson film… but it should have been like 30 minutes shorter. Not from the end of the film… but from the beginning. The whole first hour just dragged. Everything they did in the first hour (introducing characters, setting up the plot ect.) could have been done without sacrificing quality in half the time. I was almost getting bored and even looked at the watch once or twice.
4) Once they get to Skull Island… OH HELL YEAH! It makes up for the first hour.
5) Some of the effects (Kong, the T-Rex) are FANTASTIC!
6) Some of the effects (mostly compositing… people standing on the boat at sea and things like that) looked horrible and fake
7) Jack Black annoyed me at first… but he grows on you as the film goes on.
8) Nothing but good things to say about the cast in general
9) Music was a bit of a let down
10) Dialog was a bit weak… but not painfully so
11) I just can’t say enough good things about Kong himself. Not just how good he looked… but how great of a performance the folks at WETA and Andy Serkis brought out of the big ape. Just amazing. It didn’t top Gollum… but it came damn close.
Ok, so those are some of my thoughts. Overall I give King Kong an 8 out of 10. Very good flick, solid entertainment… just not the be all and end all that some people are making it out to be. Go see it and enjoy.. then give your thoughts here.
I think your take on the dialogue is off kilter. By that I mean – what dialogue? There wasn’t enough for it to be shoddy in the first place.
Second, you say Peter Jackson wrote “The Lovely Bones,” which is accurate in that he wrote the screenplay. But the novel – which the genius of the whole project is based, was written by Alice Sebold.
Lastly, you must have some “V” for Vendetta against “Halo” because you seem to shit on the Peter Jackson-is-involved concept anytime his name or the name of “Halo” is breathed. Jessh, man.
As for the “Kong” overall, I’ve seen it twice and I do think the boat scenes are a bit long. I could do for some trimming on that front. Anything in NYC or Skull Island was absolutely fantastic. I also wondered if there was some “payback” with Howard Shore getting stomped by Kong in NYC.
As we saw with Return of the King, Peter Jackson has a tendency to draaaaaaaag things on a bit. The ending of ROTK still puts me to sleep.
You forgot the Gaint BUGS!
this is one movie that anything less than a 10/10 review makes me question the sanity of the reviewer. (review coming at spacejunk.org soon-ish), but then again, i’ve been questioning john’s sanity since he kept pushing “the Island” as a quality film.. :P
just the perfect amount of seriousness vs. camp, definitely THE spectacle movie of the year…
i actually dont know which action sequence you mean either, because the craziest scene for the movie for me involved some oversized everyday monsters we all deal with in our bathrooms and barbecues, not ones previously rescued by a mosquito in amber.
I thought the film was great and to me, it was a three hour film that felt like two hours.
However, I thought two effects didn’t ‘sell me’ (Kong’s grip on Anne while running, tossing her around while fighting three Rexes- and not breaking every bone in her hot bod)
I don’t know what those worm like things that ate the cook were (Serkis outside of Kong)
but my major peeve was the natives. First, I thought one guy lost his head in the melee. then to find out it was only a scratch. After the heroes stop the ritual, the natives are never seen from again.
I thought about something funny while I was watching this: is this film thumbing its nose at Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla 96? Upping the ante on “Lost World: Jurassic Park”? I mean, the dinos look far better here than they did in the Spielberg films.
Also…is there more than one Kong? (A scene has giant ape remains)
Saw King Kong yesterday. I loved it. Smart to draw the audience into a real story before revealing the monster.
OK, I’ll disregard that last comment from shutthef***up.
I don’t know hat he’s talking about. Everyone is giving mostly positive reviews above.
Anyway, yes John, now I know the scene you are talking about. HOLY CRAP was that amazingly awesome. After the scene was done, “I realized my hand was in my popcorn bag and my mouth was open in mid chew.” Seriously. I think my mouth was open for 15 minutes.
KONG looks amazing and the emotion he instills is incredible. The relationship between him and Anne is captured so much better than in the original. Anyway, gotta get to work on MY review.
peace.
-Drewbacca
http://www.moviepatron.com/moviereviews/k/kingkong.html
Hey John,
Wow! You know everything! I want to grow up to be just like you!
On my way to the theater right now John, then I’ll read your review and comment more. I’m excited as hell.
Mine will be posted by midnight I hope.
Peace.
-Drewbacca
http://www.moviepatron.com/moviereviews/k/kingkong.html
I agree John- 8 out of 10 sounds right. Its a passion versus restraint issue. PJ’s passion allowed for some masterpiece moments. His passion also overrides his retraint too often – many sequences go on too long and are too busy.
Go expecting a rip-roaring adventure yarn and not the second coming and you will walk out happy.
Hey there Triflic,
I agree with that Ebert quote… but it only applies if all the long footage is good footage. The first hour was not good… just because it was too much unessesary stuff that didn’t need to be in there.
For example… the movie is good… so does that mean if they added an extra hour of footage of Jack Black just eating a large breakfast would be ok?
The movie is good… but it was too long. Not because of it’s length… but because there was more than needed to tell the story he wanted to tell. But keep in mind I’m only talking about the first hour.
Cheers!
Watching the original (and it just got a fine DVD release) before viewing the remake, will make Jackson’s film much, much richer. There is so much detail which as been subtly incoporated from the original, I found myself smiling a lot during the beginning and middle and even end of the film.
For me, it didn’t even feel remotely like 3 hours…
Ebert is right when he says, “No Good movie is too long and No bad movie is too short.”
I saw it, and I want to HUG Naomi Watts. Not only can she scream like a mofo, but she had me weeping by the end credits. WONDERFUL movie. And Kong looked so real, especially when he reunites with Ann in NYC and he holds her close to his face.
after seeing it a second time, i pretty much agree with every point in your review. on my first viewing, the length of the first act did not bother me at all, but on second viewing, knowing what’s coming up, it felt too long. a lot of the character interaction could have been cut a lot without losing anything from the story.
i would rate it higher than an 8, though, based purely on the sheer emotional impact it had on me. mind you, i’m a huge fan of giant monster movies in general! but the kick-ass monster action, plus the touching relationship between kong and anne (made believable by andy serkis’ and naomi watts’ performances) kicks this up to a 9 for me.
right now kong gets my vote for the best CG character in a movie, EVER.
Hey there Jagmir.
Peter Jackson is not workig on Halo. His next movie that he is working on is one that he also wrote called “The Lovley Bones”. He is listed as an executive producer… but his actual involvment with Halo will be minimal.
OK that’s great……Now Mr. Jackson, get your butt to work on the HALO movie, make it 2.5 hrs long, non-stop action from beginning to end, don’t bother making it likable for kids (because then it’ll suck just like Star Wars Episodes I-III), a dark theme, and let MC kick the living crap out of an alien army. Then, we’ll talk about your legacy…