Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
King Kong - CONTRIBUTED
GREAT MOVIES have been few and far between this year, but hallelujah, it is Christmas and in bounds Narnia then King Kong and tan-tan-na-naaaaa! - great movies are back.
Peter Jackson's King Kong is exhilarating, jaw-dropping fun. It tickles your funny bone and gets the adrenaline pumping all at the same time. Then just when you think it's reached the limits, it goes for the heartstrings.
The script, written by Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens and Jackson, sticks with the basic plot of Merian Cooper and Edgar Wallace's 1933 original, where a film crew journeys to an uncharted, and of course mysterious, island dubiously called Skull Island. There they find more than a luxurious film location. The film allows for adequate build-up, using comedy and intriguing characters to keep it from lagging. Then three quarters of the way through, the action dominates, though drama is still allowed its place.
In keeping with Jackson's style, one gets much more than a great looking film. At this rate he is certainly on his way to being the King Kong of the movies, with first the Lord of the Rings and now the story of the great ape. Jackson applies some of strategies from Lord of the Rings to King Kong. So, he understands that though action is key, character is essential.
So, Andy Serkis, who had made Smeagol/Gollum more than great CGI also provides movement and expression for Kong, and it works marvellously making the great ape much more than a really big monkey. By giving Kong a personality, the audience is allowed to identify with him as a character and his attachment to Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) resonates. In this film it is not music (or chloroform) which soothes the savage beast, but a beautiful blonde with Vaudeville skills.
The cast is a generally good one. Watts plays a very interesting Darrow and through the character one gets to see just how far the damsel in distress has come. She brings more than pretty blonde tresses and the inability to run without tripping to the film. Adrien Brody, as playwright Jack Driscoll is the male lead, and though he does play second fiddle to Kong, he delivers the calibre of performance one would expect from him.
Jack Black as Carl Denham, a movie director/producer who is both desperate and of questionable character, shirks a little of his comedic skills. This time, Black's continuously arched brows take a more sinister turn.
King Kong uses the film within the film to poke fun at the movie business and its players. Much of this is done through Denham, but the action movie hero, Bruce Baxter, artfully played by Kyle Chandler (of television's Home Front and Early Edition) is also key to this.
To top it off, the flick has great fight sequences. As no mere man could tackle King Kong, the dinosaurs have been brought back and the fight sequences between Kong and the tyrannosaurus is absolutely fabulous. Indeed, the entire trek through the jungle provides one adrenaline inducing moment after the other.
The result is that though King Kong runs for just over three hours, it flies by so quickly that save for bladder trouble one would not notice its length. The movie is visually and emotionally stimulating. Peter Jackson has certainly done it again, not that anyone doubted that he could. This movie certainly the deserves a chest thumping roar.
