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Post by losingmydignity on Dec 20, 2005 21:21:05 GMT -5
All I can say is...if the Fellowship of the Ring drove me nuts with overboardness and made me actually (for the first time ever) leave the theater to take a break from the mind-numbingness of it all, I can guess how I'd react to this movie, I certainly can.
Thought I'd go with a run on sentence since it seems more Jacksonian....
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Post by Skyroniter on Dec 22, 2005 20:36:32 GMT -5
I saw this movie today. Its a bit too long. Someone needs to remind Mr. Jackson that every movie doesn't have to clock in around three hours long.
They built a stronger relationship between Kong and Darrow than the original did. Denham also seems a more seedy character to me. The visuals are stunning but the original Kong story is perfection. You can't improve upon it with modern effects.
Still, the new Kong is a very good movie. Two thumbs up. should open up a whole new audience to the original.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Dec 23, 2005 19:50:09 GMT -5
All I can say is...if the Fellowship of the Ring drove me nuts with overboardness and made me actually (for the first time ever) leave the theater to take a break from the mind-numbingness of it all, I can guess how I'd react to this movie, I certainly can. Thought I'd go with a run on sentence since it seems more Jacksonian.... Did you expect an epic, three-movie blockbuster about wizards, elves, goblins, and the destruction of the world by ultimate evil to be, you know, subtle? |
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Post by losingmydignity on Dec 26, 2005 2:34:37 GMT -5
All I can say is...if the Fellowship of the Ring drove me nuts with overboardness and made me actually (for the first time ever) leave the theater to take a break from the mind-numbingness of it all, I can guess how I'd react to this movie, I certainly can. Thought I'd go with a run on sentence since it seems more Jacksonian.... Did you expect an epic, three-movie blockbuster about wizards, elves, goblins, and the destruction of the world by ultimate evil to be, you know, subtle? No, but it at least could have been well directed and fun to watch..... |
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Post by Sheik Yerbouti on Dec 26, 2005 14:13:52 GMT -5
Did you expect an epic, three-movie blockbuster about wizards, elves, goblins, and the destruction of the world by ultimate evil to be, you know, subtle? No, but it at least could have been well directed and fun to watch..... Yeah, the first LOTR movie convinced me I never needed to see another Jackson film again. |
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Post by mrsphyllistorgo on Dec 29, 2005 16:32:36 GMT -5
OH, yes, King Kong goes on. There were things I liked, and things I DID NOT.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
I liked the natives. They were genuinely creeeeepyyy bastards, and the layout of the island kind of explained that: all the tillable soil and edible things were on the INSIDE of the wall, and all the natives got was the harsh rocky shore and unforgiving sea at the very margins. I would evolve into a hatin', sacrificing mofo pretty darn quick in that situation.
GOD, the island scenes went on FOREVER. Jackson's official motto, apparently is "If One Is Good, A Million Is Better!" Not a short bronto stampede, a long one! Not just brontos, velociraptors! Not one Tyronosaurus, Three! Not a few giant spiders, squillions of icksome insects!
Ann's interaction with Kong was one of the highlights of the film. Her quick thinking, use of her vaudeville skills, and ability to stand up as one sentient being to another made the interaction of tiny blonde woman and big scary ape beliveable. (and major props to Naomi Watts. She was bounced, battered, soaked and shredded, while interacting with nothing but blue screen, and pulled it off like a true pro. And double props to the nightie she wore, which provided adequate coverage with nary a rip throughout the entire ordeal!)
For a movie that never saw a shot it wanted to leave on the cutting room floor, there are a couple of mighty strange gaps in logic and continuity. Namely, HOW THE FLIPPIN' HELL DID THEY GET KONG TO NEW YORK!?! Kong pursues Ann and her "rescuers", busts up the giant gate, and is finally choloroformed---and then we just cut to New York! How the flip did they get a 25 foot, 80 ton ape to the boat? How the double flip did they get him IN the boat? How did they keep him restrained? What did they feed him? Did they wire ahead "AM BRINGING GIANT APE TO NEW YORK, CONSTRUCT CHROMIUM CHAINS TO FOLLOWING SPECS"?
GAHHHH!!!! (Peter, cut the tiresome exposition of various tramp steamer members and follow through on logic. Those guys are there to become Velocaraptor and Giant Spider Chow. )
And once in the Big Apple, it's pretty prefunctory. Kong gets pissed, breaks free and starts layin' the smack down, has his bonding time with Ann, and hauls his hairy butt over to the Empire State Building, and by this time the audience is so wrung out it's kind of muttering "okay, yeah, climb the building already, bring on the biplanes, let's go," and then we go into another slow mo moment with Ann and Kong gazing meaningfully at each other (and again, kudos to Watts. She was acting against a blue screen and never for one second did you doubt she was gazing with love and pity at a creature she strangely loved, and had somehow doomed.)
And then Kong gives up. This is the part I liked best, the realization that the only thing he cares about, the only thing he has left, he cannot have. Not because she wants to leave him, but because the entire world is so structured that there is nowhere he can go. With or without her, it's over. And he won't live without her. He just--lets go. I cried.
Another nice bit is the very end, where the people are crowding around the body of the great Kong, and Peter Jackson, for the first time in the film, doesn't go for the Great Big Framing Money Shot. You only see glimpses of Kong's corpse through the press of bodies, and never his face. Just a rise here, a swell there, and you can't even tell which part of him you're seeing. Niiice.
So, yeah. There were things I liked, and things Peter Jackson apparently liked WAY more than I did. I'll tell you this though, he gives ya your two bits worth.
mrsphyllistorgo
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