Movie Review - King Kong

Universal Remote

When Sergio began his countdown of his ten most anticipated movies of the fall I hadn't even considered going to see King Kong. To be honest, I didn't care one whit about a love affair between an overgrown ape and a 30's vaudeville performer. And then the reviews came. It was called the best movie of the year one of the best movies of the year by Roger Ebert. The New York Times published a generally positive review. Everybody seemed to be on the same page. So I figured I would be missing out if I didn't see it on the big screen. I got tickets for 10:00 Friday night and headed out. This was going to be great.

It is not great. It is not good. It is awful. It is a bloated, self-indulgent, overwrought special effects mess. With all of these blockbusters, the story is supposed to be secondary. But at some point, every movie has to offer something more of a plot than simply that which is necessary to advance from one special effects set piece to the next. Oh a few story lines are advanced but they are quickly dropped. Instead we got special effects action. And lots of it. Scene after scene of Kong and humans fighting various creatures. Over and over. And each scene is longer than the next. And they never end. Moreover, ther is no reason to care what happens because none of the characters are ever developed in any way that you would care about them. So you are left to watch in awe at what Peter Jackson has created. At least, that is what is supposed to happen. It is hard to be in awe when some of the special effects look so horrible. For example, in the Pamplona like running of the Dinosaurs, the contrast between real and computer is so obvious that it completely takes you out of the movie. Perhaps it would not matter if it was thrilling and compelling. But there can be no thrills if you don't care about the characters. I simply didn't care.

It did not help matters that the theater was packed with Peter Jackson nerds. I knew I was in trouble when they started clapping at the opening credits. It got worse when they clapped when Kong appeared. It became intolerable when they oohed and ahhed at the special effects, and laughed at all the creepy creatures. It is impossible to build suspense when people are laughing at everything. The inability of the modern movergoer to discern what is irony and what is not might be a sign of the apocalypse. I thought for a moment that this might be the reason I hated the movie so much. Luckily, Time's Richard Schickel convinced me otherwise. He writes, "[a]nd our response to the ape's doom, once touched by authentic tragedy, is now marked by relief that this wretchedly excessive movie is finally over."