King Kong

DVD, King Kong (2005) film

This film lost me from the start, and didn't get me back until the appearance of the fearsome natives. For me, a film needs an exciting opening, or a mysterious one, but this had neither, and I would agree that its biggest failing is its bigness. Its too long, there are scenes which emphasise things over much (I was waiting for those planes to shoot Kong down for what seemed like an age). I often prefer Jackson's style to other, shaky-cam directors, like JJ Abrams, and similar shots as seen in 'The Lord of The Rings' trilogy are well in evidence. However, these shots, which worked for those films, feel like old hat, even repeating a few, such as the slow-motion closeups of gaping skulls or a CGI camera zooming over a landscape.

The CGI was a mixed bag, surprisingly, in that Kong himself was brilliant, and they captured the big scenes well, but smaller, less important shots didn't look real enough, such as the boat in stormy seas, and occasionally people moving from a distance. I never identified with any of the characters, neither did I dislike them. They simply existed, and I didn't care when any of them died, including the first officer whose friendship with the young lad marked either him or the lad for doom! I'm obligated to like Andy Serkis' performance, as we all are, but I expected to see more of Lumpy. I completely forgot that Serkis 'played' Kong too, until I saw it in the credits, which proves what a strong performance it was, though not as easy to identify with as Gollum.

There was far too much brightness and cleanness, even the dirt looked clean, and it didn't fit the mood that was being attempted. For much of the film it was a waiting game, wading through shots of people walking, or talking, and I only really enjoyed the spectacular action scenes, such as the Brontosaurus stampede, and the dino fights. If the running time had been significantly cut, there had been more 'Jurassic Park', and I had liked the characters more, I would have thought well of the film, but being the big first project, post-Rings, it was always going to be a massive hype-generator. Oddly I never even wanted to see it at the time it came out, because I thought I knew what I was going to get. And I was right.

Peter Jackson wanted to remake his childhood inspiration for a new audience, and that's laudable, and he deserved to do whatever he wanted after the phenomenon that was 'The Lord of The Rings', but that doesn't make it any more of an enjoyable film for me. It's about a giant ape, it's about an expedition, it's about... not much else, but done with clever effects. The bad language seemed more noticeable than other films after the purity of 'Rings'. The film seemed to hold itself back a little. Not always, as the unpleasant scenes with the natives (who looked very Orc-like!), had some danger to them. The music, which wasn't bad, but was sensitive and never took charge, became the mark of the film - I couldn't hum a single bit of the score, and I don't think there was a strong theme if there was one at all. A real shame Howard Shore wasn't onboard to compose, although the conductor in the show bore a passing resemblance...

It's not a bad film, but it did seem to be not a big enough leap away from 'Rings', and into something better, and I say all this even though I watched it with very little expectation. Not a disappointment, just something Jackson and his team needed to get out of their system, I feel. A film that exists, but not one I'd want to see again.

**