The King is Kong

I have finally seen Peter Jackson’s latest film, King Kong. As for my take on how does this rate against all the other movies ever made, I’m a little mixed up: story wise, it’s great; the effects are brilliant; the characters are wonderful (so as the ape); the setting is awesome; but I’m not going to say, “it is the greatest movie ever!”

This is a story of man’s never-ending quest for mysteries – the insatiable thirst for the unknown – and his response to the revelation of an equivocal unknown. So, here is a movie director/producer, who has heard of an island that was uncharted and unexplored, carrying along his movie crew for a production of a film that has never been shot before; little did they knew that they were up for an adventure and scare of a lifetime.

This island was not actually unknown to some – only that only a handful survived to tell their tale. It’s a ferocious world that has to be sealed with walls and all I can say is that it is a lost world better than Jurassic Park’s sequel. The dense forestation is creepy and further enhanced by the creatures living within it.

The group of people in Weta Digital, who awed us with the fantastic special effects in Lord of the Rings, further up the ante in the science of the movie magic. The movie is visually awesome! I love the dinosaur stampede – reminiscent of the Mumakil attack in The Return of the King, but even better. The royal rumble between the big ape and the T-rexes was equally a feast in the eye of a movie person.

Each of the characters was great, and, most of all, the persona behind the 25-foot tall ape; though I can’t say they were correctly casted. I can accept Adrien Brody as a playwright; but as a hero who rescues the girl, I think not. Jack Black’s character is so devious but I simply can’t shake-off the image that he was Shallow Hal. Naomi Watts simply glowed on the screen as the damsel who cared for her captor. I take my hats off (if I ever wear a hat) to Andy Serkis, together with the graphic artists, who gave King Kong a personality. It was so believable; every twitch of his nose, every wrinkling of his brow, the opening of his huge mouth, the glint in his eyes, they are all realistic and so convincing, which made the audiences connect with this monster emotionally.

I only have one pet peeve with this movie: why must it be three hours long? There are scenes that could be shortened or parts that need not be included. I could sit through a three-hour-forty-five-minutes long Lord of the Rings or even a three-hour Harry Potter movie (which the producers dare not try to venture into) but three hours of a humongous ape (actually he wasn’t in the first thirty minutes) is such a stretch. I actually dozed off during that scene at the top of the Empire State building for probably a minute – twice. I hope we won’t get an extended version on the DVD (there are scenes in the trailer which were taken off the theatrical release), because if you watch it at home, you’ll probably go to sleep after King Kong was captured and never get to learn the ending.

This film, however, is the perfect example why we go to the movies: to see things we don't regularly see in real life for a small price of a single ticket.