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In life, change is constant and
relentless. Perhaps that’s why we take
comfort in the little things that remain
the same: King Kong is back on the big
screen after a 29-year hiatus; the
Empire State Building remains the
tallest building in New York City; and
love conquers all, no matter how
diminutive your stature.
Five-time Academy Award winner Peter
Jackson (Lord of the
Rings Series) re-creates
the RKO Pictures 1933 classic story
melding 21st century film technology and
two passionate stars (Naomi Watts and
Adrien Brody). Filmed in the jungles of
New Zealand and on location in New York
City, Jackson’s epic will dazzle you
with non-stop action, special effects
and a soundtrack that’s a little on the
loud side
Visually, King Kong looks great. His
eyes appear real and his facial
expressions are light-years ahead of the
1933 original. However, the computer
generated image-rendered dinosaurs look
a bit too fake. After being spoiled with
the life-like dinosaurs from the
Jurassic Park film series,
and given King Kong’s
budget of $200 million, viewers expect
the same level of special effects for
T-Rex on Skull Island.
Overall, however, the quality of the
cinematography transcends the flawed
appearance of a few dinosaurs. The
jungles of Skull Island are lush, moist,
richly textured scenes populated by
flawlessly depicted giant insects that
descend on man and beast with the
abandon of creatures at the top of the
food chain. The soft, drab brown colors
of the 1930’s Depression-era New York
City, complete with steel workers
dangling high above the city trying to
earn a buck juxtaposed with the long
snaking soup lines below, is visually
provocative and provides the backdrop
for the second half of the story.
For those with an incomplete memory of
the story or anyone curious about why
anyone would deliberately choose to
wander around the nastiest habitat on
earth, I’ve provided this thumbnail
sketch: Out-of-work vaudevillian actress
Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) is offered a
job starring in a film to be shot by
Carl Denham (Jack Black) on the island.
They crash into an island that was
thought to be deserted, only to discover
it’s not.
Natives quickly abduct Darrow as a
sacrifice for King Kong. Kong soon
realizes it’s no sacrifice at all,
simply a 120-pound blonde actress who
knows how to make the big guy smile with
a song and dance routine and appreciates
a good sunset.
Kong sees himself as Romeo in Romero
and Juliet and Darrow sees
herself as the good doctor in
Gorillas in the
Mist. Fortunately, or unfortunately,
family interference (the film crew and
the outside world) conspires to separate
this tortured relationship.
Playwright Jack Driscol (Adrien Brody)
completes the love triangle, generating
jealously in Kong. Driscol is so madly
in love with Darrow that he would have
joined an animal rights organization to
impress her if one had existed back
then. In turn Kong would vanquish a
dozen dinosaurs to protect his
sweetheart from the seamier side of
outdoor living.
Predictably, making an easy buck takes
precedence over leaving well enough
alone and Kong winds up in New York City
at the mercy of urbanites.
Watts and Brody convey a range of
emotions without speaking a word,
complimenting the non-speaking star of
the film. Watts has not displayed such a
talent for generating a moving response
from an audience since Mulholland
Drive, and Brody’s sentimental
performance is reminiscent of his role
in The Piano.
The only character out of sync with the
tone of this story is Black’s. Known
better for his comedic roles, Black’s
dead-pan delivery of the final words in
the film “beauty killed the beast,”
after Kong’s dramatic fall from the
Empire State Building, come across as a
sarcastic comic retort instead of a
searing epitaph for the broken-hearted
king of the jungle.
In keeping with Black’s penchant for
comedy it would have been more
appropriate had he said, “Love hurts.” |
