King Kong

I have never seen the original 1933 King Kong, and dozed through the 1976 remake shown on TV; however, with King Kong deeply imbedded into our pop culture, it is impossible for me to be completely ignorant about him. Peter Jackson’s King Kong is my first cinematic ride with this giant ape and it leaves me exhilarated at times and yawning at others.

Clocking in at a little over 3 hours, this King Kong is the epic of 2005. Director Peter Jackson is no stranger to epics. He accomplished the impossible before by turning all three The Lord of the Rings movies into both box office and critical successes and finally winning the Oscar for the last installment in the Rings trilogy. In King Kong, once again he proves that he is capable of turning an ambitious project into a reality.

Peter Jackson sets his remake in the same time period as in the original because he believes the Depression era is important to the story. It follows a zealous director, Carl Denham (played by Jack Black)’s nature pursuit to Skull Island and records all the adventures both the movie and ship crew experience on that unknown island. Once Carl captures Kong, he brings it back to New York with chaotic consequences.

The movie is a CGI extravaganza and has some fantastic computer generated action sequences. Jackson and his team have been pushing the technology envelope with every epic they make, but the movie also seems to pay homage to other directors with visions. When the ship hit Skull Island, it reminds me of the moment Titanic hit the iceberg; when the crew tries to escape from dinosaurs, Jurassic Park jumps into my mind.

The movie boasts an international cast, but most of them pale besides CGI King Kong. Thanks to actor Andy Serkis and special effects, Kong has become a beast with a wide range of emotions. I love his playfulness with Ann Darrow, his tantrum when told no, his fierceness when faced with danger and his undying devotion to love. Kong is a far richer character than majority of roles out there nowadays.

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for all the human characters in this movie. When it comes to tell human stories, the script falls short. Most human characters are one dimensional and the dialogue is full of clichés. Despite a script that does not give actors much room to develop, three performances stand out. Naomi Watts is perfectly cast as damsel in distress Ann Darrow. Her sea blue eyes and wavy blond hair are so photogenic that we as audience can understand Kong’s lust for her. Jackson’s occasional use of soft focus on Watts also adds a goddess aura to her appearance. When Denham first catches glimpse of Darrow in front of the burlesque hall and later when Kong sees her in a white dress on the New York street, she represents all that is pure and innocent and is an epitome of human beauty. But as in Mulholland Dr. and 21 Grams, Watts proves she is not just a beautiful starlet. She has a face able to express a thousand emotions without uttering a word and a rare ability of delivering even bad dialogue in believable fashion. Without all her wonderful reaction shots, Kong would have felt much less real to the audience. Another solid performance belongs to Thomas Kretschmann who plays the skipper in the movie. This German actor first caught American moviegoers’ eyes with his portrayal of a sympathetic Nazi officer in The Pianist. In King Kong, using his movie star look and confidence, he has gone on to show that he is clearly a leading man material. The most surprising performance in the movie has to be Jack Black. When I first heard that he was cast as Carl Denham, I thought it was a terrible miscast. How he proves me wrong! With that trademark craziness shining in his eyes, he is the mad man, Denham, with a single purpose in life – make the most out-of-this-world movie. His Denham is loathsome and loveable at the same time and Black manages to occasionally steal the show from King Kong. I also have to admit that I did get a laugh or two watching Kyle Chandler of TV Early Edition fame spoof on his good look and listening to his remarks about differences between an everyday hero and a movie hero.

Jackson’s King Kong leaves some interesting unanswered questions such as how the crew manages to ship Kong to New York and how they transport him once on land, etc. It is also too bad that Fay Wray died before she had a chance to say the famous last line in the movie (“It was beauty killed the beast”). It could have been Jackson’s ultimate tribute to the movie that he claimed has inspired him to become a filmmaker. In many ways, Jackson is probably not that much different from Denham and original King Kong creator, Merian C. Cooper: they are all innovators, adventurers and dedicated craftsmen of their times, but I do hope that he would start making some more personal movies like he did in his early days. My favorite Jackson movie is still 1994’s Heavenly Creatures in which Kate Winslet made her feature film debut. Out of his The Lord of Rings trilogy, I have only loved the first one, not because of its spectacular special effects and battle scenes, but because of its compelling story and flesh-and-blood characters.

Jackson’s King Kong shows that CGI has truly become the eighth wonder of the world. It is a marvel how technology has propelled movie fantasies into an area that no one had dreamed possible before, but after a three-hour thrill ride, I long for Jackson to go back to his early roots.