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do not envy Peter Jackson. Since 1996, when work
began on the "Lord
of the Rings" trilogy, the man has been
consistently taking on some of the most arduous
cinematic tasks in history. When "Return
of the King" came out,
Jackson
said he wasn't going to work on another big-scale,
CGI-laden movie for years. But then Universal
offered him the chance to remake "King
Kong", a dream that he has harboured since
the age of twelve. The result: a blood, sweat and
tears movie; a true labour of love that, despite
the director's supposed ill health, has won over
critics and moviegoers alike, and convinced the
world that CGI monsters can act, too.
Remaining true to the
original version, Jackson's remake is set in the
1930s, and sees over-zealous filmmaker Carl Denham
(Jack Black) traveling to the ominously titled
"Skull Island" on a fishing boat to film
some sort of jungle love story amongst the
island's scenery. Denham brings along his leading
lady Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts, "The
Ring"), writer Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody),
a crew full of disgruntled looking men, and
Captain Eaglehorn (Thomas Kretschmann), who also
assumes the role of "old man who knows
stuff".
Once the cast and crew
arrives at Skull Island, it appears that the old
man does indeed know stuff, as the group is
attacked by the island's tribal inhabitants and
Miss Darrow is captured to be sacrificed to Kong
-- the biggest monkey anyone is likely to ever see
-- played brilliantly by Andy Serkis (Gollum from
"Lord of the Rings") using, once again,
motion-capture technology. The crew is honor bound
to save Darrow, and so go deep into the heart of
the island and into the jungle, where they are
confronted by all means of dinosaurs and overgrown
insects. However, when Carl Denham thinks about
the kind of money Kong could make him, saving his
leading lady is the last thing on his mind, and
soon a trip back to the Big Apple commences, large
ape in tow.
I'm sure every review of
"King Kong" ever written will say this,
and so what I am about to say will have reduced
impact, but I'll say it anyway: "Kong"
is visually stunning. Watching it, one gets the
feeling that something of this scale will not be
executed again for a long time. Not only are the
special effects good, but they are convincing,
helped by the tireless motion capture acting of
Andy Serkis. Serkis didn't earn an Oscar nod for
his performance as Gollum, but he should certainly
get one for his performance as Kong. With major
assistance from a great special effects team,
Serkis has managed to make something you and I
know is fake and make it feel real. Amongst an
army of CGI dinosaurs, giant caterpillars and
head-munching leaches, Kong stands out as a real
character, and not just a CGI creature.
The phenomenal special
effects are backed up by good performances from a
strong cast, most notably Jack Black, and fairly
decent characterisation, something that cannot be
said for many of the CGI blockbusters of recent
years. Unfortunately there are many weaknesses
that help reduce the film's credibility, including
obvious and irritating
holes in story continuity. The biggest of which
being the number of crewmembers killed by Skull
Island
's various threats. Seventeen crewmembers die on
Skull
Island
, but the tiny little fishing boat looks like it
couldn't hold fifteen people without sinking.
Repeatedly, I had to ask myself, "Who just
died there?" Also, despite only having a
wrecked fishing boat and about five crewmembers
left, Denham still manage to transport a
twenty-foot gorilla back to New York. How is this
possible?
But there is a bigger problem
with "Kong", in that the movie feels
like it's missing something vital -- like a soul.
The supposed love between Kong and Ann Darrow is
not nearly as convincing as it should be, and in
fact I have very little belief that there was any
love between the girl and the beast at all. At the
start, Kong treats Ann like property, and handles
her savagely, knocking her about for his own
amusement. The supposed "turn-around"
scene is where she stands on a ledge with Kong,
observing the sunset, and teaches him the word
"beautiful". That's all it takes for a
woman to fall in love with a savage giant monkey?
My final criticism of
"King Kong" is that it's just too long.
While it's not boring by any means, it is tiring
by about ten to twenty minutes of unneeded
footage. Despite this, "King Kong"
remains a visual spectacle. Jack Black is
exceptional, as is Naomi Watts and the ubiquitous
Andy Serkis. However, the love story is not nearly
convincing enough to elevate the movie above the
level of "eye candy". There is plenty of
stimulation for the eye, but very little for the
heart and mind. |
