Film Review: Peter Jackson does it again!

King Kong (2005)

Starring:

Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow (2003 Best Actress Nominee in 21 Grams)
Jack Black as Carl Denham
Adrian Brody as Jack Driscoll (2002 Best Actor in The Pianist)

Directed by:

Peter Jackson (2003 Best Director in Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)

Disclaimer: I don't remember seeing the original picture from 1933 or 1976, even if my parents insist that I did on betamax*. So when I saw this insane film, I had nothing to compare it to.

*this was the prehistoric, neanderthal, primitive version of home video

This film almost drove me off the edge of my seat in the theater. The film was so intense, I felt detached from the real world making me do things I wouldn't normally do. For example, I didn't feel my bladder almost exploding because everything from the waist up was fixed on the screen. I also didn't feel the person in front of me discreetly, yet clearly, complain that my foot was uncomfortably pushing his seat to a point wherein he just reached back and brushed my shoe away. (Apologies to that man.)

Peter Jackson created a film that would rival the madness that swept the land when Jurassic Park came out. A film that wasn't acting nor story driven, but driven by execution or in simpler words: perfect direction.

Facing facts, everyone knew what would happen in the end and how their faces would be like. The challenge was how to build the audience into that climax and make them feel the whole 3-hour ride was well worth it. Peter Jackson created an intense car ride/ boat ride/ safari/ Empire State Building tour that made his audience scream, cringe, laugh, cry and, which I believe is the most difficult, stare in complete silence giving away all their attention for a few moments in a story they believed they were actually part of.

Another highlight of King Kong is how Jackson made the relationship of Ann Darrow and the gorilla unique and, above all, realistic. Research show that during the past movies, a romantic love-type relationship was established between the 2 characters, (blech!) which if done today would create skepticism due to its simply being unrealistic.

But Jackson gave it a much better approach: he made it real. As shown in the film Fierce Creatures starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline, certain connections or bonds can actually exist between the animal kingdom and their human counterparts. Bonds that not necessarily involve romantic, or in some actual disgusting cases, sexual implications. But more of a coexisting type; one between pet and owner or companion to companion.

And Jackson channeled this idea quite well in the film eliminating any bad skepticism from his audience, all 5 billion of them!

Other than those observations, I leave the rest to be seen and experienced by you. King Kong is roller coaster ride truly worth being seen.

Congratulations to a fantastic job on remaking a legendary story.

Warning: You will never look at insects the same way again. Ever.

RATING: 8 out of 10

"It is our wits that make us men." - Randall Wallace, Braveheart