posted
Went to see this today and was VERY impressed. This is going to sound like absolute heresy, I know, but I wasn't fully convinced by the LOTR trilogy that Jackson was a great director. (Good yes, but not great.) I was by this.
Almost everything about this film was wonderful. The casting was perfect. The effects looked beautiful and were not ridiculously overdone. (Kong was a very believable and sympathetic character, much as the original stop-motion version was.) The story was faithful to the original without being a hoaky carbon copy. As a matter of fact, I think there were some elements that were an improvement over the original, such as the expanded characterizations, particularly in the case of Ann Darrow. Naomi Watts' rendition was, IMHO, superior to Fay Wray's in that it was more believable and fleshed out, less of a caricature. Her interactions with Kong also yeild a great deal of emotional resonance and even sexual tension.
The film is a bit long at ~3 hours, though, and probably could've used some tighter editing in a few places. I'm not talking about cutting whole sequences, but just trimming a little, like in the sauropod stampede and the bug melee and maybe even the Kong/Rex fight. Perhaps some of the chaos in the streets immediately after Kong's escape could have been condensed as well.
All in all, it's obvious that a lot of love and effort went into the piece on the parts of director, actors, and effects men, and the results are quite effective. A nice balance is struck between nostalgia, serious drama, horror, romance, and socio-political commentary. I give it 3.5 stars out of 4.
-MMoM
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
Was there a giant monkey? I'll see anything with a giant monkey.....
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
So, any particular reason for the apparent lack of interest in this film? Or have people just not gotten around to seeing it yet? Or is it merely the general lack of interest that all my movie reviews seem to generate?
In any case, I saw it again today and it stood up to the repeated viewing quite well. I do make the observation, however, that the guardian/ward subplot between Hayes and Jimmy was rather unnecessary and could have been another good place to "liberate" some running time. Although, it did allow for the introduction of the whole Heart of Darkness thing. Also, the ice-skating scene in NY would have been a logical cut as well. But I suppose that, when $200 million is spent on a film, one wants to get as much out of it as possible.
Naomi Watts is gorgeous, BTW.
-MMoM
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
I think, for not really being a serious actor, he did a good job as Denham. I sort of have a problem seeing him as any character other than himself, but he seemed to carry this part off reasonably well.
He's not my type, though.
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
I'm definitely going to see it, and will comment then. Probably see it this weekend. Just haven't had time (nor the desire to sit in a jam-packed theater) yet.
posted
I just don't see the point. Girl meets Giant ape, Giant ape fancies girl, Giant ape falls off building. Just with flashier special effects for the MTV generation. There's nothing profound about the story. "It was beauty killed the beast." No, it wasn't, it was the biplanes flying around his head, firing machine-guns, causing him to lose his balance that killed him. And just because Naomi Watts has finally fucked her way to the top of the Hollywood totem pole doesn't mean I have to pay money to celebrate that.
posted
Okay, who's not been feeding Lee? He's gotten all grumpy.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Being a giant, grumpy ape that easily loses his balance and becomes enamored with hot blones in flowing white gowns myself, I can empathize with the storyline. There are also people who would gladly shoot me, from a biplane or otherwise.
posted
Click-Klack Ohh yeah, I'm a goin' Aban Run' a huntin' Gonna git me a Big rug!
-------------------- Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil...prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon...
quote:Originally posted by Lee: I just don't see the point. Girl meets Giant ape, Giant ape fancies girl, Giant ape falls off building. Just with flashier special effects for the MTV generation. There's nothing profound about the story. "It was beauty killed the beast." No, it wasn't, it was the biplanes flying around his head, firing machine-guns, causing him to lose his balance that killed him. And just because Naomi Watts has finally fucked her way to the top of the Hollywood totem pole doesn't mean I have to pay money to celebrate that.
The tale is much more iconic than that. It's about the relationship of humans and the natural world, prejudice and exploitation, conceptions of masculinity, and other such deep-seated themes. It's a classic, your cynicism aside. And I think Jackson's take on the story put some interesting new spins on some of these elements that made it all the more relevent to today's audiences.
This one wasn't particularly more effects-heavy than the original, either, it's just CGI instead of stop-motion. Both were done using the state-of-the-art techniques of the time.
But, you know, you're right about not having to pay to go see it. Nobody's forcing you to.
-MMoM
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
Registered: Jun 2001
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