Film: King Kong

I had high expectations for this film from seeing the trailer alone, which is why I went to see it at the first available opportunity on the first day it was showing. I'd not seen either the 1933 original or the 1976 remake with Jessica Lange, so the story was new to me. At 189 minutes King Kong is possibly the longest film I've ever seen. The first hour was very slow and in retrospect was full of unnecessary detail and pointless back stories for minor characters. In comparison the second and third hours picked up the pace and practically whizzed by.

The stars of the film are undoubtedly Naomi Watts (Anne Darrow) and Andy Serkis (Kong). Andy played 2 roles; Lumpy the cook and Kong. The combination of Andy's outstanding performance and incredible CGI made Kong literally come to life. He was real in a way that The Hulk (2003) never was. While Kong is faultless, the mix of CGI and live action in the dinosaur stampede, didn't look real at times. Besides the fact that surviving such a stampede seems highly improbable, especially when it involved an attack by a pack of raptors.

There were some classic movie moments in this film, most of which included the 2 main characters, Anne and Kong. The scenes where together they admire the beauty of the landscape, first on the island and then in New York, were some of the most touching and beautiful moments in the film. Some people have criticised the scene on the ice in New York, as being out of place but I loved it. It simply showed the bond that Anne had developed with Kong, which made the film's climax all the more poignant. There is humour in the film, sometimes at unexpected moments such as when Kong has just killed a T-rex by snapping it's jaw and then plays with the jaw snapping it open and closed, as if to underline his claim that he is King Kong of the jungle.

The rest of the cast especially Jack Black (Carl Denham), Adrien Brody (Jack Driscoll) and Colin Hanks (Preston, who played Alex in Roswell) put in excellent performances. I failed to recognise Jamie Bell from Billy Elliot as Jimmy, although I did recognise Kyle Chandler (Bruce Baxter) from the short-lived US series The Lyon's Den, starring Rob Lowe and Elizabeth Mitchell.

King Kong is rated 12A, which means children under 12 can see it if accompanied by an adult. Personally I think most under 12s would be scared to death as there are some quite scary scenes.

My rating is 7/10 simply because the film is unnecessarily long, even though there is a chunk missing as we never get to see exactly how the ships's crew manage to get a drugged Kong from the island to the inside of a theatre on Broadway. I guess if the dinosaur chase stretched believability including that would have firmly snapped it, so it is perhaps best left to the imagination. A 2.5 hour version would have been a much more pacey affair, especially in the first act with the build-up to Kong's introduction. I think the length of the film will put a lot of people off. Movie buffs like myself will go and see it, but how many people are willing to sit in the cinema for what amounts to 3.5 hours if you include the endless ads and trailers beforehand? I saw it on opening night at 7.40pm in the largest screen at Cineworld, Enfield, which has over 500 seats. There were barely 100 people there, whereas I was expecting it to be packed. I feel that Peter Jackson (no doubt because of his success with the Lord of the Rings trilogy) has been allowed to be way too self-indulgent with King Kong. His love of CGI and special effects have bloated the film beyond reason. At one point there was an almost never ending sequence of peril scenes, where there were attacks from dinosaurs, huge bats and all kinds of gian creepy crawlies. My suspension of disbelief was stretched past its limits. Enough already I thought to myself!