Raznor's Rants

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Wednesday, December 14, 2005

King Kong - with Spoilers!
Posted by Ross

There are great things to do on a Sunday night, and then there are GREAT things to do on a Sunday night.

The Bekka and I caught an early screening (thank you Writer's Guild!) of "Kong." My pulse is still pounding!

Being the drooling dork I am, skinny man Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy have catapaulted themselves right there with my all-time favorites. In fact, I hardly even categorize them as movies. They're simply dazzling appendages to Tolkien's timeless literature.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from "King Kong." I've seen the 1933 version on countless occasions. My dad used to run a TV station in Eugene, OR. He actually had his own oldies movie show years and years before such thing came into vogue on channels like AMC and TMC.

So I was very, very young when I saw the original "Kong" for the first time. And that stop-motion animation is very impressive. The scene where Kong goes mano-a-mano with the T-Rex... it's exciting, scary and captures the imagnation.

What I never really expected Jackson to do in "Kong" was to even approach some of the things he did in "LOTR." The Mines of Moria? Helms Deep? The Pellinore Fields? You're kidding me, that shit's untouchable, right?

Particularly the Pellinore Fields, where, essentially the hour-long act 2 is nothing but battle, set-piece piled onto set-piece, and you daren't blink because if you do, you'll miss something.

And yet, that's exactly what Jackson accomplishes on Skull Island. Suck it "Jurassic Park," there is everything! I was so over-stimulated I was starting to get a little vaso vagal at times.

And it's all so inventive. I generally hate action movies. Not because I hate action, but because they're usually so boring. I know, I've written a couple. They want action on every page, inspired or not. Just throw in a million edits, some exploding kneecaps and deafening sound effects and the audience won't know the difference, right?

Michael Bay generally puts me to sleep faster than Pink Floyd.

Those natives are scary as all hell. When the little girl bites Jack Black, and you're like, what's going on, and then you're like, holy shit, they're cannibals! They have to be. There's no vegetation on their side of the wall.

I didn't have any complaints about the script (hell, the screenwriter gets to be the romantic lead!). I mean, that narrative thrust that keeps you so engaged in "LOTR" isn't nearly as strong as "Kong." But, then again, "Kong" is an entirely different kind of story. I mean, it's a love story. It engages your emotions.

I remember at one point thinking, holy shit, I'm really starting to like this damn dirty ape (another brilliantly emotive CGI performance from the great Andy Serkis, who also plays one of the pirates). That sucks cuz I'm gonna be really sad when he has his great fall.

It wasn't "Lord of the Rings." But then again, what is?

And one thing's for sure, you're not gonna be hearing any complaints from my side of Skull Island.

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