King Kong was on the agenda last night, and it provided reasonable — if somewhat lengthy — entertainment. This thing clocks in at about two and a half hours in length. Be prepared.

I don’t mean to spoil the movie for anybody who hasn’t seen the original — one of the most famous films of all time — but at the end Kong dies. As people poured out of the theatre into the tribute to capitalism that ‘s represented by Burnaby’s Metrotown mall, tears could be seen streaming down cheeks. Actual tears.

Was it really that good?

Jack Black

Everybody loves Jack Black. His kinetic energy brought such films as High Fidelity to life, and he’s one of the best comedic actors in Hollywood. There’s a problem: Kong is not a comedy. Jack Black does a fine job, but fails to stretch the role and fill it. He plays it fairly straight faced for most of the movie, and the rare moments of comedy completely waste the actor.

Dinosaurs

I had forgotten that Skull Island was occupied by dinosaurs, and the iconic fight between Kong and the dinosaur had completely slipped my mind.

These scenese are substantially longer than they are in the original, and provide a movie within a movie of sorts. While the action is generally slow moving up until this point, these scenes simply fly along. Peter Jackson loves his CGI, and uses these moments to return to his shock horror roots — long forgotten by those only familiar with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

That Great Big Ape

Kong is the star here, obviously, and he’s not even in the first hour of film. When he does appear — amidst a scene with Island natives chanting, dancing and bouncing around a natural amphitheatre temple — it’s impressive. The first scene itself is impressive enough, and the CGI generated Kong doesn’t fail to impress.

Overall, there’s something missing here though. The magic isn’t there. That sense of wonder and amazement that exuded from the original, created by the painstaking and remarkable stop motion photography technique. This movie by contrast seems so…normal.

Today is the DVD release of Serenity so none of this is going to matter. I suspect I know what I’m doing tonight, when I get home from work.

Posted by skooter at 6:26 AM This entry is filed under Entertainment.