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Dan Owen reviews
Universal Pictures Video As premiered on
danowen.blogspot.com
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 8242456
- Running time: 187 minutes
- Year: 2005
- Pressing: 2006
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: Arabic, Icelandic, English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 2*DVD 9
- Price: £24.99
- Extras:Introduction to Peter Jackson, Post Production Diaries, Kong’s New York 1933,The Natural History of Skull Island
Director:
- Peter Jackson
Producers:
- Jan Blenkin, Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson & Fran Walsh
Screenplay:
- Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens & Peter Jackson
Music:
- James Newton Howard
Cast:
- Ann Darrow: Naomi Watts
Jack Driscoll: Adrien Brody
Carl Denham: Jack Black
Lumpy/Kong: Andy Serkis
Engelhorn: Thomas Kretschmann
Peter Jackson is surely now the undisputed grandmaster of blockbuster cinema.
Hot on the heels of his phenomenal success with The Lord Of The Ringstrilogy (11 Oscars for the final movie alone…), Jackson turned hisattention to his dream project — a remake of his favourite movie,King Kong (1933).
In the famous story’s update, Naomi Watts replaces Fay Wray asAnn Darrow, a dispirited New York actress recruited by struggling maverickdirector Carl Denham (Jack Black) to shoot a movie on an unchartedisland, along with playwright Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) and themotley crew of The S.S Venture.
Once they reach Skull Island, the team discover it’s populated not only bya savage tribe of people hidden behind a colossal wall, but also with giantmonsters — in the shape of dinosaurs, huge bats, enormous insects and a25-foot gorilla known as Kong..
Its a straight-forward B-movie plot, already famous to everyone after72 years of exposure to the public. And, even if youve never actually seenthe original black-and-white adventure, the iconic image of Kong straddlingthe Empire State Building swatting bi-planes out of the air is the stuffof movie legend.
In translating King Kong for modern audiences, Jackson wisely keeps the storygrounded in its 1930s setting and brings superlative visual complexity tothe screen. Movie monsters havent wowed the imagination this much sinceSpielbergs dinosaurs first stomped across our screens back in ’93.
Perfecting techniques used throughout Lord Of The Rings, WETA DigitalWorkshop have again set a new benchmark for the rest of the effects industryto aspire to. British actor Andy Serkis (LOTRs Gollum) “plays” thetitular ape by utilizing motion-capture technology, helping bring a sense ofrealism to Kong that the original could never achieve with stop-motionanimated models.Even the 1976 remake had to struggle with a silly man-in-a-monkey-suittechnique.
No such compromises in 2005. Kong is now a creature of sheer beauty throughoutJackson’s movie. He fights, he runs, he swings, he leaps, he breathes, hesulks, he laughs he lives! In many ways the success of the movie relied onthe complexity of Kong’s performance and the digital characters ability tointeract and emote with a real cast and the WETA crew nail it to perfection.
Plaudits must also go to Oscar-nominee Naomi Watts, given a fairly rudimentarycharacter on the page, but able to make Ann Darrows sweet relationship withKong utterly believable. A scene where Ann and Kong “ice-skate” together inCentral Park, before the great ape climbs to his eventual doom, is justpure old-fashioned movie magic, and sure to tug at everyones heart strings.
Amazingly too, the fact everyone knows how the story ends actually works inthe movies favour — as the distant whine of approacing biplanes brings amelancholy feel to the great apes last stand…
Elsewhere, production values are all superb — particularly the impressive CGIrendering of 1933 New York City, being so realistic its not even noticeablya special-effect. As always in movies of such mammoth undertaking, there isthe odd effects moments that could have done with further polishing: adinosaur stampede suffers from some badly composited shots, and a sequencewith a pole-vaulting native is below-par and ridiculous anyway. But theseare very minor quibbles in an otherwise unrivalled production.
The actors involved all do a very good job, particularly Watts and Serkisas already stated, but the greatest surprise in some ways is Jack Black asCarl Denham. Black is most famous as one-half of a comedy rock band TenaciousD, and as a high-energy comedian in films such as School Of Rock, soto see him provide a credible and engaging performance of such seriousness isvery satisfying.
Adrien Brody does solid work, but his character is rarely more than a handyplot device to push events along. Still, in earlier scene when his characterlooks to be more prevalent than he eventually becomes, Brodys brings hisusual goofy hangdog charm to proceedings, before the ape takes over and hisinvolvement becomes sidelined.
If there is a problem with King Kong 2005, its the running time. King Kongis big in many ways. At three hours, the movie is twice the length of theoriginal — yet tells essentially the same story. Jackson takes an hour toset-up his characters before they arrive on Skull Island, then overloads amid-section with far more monster set-pieces than the original had, beforethe admittedly well-judged final act in New York.
Personally, I thought the set-up was slightly too long, but never boring. Ienjoyed the slow build-up and getting to know the characters (even if mostof the cast don’t get any kind of satisfying pay-off by the movie’sconclusion). Another slight quibble is the sheer amount of perils involvingmonsters in Act II. The initial adrenaline rush slowly diminishes due tooverkill at times, although there are some amazing spectacles to behold.However, even these storytelling didn’t ruined the experience for me.
A popcorn film being criticized for having too much character set-up andmonster fights is generally in a good position…
Overall, King Kong is a chest-beating success. Jacksons lifelong ambitionto remake his favourite film wasnt the potential folly some expected it tobe. It’s clear Jackson knows King Kong inside-out, so this remake improveswhere necessary (the Ann-Kong dynamic is far better — actually takings itscue from the ’76 version), updates the monsters with modern techniques,but never forgets the heart and power of its illustrious predecessor.It’s rare such a blatantly silly and effects-laden movie can stirrsuch emotion in an audience, so enjoy the experience…
After 72 years, Kong is still the King!
The quality of the movie is awesome visually, with its anamorphic 2.35:1widescreen image beautiful in all regards. 1933 New York is just sumptuous(both in daylight and night), the Venture is suitable grimy and SkullIsland’s jungles are lush and beautiful. This is demo material.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is excellent, with a gorgeous mix of sound fromall departments. The sound effects are perfect, the surround-sound mix iswonderful, and James Newton Howard’s brilliant score is thrilling. There isno DTS mix (perhaps on a later edition) but for now this DD5.1 transferis just wonderful.
The extras are as follows:
- Post-Production Diaries: If you followed the making of King Kong via the KongIsKing.net website thenyou’ve probably seen the Production Diaries that site hosted, or maybe youbought them separately on DVD. Anyway, the diaries presented here are thePost-Production Diaries, and cover all aspects of the film after principalphotography (pickups, sound-effects, visual-effects, dialogue recording,premieres, etc).
This is 3-hours of essential material for fans of KingKong, and especially anyone interested in making movies. There’spractically no filler material, and everything shown is interesting,revealing and occasionally quite funny. Fantastic.
- Skull Island: A Natural History: This is an interesting documentary that blends reality with fiction togive you an insight into Skull Island’s history and ecosystem. It’s quiteamazing to see the level of detail and thought that went into Skull Island,from creating all the creatures, to providing a believable history to theisland’s geography and its indigenous people. This is packed will gorgeousconcept art and is very entertaining.
- Kong’s New York, 1933: Another documentary, this time focusing on New York. The emphasis is onreality for this extra feature, and gives you an insight into the 1930stime-period King Kong takes place in. Everything is discussed, from TheGreat Depression, vaudeville theatre, to skyscrapers. Definitely one forthe history buff, primarily, but it’s certainly interesting.
This is a great release of King Kong, with a fantastic audio/visualexperience, and some very entertaining extra features. Although, despitebeing a Special Edition, I’m sure a better version is on its way with moreextensive special features, but for now this first release should pleasemost fans.
The menu screens are slick, although not as memorable as you’d perhapsexpect, but the packaging art is first-rate. This is an essential purchasefor any fan of escapist action-adventure cinema.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.