If the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy cemented Peter Jackson as a director of the highest order and made him the new king of the world, KING KONG seals his position as a Director and eliminates any trace of doubt that he may have been a one hit wonder.
Bringing what has to be one of the most known and greatest adventure story into a new configuration, and doing so successfully, is a tremendous gamble. Dino de Laurentiis tried to do so thirty years before, and while the film is watchable, it was considered a major disaster. An unrelated sequel, KING KONG LIVES, proved even worse. Peter Jackson, who has called KING KONG the reason he decided to get into film-making, wanted to make this film before LORD OF THE RINGS was thrown into production, but circumstances prevented this in happening, and thus his career went into high gear as we now know. Maybe it's just as best that things went this way: the sensitivity and emotional power that his saga of Middle Earth makes its way into the Modern Age and elevates this incredible action-packed adventure into the spiritual heights that its climactic sequence requests.
The argument, which resembles a massive Stephen King novel in epic proportion and in the way it introduces each of its characters, is as follows: Carl Denham (Jack Black, channeling Orson Welles) is trying to get his movie off the floor, but producers aren't quite backing him up with his latest project which is to be set in the distant Skull Island. On top of this, leading ladies are scarce, and one who would have been available (Fay, in a nod to the late Fay Wray) is working for an RKO production. Ann Darrow (a radiant, multi-faceted Naomi Watts) is a vaudeville performer who is nearly destitute: the theatre where she works has closed and she is practically stealing to eat. Darrow and Denham cross paths in the Depression era Times Square, and envisioning her as his muse, he convinces her to join his production team as his lead actress. At the same time, Denham bamboozles playwright Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) to join his team as screenwriter, and with Captain Englehorn (Thomas Krestchmann) on helm, off they sail to Skull Island (while the entire crew believes they are heading to the more exotic location of Singapore).
As they arrive they get glimpses of the island's forbidding nature: stone faces in the style of Christmas Island's, but savage and menacing, are all over the place, and the island at first seems deserted. A little girl catches their attention and in trying to ingratiate themselves to her they are assaulted by bloodthirsty savages that all but decimate their crew and capture Darrow for the purpose of sacrificing her to (whom they believe to be) the ruler of the island, a twenty-five foot gorilla named Kong (a brilliant Andy Serkis). Not wanting to leave Ann abandoned in the island the crew comes back to rescue her and in the process discover that Kong is the least of their troubles: the island is infested with prehistoric life.
It's at this point when KING KONG bursts into non-stop action and Peter Jackson pulls out every hat trick into an hour of chase sequences and truly gory moments involving gigantic insects and man-eating worms. The only moment when the action in the forefront seems somewhat divorced from the background is the sequence where the entire crew faces a stampede of brontosauruses and raptors, but even then it is mind blowing in its sheer scope and is only the set-up to what will be the film's finest hour and the very reason moviegoers know Kong: the return to New York City and the inevitable, symbolic climax atop the Empire State Building in which the New World clashes with the Old World.
Even so, KING KONG is equally excellent in establishing its mood in four quiet moments. Who could have thought Ann could charm a beast like Kong? Here is the fulcrum of the story, not a love story but a story of kindred spirits. Ann, after fighting Kong, wins him over with her vaudeville act seen at the film's introduction. Witness his facial and body language: Kong is not a beast but an overgrown child full of wonderment and laughter at seeing her dance. Later, after a physically exhausting moment when Kong fights off three T-Rexes, both share a sunset atop a cliff, mirrored in the sunrise they witness, together, at the Empire State Building later on. But by far, the most magical moment is one in which Kong, in New York, slides through a frozen lake in Central Park, Ann in tow, both laughing. Genius at its best. Kong at his most tender.
KING KONG is a testament to movie magic that action films, even those which remake classics, can benefit from an emotional center. In reconstructing what was a one-dimensional story from its 1933 version with his evolving Ann Darrow's relationship with Kong from hostage to friend and even kindred spirit who sees the beauty within the beast, his version is the more complete, and its length brings the rewards of a fascinating film. I only imagine what he would do in re-creating the world of THE WIZARD OF OZ despite the shrieks of purists who would see such a thing as celluloid blasphemy, forgetting that remakes are necessary, and if done with an expert vision, can create transcendental beauty. And this is absolute beauty.
Bringing what has to be one of the most known and greatest adventure story into a new configuration, and doing so successfully, is a tremendous gamble. Dino de Laurentiis tried to do so thirty years before, and while the film is watchable, it was considered a major disaster. An unrelated sequel, KING KONG LIVES, proved even worse. Peter Jackson, who has called KING KONG the reason he decided to get into film-making, wanted to make this film before LORD OF THE RINGS was thrown into production, but circumstances prevented this in happening, and thus his career went into high gear as we now know. Maybe it's just as best that things went this way: the sensitivity and emotional power that his saga of Middle Earth makes its way into the Modern Age and elevates this incredible action-packed adventure into the spiritual heights that its climactic sequence requests.
The argument, which resembles a massive Stephen King novel in epic proportion and in the way it introduces each of its characters, is as follows: Carl Denham (Jack Black, channeling Orson Welles) is trying to get his movie off the floor, but producers aren't quite backing him up with his latest project which is to be set in the distant Skull Island. On top of this, leading ladies are scarce, and one who would have been available (Fay, in a nod to the late Fay Wray) is working for an RKO production. Ann Darrow (a radiant, multi-faceted Naomi Watts) is a vaudeville performer who is nearly destitute: the theatre where she works has closed and she is practically stealing to eat. Darrow and Denham cross paths in the Depression era Times Square, and envisioning her as his muse, he convinces her to join his production team as his lead actress. At the same time, Denham bamboozles playwright Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) to join his team as screenwriter, and with Captain Englehorn (Thomas Krestchmann) on helm, off they sail to Skull Island (while the entire crew believes they are heading to the more exotic location of Singapore).
As they arrive they get glimpses of the island's forbidding nature: stone faces in the style of Christmas Island's, but savage and menacing, are all over the place, and the island at first seems deserted. A little girl catches their attention and in trying to ingratiate themselves to her they are assaulted by bloodthirsty savages that all but decimate their crew and capture Darrow for the purpose of sacrificing her to (whom they believe to be) the ruler of the island, a twenty-five foot gorilla named Kong (a brilliant Andy Serkis). Not wanting to leave Ann abandoned in the island the crew comes back to rescue her and in the process discover that Kong is the least of their troubles: the island is infested with prehistoric life.
It's at this point when KING KONG bursts into non-stop action and Peter Jackson pulls out every hat trick into an hour of chase sequences and truly gory moments involving gigantic insects and man-eating worms. The only moment when the action in the forefront seems somewhat divorced from the background is the sequence where the entire crew faces a stampede of brontosauruses and raptors, but even then it is mind blowing in its sheer scope and is only the set-up to what will be the film's finest hour and the very reason moviegoers know Kong: the return to New York City and the inevitable, symbolic climax atop the Empire State Building in which the New World clashes with the Old World.
Even so, KING KONG is equally excellent in establishing its mood in four quiet moments. Who could have thought Ann could charm a beast like Kong? Here is the fulcrum of the story, not a love story but a story of kindred spirits. Ann, after fighting Kong, wins him over with her vaudeville act seen at the film's introduction. Witness his facial and body language: Kong is not a beast but an overgrown child full of wonderment and laughter at seeing her dance. Later, after a physically exhausting moment when Kong fights off three T-Rexes, both share a sunset atop a cliff, mirrored in the sunrise they witness, together, at the Empire State Building later on. But by far, the most magical moment is one in which Kong, in New York, slides through a frozen lake in Central Park, Ann in tow, both laughing. Genius at its best. Kong at his most tender.
KING KONG is a testament to movie magic that action films, even those which remake classics, can benefit from an emotional center. In reconstructing what was a one-dimensional story from its 1933 version with his evolving Ann Darrow's relationship with Kong from hostage to friend and even kindred spirit who sees the beauty within the beast, his version is the more complete, and its length brings the rewards of a fascinating film. I only imagine what he would do in re-creating the world of THE WIZARD OF OZ despite the shrieks of purists who would see such a thing as celluloid blasphemy, forgetting that remakes are necessary, and if done with an expert vision, can create transcendental beauty. And this is absolute beauty.