King Kong

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters
—8. Production Notes
—9. Spiritual Connections
—10. Presentation Downloads

King Kong is great. Its brings all of the thrills of the modern movie (Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Titanic) to the screen, while maintaining most if not all of the period-piece feeling to the original. The acting is campy but I’d say that’s intended. The special effects are dizzying, particularly Kong’s last stand above New York City. And the warnings against our ‘Babylon’ merits some thought. I would see the movie again—just don’t tell me it’s a love story.

I’m going to be straightforward (fully knowing that this will draw the ire of true Kong-ists), but I see more Stockholm Syndrome than Romeo & Juliet in the relationship of Kong and Ann Darrow (Watts.) Supposedly, Darrow has fallen for Driscoll’s words before she even meets the man himself, but she quickly rejects his advances when compared with the ‘advance’ of the wild Kong. Kong did save Darrow repeatedly, but it is his fault that she’s in trouble to begin with, while Driscoll has risked his life for his budding love.

Jack Black steals the show in a movie that is both Peter Jackson’s childhood dream and a fantasy of mammoth, or rather gorilla-like, proportions. As movie director Carl Denham, it is Black who comes across in a more alive and defining way than the often silent emotions of Watts' Darrow. This is not to say that Watts doesn’t swoon or stand fiercely at all the right times, that Adrien Brody’s Jack Driscoll isn’t writer-turned-hero enough or that Kong doesn’t fill up the screen, but the wit and mercenary behavior of this conniving movie director controls the first two-thirds of the film.

It seems that this week was just my time for movies that come out hard against greed and capitalism. Like Syriana’s oil moguls, Denham is solely focused on making the big buck, through the perfect motion picture. He figures that if the crew can capture the images of peril so severe, that the public will pay over and over to come and see his film. He begins his quest for Skull Island with the police (and his investors) hot on his heels, but he twists the truth repeatedly to get the ship where he wants it. And all of this is delivered with the over-the-top wit and expression of Jack Black.

Stuck on a ‘deserted’ island, Denham grabs his camera. Battling antagonistic savages, Denham has his camera. Chased by wild dinosaurs, his camera is rolling. And finally, after losing two of his crew, he promises to donate the proceeds from his show to the widows of each man—which he can’t do, having sworn to give money that is not his to begin with, to both! I may not be guilty of such prideful aspirations as Denham, but I wonder how often my views are presented to my ‘public,’ no matter what the cost? And if I’m not the media, how am I backing up untruths, slanderous allegations or even material that once watched/read/seen cannot be helpful to my personal growth? (I, for one, would have to start with which films I go to see, but that’s for another day.)

Go see King Kong, and witness the adventure that has captured the minds of many in Technicolor and Jacksonesque quality. See the lust for money of Denham, the desire to be known and loved by Darrow, and the truly heroic heart of Driscoll. Ask yourself which one you are most like, and maybe include Kong as an option. Is it safer on the other side of the wall? There’s an innocence lost somewhere along the way, and it seems that maybe it is ours.

—Overview (multimedia)
—Reviews and Blogs