King Kong

[YKTMX]

I saw it on Tuesday night and absolutely loved it.

I wasn't particuarly bothered about seeing it as the story didn't really appeal to me, but I was pleasantly surprised.

As you'd expect from Jackson, it looked absolutely fabulous, and the performances from Watts and Adrien Brody in particular were excellent.

A slight problem with the depiction of Skull Island's natives - slighty too 'orcy' and 'black' for me, but still.

Epic, emotional filmmaking.

Well reccomended.

[People's Coalition]

Good movie, saw it with a few friends. Very action packed ;)

[Red Menace]

I saw it. It was a great movie. too long

[Rockfan]

How was Jack Black in from what I know, his first non-comidy role?

[The Feral Underclass]

Very good film.

Although I'm still confused about why she fell in love with a 25 foot Gorilla?

[Jimmie Higgins]

I wanted to know the same thing. What did she see in him? I mean I think they did a better job with Kong's motivation than with her motivation. I can buy it that when she thought she'd probably be stuck on the island for the rest of her life, Kong was a much better option than being gulped up by some dinos or bugs. But when the writer showed up, how could she even entertain the idea of staying with Kong?

If they had cut out about 1/2 an hour of the boat ride, and eliminated the "savage" natives all together, then the movie would have been great. The whole native bit left a real sour tase in my mouth. I mean they were sort of aboriginal in appearence and coming from a New Zeland director, that just dosn't sit right. I mean, if he wanted to have "savages" then he should have made them obviously pre-human (neadertal or whatnot); I mean if everything else on the island was some evolutionary throwback, pre-humans would not have seemed too unbelivable.

But the best stuff was all Kong, they really did a good job with anthropromorphising not only an animated character, but an animated non-human character. He seemed to have a perfect mixture of human and gorilla charateristics. And I loved how beat up they made him; it really gave you a sense that his life is just him all by himself trying to defend against all the creepies and chompies on the island.

[The Grey Blur]

Yeah, saw it last Sunday. Really good.

I was amazed that the film was only a 12A film considering what Kong did with the Dino's jaw and the creepy-crawly scene. (That shit was freaky!)

I think maybe the 'black' was some sort of make-up that the islanders wore, it seemed like paint to me...?

[YKTMX]

I mean I think they did a better job with Kong's motivation than with her motivation. I can buy it that when she thought she'd probably be stuck on the island for the rest of her life, Kong was a much better option than being gulped up by some dinos or bugs. But when the writer showed up, how could she even entertain the idea of staying with Kong?



When I first seen it, it reminded me a bit of Patty Hearst! :lol:

You know, Stockholm Syndrome, whereby kidnapped victims become dependant on their kidnappers!

Wiki: Stockholm Syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome)

[RedGeorge]

Saw it yesterday, absolutely brilliant. It was a tad long, but the time seemed to pass pretty quickly. And I enjoyed the stuff on the boat... it really seemed to build up the characters so you became more involved in the story. Top stuff.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Originally posted by [email protected] 22 2005, 05:52 PM
When I first seen it, it reminded me a bit of Patty Hearst! :lol:

You know, Stockholm Syndrome, whereby kidnapped victims become dependant on their kidnappers!

Wiki: Stockholm Syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome)
I think the stench of an ape that size would be strong enough to overpower the stockholm syndrome :D

I'm glad they haven't invented smellivision yet.

So this movie cleared up a lot of plot holes from the original 30s version. For example, in the original, Kong climbs up the Empire state building but a 40 foot wall seems to be able to hold him in on the island.

But one big question remained. How the hell was that little boat able to get Kong to NYC from the South Pacific?

Also much props to a $200 movie that computer generated a shanty town for the opening shots of the film. Seriously, I was amazed that they showed/recreated shots of protesters and fights over evictions in their "welcome to the 30s" montague. In most films, they would have just shown us someone selling apples from a box on the street to indroduce the fact that the film was taking place during the depression.

[YKTMX]

For example, in the original, Kong climbs up the Empire state building but a 40 foot wall seems to be able to hold him in on the island

Never thought about that. How does this film 'deal' with that then?

I can't think.

[Red Menace]

Originally posted by The Anarchist [email protected] 22 2005, 04:53 AM
Very good film.

Although I'm still confused about why she fell in love with a 25 foot Gorilla?
I don't think she was in love with him, if you know what I mean. I think it was love like between brother and sister or sister to sister, whatever King Kong is, which brings up a new question, is King Kong a boy or a girl?

[Jimmie Higgins]

Originally posted by [email protected] 22 2005, 11:23 PM

For example, in the original, Kong climbs up the Empire state building but a 40 foot wall seems to be able to hold him in on the island

Never thought about that. How does this film 'deal' with that then?

I can't think.
In the remake, there is a large trench on the Kong-side of the wall.

I wanna see Kong smash up the apartheid wall in Israel or the anti-immigrent wall they want to build on the southern border of the US.

Edit: Kong can chomp down on Bloomberg while he's at it too.

[Led Zeppelin]

I saw it, it sucked, soooo old.









Oh wait, no I haven't seen it.

[Sabocat]

Definitely the best version of the Kong movies yet.


I don't think she was technically in "love" with Kong, I think she loved him like a pet for saving her life from the dinosaurs.

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

I don't like the way the natives of "Skull Island" were portrayed. It was one thing if they were trying to make a movie exactly as racist as the 1940s, but this is 2005; they should have thrown out the racism. They reminded me of the orcs in the "Lord of the Rings" films, but the key difference is that the orcs are not portrayed as human beings, while the natives of Skull Island, are. Their dark skin and wrinkled faces were meant to make them "scary".

[Red Menace]

they are scary though. natives that try to kidnapp people are kinda scary. you can search and analize for racism in any movie, it doesn't mean it is racist though

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if they had given them more dimensions, or had some of them be good, rather than just having it be: "They're black. They're evil. They want to kill you." with no reason as to why they are that way. No group of people is just completely nihilistic like that.

[Hiero]

I agree with "The wise old bird". My biggest criticism of the movie is this scene. For starters Jackson is being lazy by using Orc style, instead of doing something. When i first seen this scene i was disapointed to recgonise it straight from LOTR.

My second criticism of this scene is the portrayal of the natives. IN this scene i think Jackson has apart from re doing his Orc scenes, he is stealing dances from native cultures of Africa. The part that sticks out to me most is the part were they go into a trance. I wouldn't be surprise if Jackson had watched documentaries of native cultures of Africa to get inspiration for this scene.


you can search and analize for racism in any movie, it doesn't mean it is racist though

If it is from Holywood, it is bound to have racism.

The overall movie was good. More of my criticism is directed at the sub plot between the helmsman and Jimmy. Completely pointless and stupid. It seems Jackson got bored with this and decided he would just scrap it mid movie. The acting between the two characters is really poor. Jackson should of removed all these scenes.

Apart from any criticism it was good to go see King Kong fight T rex. Now i have to find the tape i have of the original to compare.

[bolshevik butcher]

I thought it was pretty good but way too long for it's own good. jack Black was surprisingly good.

I'm with grave digger on the natives, they were pathetically done, they could fo been lifted out of any 50's film. It woulda made the film a good length as well if they'd taken them out.

[romanm]

The Maoist Internationalist Movement web site mimnotes.info already has done a review:

"King Kong"
Directed by Peter Jackson
Universal Pictures
PG-13
2005
www.kingkongmovie.com

It's not everyday that moviegoers get to feel bad for a gigantic gorilla that takes out a few Amerikan military airplanes; although, armed struggle within Amerika at this point in time is doomed to failure in almost every circumstance. Unfortunately, "King Kong" portrays Kong's last fight as something of a misunderstanding or communication problem between Kong and those who don't know that he really is caring deep down inside and can be gentle. Thus, the images of Kong's destructive rampage in New York won't be that controversial even post-9/11. Overall, the movie takes a few swipes at capitalist decadence around the time of the Great Depression, but instead of confronting the class system head-on, "King Kong" quickly becomes an escapist movie promoting the romance culture...

... read the rest on mimnotes.info

[Gonzo Journalism]

The first two-thirds were brilliant, but I feel it deteriorated greatly when they went back to New York, mainly due to things like the length and the inclusion of idiotic scenes such as Kong sliding around on the ice.

I was amazed the Jack Black put in such a good performance. I thought he was going to be rubbish.