Movie Review: King Kong (2005)

[Dave Gray]

King Kong (2005)

Premise: A down on his luck filmmaker gambles it all and sets sail to an uncharted island, full of creepy crawlies and a 25-foot gorilla that takes a fancy to his main actress.

Rating: Good, but way too long....seriously.  ...like an hour too long.  Unbelievably long.  King long.

The bad:
Peter Jackson needs an editor...maybe two.  This movie is ridiculously long, and for no apparent reason.  The setup takes a full hour, full of un-needed scenes.  Once they get to their destination, their hardships come one after the other...and there are like 10 of them...half could've been cut out without damaging the story. 

The action sequences drag on and on and on, and what's worse, is that while the special effects are sometimes incredible, Jackson goes all "George Lucas" on us and reminds us that we have cool special effects -- swinging the camera around all strange and unrealistic, like we're watching a video game cut scene.

Oh, and there's a subplot between two guys (the black guy and the young guy) on the ship that has nothing to do with anything, takes up time, and never gets resolved.  When you have a movie that's LONGER THAN 3 HOURS, cut this crap out.

Too many creepy-crawly things...bugs, bats, snakes, worms, dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes...and each one had a ten minute scene of timewasting.  It was grossness for the sake of grossness.  The island is a bad place...we get it.

The good:
Naomi Watts is friggin' awesome.  Her scenes alone with Kong are some of the best in the film.  To imagine that she acted in front a greenscreen is pretty amazing.  The relationship between her and the ape is very believable...moreso than the relationship with Adrien Brody, which seemed a little forced.

The special effects, when they weren't reminding you how special they are, are great.  Kong looks lifelife and it's all done very well.

The fight scenes are violent and animalistic.  Kong doesn't screw around.  He throws dudes, bites out tongues, punches, rips apart jaws...he's no fool.  They didn't try to make him fight like a person...he was an all out brawler.

Overall
Good, but left me disappointed in what it could've been, with a little care in the editing room.

[Dave Gray]

I just did a search to see if anyone else has reviewed this movie, and I ran across this:

http://www.thedolphinsmakemecry.com/forums/index.php/topic,7579.0.html

Awesome.

[Thundergod]

Good movie,  I could have done without the Tyrannosaurs falling down from vine to vine...  ::)    And the Sauropod stampede where like only 2 people get nailed out of the group...  ::) 

[Dave Gray]

One more thing, if you're ever attacked by giant bugs and they're crawling all over you, it's not a good idea for your friend to shoot the off with a machine gun.  While it is done successfully in this movie, it most likely would get you shot in real life.