December 23, 2005

King Kong

I watched King Kong last night. Unfortunately the theater I went to is located in a shopping mall. A large one. With another large mall across the street. For some odd reason I completely forgot about the hordes of last minute Christmas shoppers that pollute these places this time of year. Don’t know how ‘cause I used to be one of them. Luckily, my lovely girlfriend handles the bulk of our Christmas shopping now, so I don’t have to go through the torment and downright madness that is the last minute Christmas rush. But I got to experience it first hand last night anyway.

Note to self. NEVER go to a movie theater that is located in a mall the week before Christmas. Actually, scratch that. NEVER go within TWO MILES of any type of shopping mall/center/plaza the week before Christmas, even if the Victoria Secret models are giving away bags of cash and are entertaining bystanders by oil-wrestling in their trademark lingerie.

Anyway, enough about the commute there and the absolute nightmare it was to leave afterward, how was the movie?

Fantastic.

King Kong is a roller-coaster ride. The movie has it all. Action, Adventure, drama, comedy, horror - you name it, it has it. You can tell how much fun Peter Jackson had making this film. If you want to nitpick you can say that maybe 10 - 20 minutes could have been shaved off. You can also point out that there are PLENTY of bullshit moments of characters surviving some pretty impossible scenarios and close calls. You can even point out some special effect shots that don’t look quite right.

But on that note, I will just like to say that aside from those instances where the effects aren’t as convincing as you would like (mostly always involving real people in the same shot as CG) the effects are simply mind blowing. Kong Kong himself is as close to perfection as it gets. Lets face it people, this movie will rise or fall depending on how believable its title character is. And believe me, does this movie rise. I am convinced Peter and his crew found some lost continent and trained a 25 foot silver-back to act. Kong is probably the single greatest special effect ever. His mannerisms were hauntingly real, he came across as majestic, innocent, intelligent and completely menacing all at once. It was him that always brought me back into the picture every time some of the aforementioned bullshit moments threatened to pull me out. When you forget you are looking at CG and see the character as something real and alive, then the special effects guys did their job right.

The entire Skull Island sequence had me with an ear-to-ear smile the whole time. I felt like a kid again, staring wide-eyed at the screen, taking in the amazing sights and sounds. I loved every ounce of imagination and adventure that Peter was throwing my way. B.S. moments came and went and yet, I couldn't stop smiling. I was having fun and I know Peter was too. Kong fighting three T-Rexes at once? Bring it on!!! Giant insects? Man, one of my favorite scenes and one that made the skin on the back of my neck crawl. Brontosaur stampede AND Velociraptors at the same time?! Sign me up Peter and may I have seconds?!?!?! Skull Islands gives you an overdose of non-stop craziness and visual splendor that you’ll not soon forget!

I hope that the box office sales for Kong pick up, because really, there are few movies that offer such a fantastically fun time for the price of one admission. Go out and see it, believe me, you’ll be glad you did on the big screen.

On a gaming related note, I know Peter Jackson has said that he is taking a little break from directing, since he has spent the last 10 years of his life working on LotRs and KK. But seeing that that he will be producing the Halo movie, it would be in every gamer’s best interest if he decided to direct one more movie before he takes his break. C’mon Peter, direct Halo! With you behind the wheel, we gamers might get something that has never been done before. A good video game movie. Without you . . . it’s anybody’s guess.

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