Forget for a second that the image of King Kong mounted upon the Empire State Building in full conquering roar is a symbol of imperial capitalism. Forget the historically monumental achievement of Merian C. Cooper’s 1933 original, King Kong. Never mind, even, that director Peter Jackson’s recent update is a fantastical story about a giant ape who catches jungle fever.’ Set aside all that baggage and allow yourself to be swept away by grandiose Hollywood spectacle at its finest.
Jackson’s remake is a virtuoso blockbuster that encompasses the best of Hollywood cinema with its combination of nail-biting suspense, stomach-churning gore, rollicking adventure, and an epic, heart-warming love story to boot.
Opening with a montage of Depression-era New York, ironically set to the tune of Al Jolson’s “Sitting On Top of the World,” Jackson quickly introduces us to the struggle facing his protagonist. The desperate Ann Darrow, played by Naomi Watts (21 Grams), is a vaudeville performer whose show is making its last dollar before closing. Ann and her friends have to carefully choose the days in which they can eat, due to their skimpy finances and times that consistently get harsher.
When the show closes and her last friend leaves town, Ann is left starving and alone, with only the option of becoming a burlesque dancer. That is, until a chance meeting with the equally desperate Carl Denham (Jack Black), a movie producer seeking a leading lady for a film to be shot on a dubious location, which he insists is Singapore.
Ann eventually agrees and a rag-tag team head off to Skull Island, an uncharted location with more than a few creepy rumours surrounding it. The adventure begins on the island with Kong finally making his appearance at around the 70-minute mark (to allow for detailed development, of course).
And Peter Jackson’s film is nothing short of fully developed. The hour-long intro helps to ease the viewer into the characters and the scenario. We already yearn for Ann and fear the strife that lies ahead of her even prior to hearing Kong’s first thunderous roar.
When the adventure does begin, it is a jostling rollercoaster ride, as our adventurers face a pack of gruesome natives, a dinosaur stampede, spine-tingling man-sized insects, and Kong himself.
The best of the action comes when Kong, now protecting Ann from becoming a dino-snack, manhandles three T-Rexes while dangling on vines. This sequence is comparable to the work of Spielberg (Jaws) and Lucas (Star Wars) at their peak.
As glorious as the action is, the film really deserves admiration for the manner in which Jackson’s attention to detail humanizes the relationship between Ann and Kong. Their comical first meeting, where Ann performs a dance routine for Kong, offers reason as to why the ape might enjoy her as company rather than a meal.
We eventually realize that Kong, like Ann, is also someone who has lost his companions (a shot of an ape skeleton drives home the point). He and Ann are two lonely souls who make an endearing connection amidst the surrounding chaos.
Andy Serkis, who vividly brought the computer-generated character Gollum to life in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy, does the same with here with his performance of Kong. The actor had motion-capture devices transfer his expressions onto the CGI ape to deliver a feat more lively than most live-action performances. Serkis is well paired with the always amazing Watts, who breathes new life into the iconic role of Ann Darrow.
However, the real King here is certainly Peter Jackson, who follows up his LOTR Trilogy with this dynamic work. By remaking the film that inspired him to become a filmmaker, Jackson has established his position as the best director currently working on Hollywood epics. His ability to balance pulsating action and emotional intimacy (particularly in the New York finale) underscores his immense talent.
The only thing the three-hours-plus film lacks is a sharper pair of scissors. The action sequences in Skull Island with the male rescue team sometimes feel slightly tedious. This might only be because these sequences, like the stampede and the insect pit, lack the presence of Kong and Ann. The scenes are interesting in their own right, but hinder us from getting back to the characters we’re most interested in.
That being said, the prolonged running time is perfectly acceptable for a movie that leaves you wanting more. I’ve seen King Kong twice already and earnestly anticipate another screening-another chance to relive the kind of well-crafted Hollywood spectacle that we haven’t seen in a long time.
