HTF BluRay Review: King Kong (2005) - Recommended (with a caveat!) (1 Viewer)

[Travis Brashear]

Four copies at the south Tulsa, OK Best Buy with some number more at the midtown location. No problems finding it here...

 

[Chris S]

That has been my experience too. I was going to cave in and buy both on release date but the absence of availability on both titles helped enforce my earlier decision to wait for further price drops.

 

[TravisR]

Yeah, I'm not the guy who cares much about demo material (I own about 60 discs and the only ones that would probably qualify as demo material are Blade Runner and the Pixar movies) but this disc is very impressive to my eyes and ears.

 

[Todd Erwin]

The disc finally arrived from Amazon today.

Sam forgot to mention that, in the Setup Menu on the disc, is instructions for PS3 owners on how to use your game controller as a Blu-ray remote.

I had no idea you could do that.....

 

[Felix Martinez]

Someone should put U Control out of its misery already. Besides its inventor, who actually *likes* U Control?

The a/v quality is fantastic. Truly great stuff. First time I get to see the extended version, too. Happy that that experience is in high-def.

While I really liked the swamp sequence as a standalone scene, I thought all the added bits for the extended version further hampered the pacing and introduced glaring continuity and timeline issues. Everyone is absolutely *soaked* during the swamp scene, and the following sequence of shots do not indicate a sufficient passage of time has passed before we see the rescue party dry and groomed in a tussled kinda way. There's also a parallel cutting bit with Ann running around the jungle and the party hearing something in the trees that just didn't work for me. It was quite awkward.

Also, the added action sequences - in which some party members die - underscore the argument that for all the new characterization in the 2005 Kong, these folks are all expendable. You can take the whole swamp sequence out (which PJ did for the theatrical cut) and really still don't have a clue who's left in the party, who died, etc. And it doesn't matter.

And the extended version kept making me think of the inconsistencies...Kong holds Ann throughout most of the T-Rex battle yet almost immediately lets her go while being overwhelmed by bats?? And these folks sure get around this vast jungle fast as hell and can locate each other in the nick of time, don't they? Are they teleporting around Skull Island? In a slimmer, more efficient narrative (i.e. 1933 Kong), things just move and the suspension of disbelief doesn't get interrupted IMHO.

The whole Jimmy subplot is almost a joke. I can see the Wayans or Zucker brothers going to town on a lot of that stuff.

As critical as I am; however, I still really like this movie. I love Kong and love Watts as Ann. But it's one of the few movies (I don't think I can think of another - well, maybe Phantom Menace) where I feel compelled to do my own personal edit while watching the movie

 

[Sam Posten]

Great comments Felix. And I missed that PS3 bit, maybe cause I already have the awesome official remote. There are all kinds of deals to get this remote for free, both of my PS3s are paired up with remotes that I got for nothing or close to it by buying other BluRays I wanted anyway. You IR kooks keep quiet =p

 

[Jari K]

It´s actually quite funny, that I have the "extended DVD"-set, but I never got around to watch the actual "extended version" of the film.
So to me it´s great that it´s now available in Blu-ray (both versions are).

But sure, why not add all those older extras? So it´s a bit annoying that now you have to keep that old DVD, just for the extras.. Oh well.

 

[Todd Erwin]

What makes me laugh about the PS3 instructions is how would you have gotten there in the first place without the game controller if you didn't have the (official Sony) Blu-ray remote?

Reminds me of my Zenith VCR from the late 1980s that came with a tape showing you how to connect it to your TV!!

 

[Carlo_M]

What's a VCR?

 

[TheBat]

I have to agree with the others about the sound on it. very nice. I picked up a copy from target last night.

Jacob

 

[Brian Borst]

I noticed something peculiar with this title when I was watching it this afternoon (Theatrical Cut). There are two shots of Ann running through the jungle, and the music changes from soft to slightly loud when the cut happens. Timeframe is around 1 hour 26, if I'm not mistaken. Was there something added in the Extended Cut that could explain it? Was there a shot added in between these shots?
Also I could swear there are some shots that weren't in the Theatrical Cut, but that could be my mind playing tricks on me. There's a shot where you can see Kong climbing up to his lair, with a Triceratops at the bottom standing near the river.
Regardless of all this, the picture and sound quality is absolutely amazing. I'm listening to the DTS core and I could still pick up a lot of new details and sounds I've never heard before.

 

[CraigF]

I finally got around to watching this after having it for must be a month. Dumb! This is overall the finest-looking BD I've seen, very impressive. Some BDs have some scenes that really stand out, but this one has hours of them...

 

[Todd Erwin]

I thought the DTS core was impressive, until I upgraded my receiver to access lossless and uncompressed audio. Even more impressive!!