King Kong (2005)

[Chuck Mayer]

Title: King Kong

Tagline: The eighth wonder of the world.

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Action

Director: Peter Jackson

Cast: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin Hanks, Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Kyle Chandler, Evan Parke, Lobo Chan, John Sumner, Craig Hall, Peter McKenzie, William Johnson, David Pittu, Mark Hadlow, Geraldine Brophy, David Dennis, Pip Mushin, Jim Knobeloch, Ric Herbert, Lee Donahue, Tom Hobbs, Tiriel Mora, Jed Brophy, John Wraight, William Wallace, Frank Edwards, Crawford Thomson, Richard Kavanagh, Stephen Hall, Joe Folau, Chic Littlewood, Samuel Taylor, Lorraine Ashbourne, Laura Surrich, Katie Jackson, Michael Lawrence, Ray Woolf, Eddie Campbell, Greg Smith, Phil Grieve, Matt Wilson, Jim McLarty, Latham Gaines, Camille Keenan, Peter Jackson

Release: 2005-12-12

Runtime: 187

Plot: In 1933 New York, an overly ambitious movie producer coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to mysterious Skull Island, where they encounter Kong, a giant ape who is immediately smitten with the leading lady.

James B. The rating is high, but the words seem to rate it a little higher than that

He has a lot of love for the older versions as well, which possibly informed his review.

I definitely have to whiz at the long ones, but I never leave my seat during a PJ 3 hour monster. I've learned to quit drinking at the 10 PM point, and take said whiz at 11:55 PM. I can't stand missing anything.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[TheBat]

I never had a problem with the length of king kong.. it followed like the original movie.. however
the ending was a bit overlong.

other then that.. it was fine.

many people waited an hour for batman to show up (in begins) .. and I felt that this movie moved much faster then that.

I am not sure how women will react to it.. the audience that I saw it cheered during certain actions scenes.. there were certain jurrasic park scenes where you say "OH shit".. suspense.

I think mr jackson has perhaps challeged steven speilberg in the JP susense type of stuff..

is it better then lotr? its a differnt animal.. its better then the original movie.. this version fixed the problem that I had with the original..

I think women will like the adventure that noami watts has in this movie.. noami is the hero.. you care about her and her friendship with kong. which was not in the original movie..
yes, she is the damsel in distress, but also a strong woman character..

Jacob.

I do want to watch it again, to catch the stuff that I had missed the first time around.

 

[PeterTHX]

Which is more a product of the times than a "weakness" of the film. Much like the special effects, attitudes towards female characters have evolved by leaps and bounds.

PS: I can hold it (re: bathroom breaks)

 

[Tino]

Can someone please fill kme in on this. What happened?

 

[Kyle_D]

Not much to it. Jackson didn't like what Shore had composed for the film, talked to him about it, and they both agreed to let someone else score the picture.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I just watched the original yesterday and there are lines like "women just can't help being in the way", "do you think I want a woman involved, but the public, bless 'em, have to have a pretty face."

I did some guessing there for the actual lines. And then there's Ann Darrow's most repeated line, a big loud scream. And, jeez, does she faint a lot.

Times have changed. Two of my favorite films, Alien and Aliens have a kick butt female hero. It would seem to me to be a bigger challange for modern film, which is a period piece from the 30's, to have a modern female character.

 

[Kami]

How's life under the rock?

James Newton Howard scored it. Howard and PJ had creative differences, but they parted on friendly terms apparently.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

In fairness to the original film, I think lots of women and men would do nothing but scream their bloody head off if a monster the size of Kong scooped them up, carried them into a deep jungle filled with dinosaurs, climbed up the Empire State Building with them, etc. Not everyone can make friends with a 50 foot gorilla.

 

[PeterTHX]

For "Alien" in 1979 to have Ripley be smart, resourceful, and survive was considered somewhat new and refreshing. For Sigourney Weaver to *lead* an action picture like "Aliens" was somewhat uncharted territory.

So, when put into perspective, "King Kong" 1933 isn't weak in that way.

 

[Steve Christou]

'Kong' sets sight on box office throne

 

[BrianShort]

Kong is down to 85% on the Tomatometer :frowning: Yeah, I know that's still an excellent score, but I was hoping it would stay above 90. The only constant among the negatives (and the main complaint they all have) is that it's too long and self indulgent. From what I've read about the movie, I don't think that the movie's length will bother me.

Can't wait to see it... won't be able to see in Wednesday since we're flying to Maui and will probably be too tired to go, but I've already found a good theater there to see it Thursday evening.

 

[Travis_S]

I expected that, to be honest. I love PJ's bravua directing style and camera work, and many other people do too, but that style doesn't work for everyone. So while it will get some 4 star reviews (Ebert, Rolling Stone), it will also get bad reviews as well.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Same thing happened to ROTS on RT. Unless it's a perfect film, it's almost impossible to keep your score high at this point. You need 9-10 positive reviews for every negative review coming in just to maintain your high score.

 

[Craig S]

The official James Newton-Howard website has an expanded take (actually from a Variety article) on the KK score situation. Basically, when the film began running late (and long), it just didn't give Shore (who, unlike many composers, orchestrates AND conducts his scores himself) enough time to finish.

Worth reading.

 

[Steve Christou]

Interesting story Craig, so Howard Shore has a cameo appearance in the film, conducting the orchestra during Kong's New York theater appearance, but didn't get to score the movie, whoa!

Did Shore win an Oscar for all 3 Rings films? I'm almost sure Two Towers wasn't nominated for Best Score.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

TTT wasn't nominated for some arcane Oscar rule, similar to the one that prevented my beloved Come What May (Moulin Rouge) from being up for Best Original Song. They ignored that a year later and ROTK won...rightly so.

Heading to the theater in about 1 hour

 

[Chris Will]

I think that is a cop out for people who just want to say something negative about it. This is a product of the MTV generation whos attention spands are shorter these days. I would hate to see what would happen if a movie like Gone With The Wind was released today. If a movie is over 2 1/2 hours people begin to complain. Just relax and be swept away for a few hours, it is not going to kill you. Kong is not too long, people attention spands are too short. Of course Kong could be shorter, the original was only 90 minutes so we no the story can be told quicker. The movie is great, the length was perfect. (none of this is directed at Brain who I quoted above just a general rant)

 

[Holadem]

Yeah, it's not like the MTV generation made the 3 x 3+ hours LOTR epics from the same director into the smash hits they became or anything.

--
H

 

[Mark Schmitt]

I saw King Kong last week and I am sure that this is a movie that can cross over to males and females. The girl I went with cried during it. That's all I need for evidence.

Coming up on midnight now. Have fun seeing it! I know that after reading your comments you guys (and gals) are gonna like it.

 

[Malcolm R]

CNN.com has also posted their rave review. Some excerpts: