King Kong

The 2005 remake of 1933's King Kong is a film that has always been a mixed-bag in my opinion. I think the original King Kong is a great film, visually impressive for the time, and still captivating to watch. The remake aims to hit those marks, comes close, but still falls a bit short. While the visual effects are, for the most part, impressive the film suffers from two key flaws;

1) Jack Black is miscast as Carl Denham.

and 

2) The runtime.

To the first point, I like Jack black in some movies but I think his acting chops are limited and, unlike in the original, his version of Denham is played off as a bit of a buffoon.

The other negative is the runtime. The original story, which was told in less than 2 hours has been stretched out into a film that is over 3 hours long. I have no problem with long films, 1939's Gone with the Wind is among my top 5 or so favorites of all-time, but it has a reason to be that long. This film feels like a lot of filler, particularly when they're on the ship on the way to Skull Island. 

As for some positives; Aside from Jack Black, I like the cast that was put together for this film. In addition to that, the idea of a small group of people heading to a mysterious island and encountering King Kong is a story I find interesting across all versions. 

Overall, it is well made and for those who don't like black & white films this is a perfectly fine version of the story. However, I do still recommend the 1933 film over this one.

3.5 out of 5

Kong: Skull Island

 
1933's King Kong isn't just one of the great movies of the 1930's, but it's also become one of the all-time classics. So, is this new Kong movie as good as the original? No, not even close but, I wasn't expecting it to be. There have been numerous films over the years featuring the fictional giant ape and this one isn't the worst. As with my previous review; Logan (which you can check out by clicking here), I'm going to avoid giving a lot of plot details since this is a new movie. Instead, this will be my overall reaction to the film and some of the thoughts I had while in the theater.

First off, if you like giant monster movies then you probably don't need to bother with the rest of this review. Just go see the movie because there are tons of giant creatures, most are pretty threatening, and most of the CGI looks pretty good. In addition to Kong, there is a giant octopus, giant spiders, lizard-like creatures they call "Skull Crawlers", and more. Kong fights a few of theses other beasts and some people get eaten, mostly what you'd expect but done in an entertaining way.

The basic plot of Kong: Skull Island is just that, Basic. People go to Skull Island, immediately encounter Kong, and the rest of the film is them trying to get off the island. That's the whole movie in a nutshell. Now, this film does have a pretty solid cast including Tom Hiddleston, John Goodman, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, and  John C. Riley among others. Some of theses actors where put to good use in the film; I thought John Goodman was solid and, John C. Riley was good for a few laughs even though the introduction of his character drastically changed the tone of the movie. Tom Hiddleston's character was pretty bland which was a shame, and unfortunately Brie Larson who plays a photographer does pretty much nothing except snap pictures. I thought while the film was going on that a connection between Hiddleston's character and Larson's would develop but it never really did. Maybe because they were both pretty dull and one-dimensional. 

The most interesting human character by far is Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard (played by Samuel L. Jackson). After Kong kills some of his men, Packard takes it personally, and he goes on an insane hunt for revenge. At one point in the movie I thought to myself 'They could've titled this Samuel L. Jackson vs. King Kong'. It was an over-the-top performance but it was also fun to watch.

Overall, it's the big, dumb, fun, monster movie I sort of expected it to be. I was hoping for something a bit better but, I was still entertained. I'm glad I saw it but, I don't foresee myself ever really feeling the need to rewatch it.
I give it a 2.5 out of 5.


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