Review of King Kong (2005) by Richard D — 21 Nov 2016

I understand what Jackson is trying to do here, but with very few exceptions, he fails. He's applying the massive resources he earned by pulling off "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy to make the world's most expensive Ray Harryhausen film (or Willis O'Brien film I guess).

The problem is that Harryhausen films succeed to the extent that they invoke a certain kind of magic, and I think Jackson has several tendencies that run completely counter to any attempt to invoke that feeling.

Realism is not necessarily a good thing in this kind of film, at least not a certain kind of slavish realism. Jackson's effects work is hyper realistic and it just feels wrong for this kind of story.

Similarly, he has a tendency to over-explain and to dwell on small minutiae of the plot. This largely serves to highlight just how silly the plot of "King Kong" is, and to give the viewer a lot of time to think about how silly it is at times.

A related issue is his inability to gauge just when enough is enough. Kong not only fights a T. Rex ... he fights three T. Rexes at the same time. This film is over 3 hours long ... there's no justification for a light pulp jungle romp to last this long.

It occasionally works for me. Kong himself is a technical marvel, but I think that's very largely to do with Andy Serkis's acting job. So much of this film lacks that basic human touch.