"King Kong"

King Kong (2005) directed by Peter Jackson

A couple nights ago a friend invited me over to watch King Kong; he said it was one of his favorites and that he'd seen it a dozen times.

I'd only seen a few moments of the 1933 and 1976 versions but I knew the story and wasn't very interested in seeing the 2005 version. It just didn't seem like my kind of movie- all the special effects, they just don't interest me.

I think a good way to judge a movie is to look at it without the special effects. Are the story, characters, and dialogue good enough that they would stand up without the special effects. Would people still like Jurassic Park if there were never dinosaurs on screen? Not really.

The perfect example is Jaws. There aren't a lot of scenes featuring the shark and if someone went to the kitchen a few times and missed the shark it wouldn't matter. Jaws could've been done almost entirely as a play: scenes at the police station & town hall, the chief's house & the beach, above & below the deck on the Orca.

Jackson's King Kong wouldn't work as a play- the charcters and diologue are better suited to a slasher movie. More than half the actors are there just to be attcked by natives and eaten by giant bugs.

Still though, I was impressed by the Empire State Building scenes. I felt dizzy from views from the building and the airplanes. That was all very well done.

I have to admit, I nodded out during the scenes where the natives were attacking. I wasn't bored, just very tired.

Even though it was 187 minutes I'd like to watch it again and see everything. It's just too bad that the movie doesn't match up with its special effects.