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Back Shelf Beauties
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King Kong A big hairy ape with bad social skills falls in love with a beautiful blonde woman who just wants to be friends, then she is stolen away by a better looking skinny guy (kinda like the story of my life). However, unlike my life, King Kong is one of the most thrilling, emotional and stunning movies ever put on film. Director Peter Jackson even taught Jack Black how to act! Set in 1932 New York City, Black stars as movie director Carl Denham - a slick huckster desperate for a hit. His financial backers are sick and tired of his antics and failures, so, before they can shut down his production, Denham decides to hijack his cast, crew and the movie's cash to set sail on the rickety tramp steamer Venture for a mysterious island in a last ditch bid to make the great movie he needs to keep his career alive. By hook and crook, Denham is able to get away before being arrested, traps the movie's writer, Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), on board and recruits a new leading actress, Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) - a hard luck gal looking for work and lured in by the fast talking director. Once they make it to the island, the natives capture Ann and serve her up as a sacrifice to a great ape-like beast called Kong. Not willing to lose the woman he is falling in love with, Jack leads a rescue operation that takes the crew deep into a mysterious jungle full of creatures never seen before by man, and Denby wants to make sure he captures it all on film to make the greatest movie ever. Can they rescue Ann? Who will live, and who will die? King Kong is a grand spectacle that touches the heart, shocks the eyes and raises your blood pressure with thrilling action (that translates to WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW). Jackson brings together an amazing blend of storytelling, special effects, and acting that should put to bed any questions about his ability to accomplish the same success and mastery he delivered while making The Lord of the Rings trilogy. While he takes his sweet time setting up the tale (it's a good hour before the action really gets ramped up, but it helps set the tone and get the audience ready to be stunned), Jackson delivers the goods when needed. After a fast paced, 1930's-style opening that brings the audience back in time to the Depression era, Jackson slowly sets the tone as we learn more about the mysterious Skull Island, lets us feel the steamer's pulsing engines straining as the Venture gets closer and closer to imminent danger, and teases us with the possibility of the shock of all shocks as the crew wanders onto the island. You get the feeling anything can happen, so Jackson thrills us with unthinkable creatures, a ship being tossed around the sea like a toy boat in a bathtub, massive battles between the beasts and the humans, and creepy, frightening scenes that get under your skin. However, King Kong as a fully developed, emotional character who never speaks a word is Jackson's greatest achievement. Brought to life by Andy "Gollum" Serkis and the CGI team (complete with heart-shaped nose), King Kong goes from frightening beast to a misunderstood giant who falls in love and suffers from a broken heart, a story told time and time again, but not usually with these types of characters or on this scale. Jackson amazes us as Kong battles the island's imposing predators (including a battle with T-Rexes requiring King Kong to become Jackie Chan and Jet Li all rolled into one, it's one of the greatest action scenes of 2005 and a masterful achievement), but I walked away from King Kong shocked by the depth of emotion Serkis, Jackson and team brought to the beast. The amount of detail in his body, facial reactions, and fluid movements makes it look like King Kong is a real life ape thumping his chest, running across the jungle and swinging around, but the most memorable moments throughout the movie are when Kong tenderly interacts with his new love, including a fascinating ice skating sequence that could be one of the best love scenes I have witnessed in my life (we see the great ape happy and carefree for one of the few times in this movie as he and Ann play and giggle like young lovers, all the more painful since we know what is going to happen later), and the heartbreaking capture scene where the massive king of the jungle is reduced to a quivering mass by people full of greed. It forces the audience to look at Kong as more than an animal, and moves us, like Ann and Jack, from viewing him with fear to sympathizing with his struggle. Finally, the classic, epic, you-never-thought-it-could-be-redone scene with King Kong on top of the Empire State Building battling the fighter planes has been morphed by Jackson into a stunning and emotional death scene fit for a true hero sacrificing all to protect what he loves. Not to be outdone by the effects, Watts, Brody and Black put in fantastic performances. Watts is stunning and captivating as the vulnerable actress who goes from frightened out of her gourde to trepidacious to understanding. She also has greatest scream in movies since Jamie Lee Curtis (if they used a professional screamer instead of Naomi's own voice, I will be heartbroken.). As Ann, Watts is luminescent finding real emotion in a character who could fall into a limited damsel in distress type scenario. She gives Ann spunk, heart and the kind of undying hope in the face of horrific odds the kind of gal like her would need to have to stick it out in acting when everything seems to be going wrong around her. On the flip side, Black unleashes his inner-carnival barker full of cynicism and opportunism. While Brody makes Driscoll earnest and steadfast, Black shows us Denby as the guy who is willing to say or do anything to benefit himself. He brings the Depression-era patter to life with a sense of showmanship that would seem silly or overdone by most, yet, he won me over with his quiet, diabolical moments. Black knows how to show evil with his eyes. King Kong is what a big event movie should be - full of dream-like wonder and fantasies you never could form in your own mind. I can't wait to see it again. 4 Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2005 - WaffleMovies.com
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