King Kong (2005)

The year was 2005, the year prior had seen the epic conclusion to what is often considered the greatest trilogy of all time, The Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson was on top of the world and could really do whatever he wanted. So what did he do? He remade King Kong.

I'm pretty sure King Kong was one of the first PG-13 movies that I ever went to by myself with some of my friends in the theaters. We absolutely loved Lord of the Rings and when we heard that Peter Jackson's next film was King Kong, there was nothing stopping us anymore from going out and seeing his new movie. Now I've never seen the 1933 original so you won't see any comparisons to that film here, but I do think I will be comparing my initial viewing to the viewing I had a couple of days ago, 13 years later. I've seen bits and pieces of this film a couple times since 2005, but I think a couple of days ago was the first time I sat down and watched this 3 HOUR LONG movie front to back with the same attention I had in that theater in 2005. I also found it interesting coming back to this movie after watching Kong Skull Island last July.

The movie mainly follows the story of a young actress by the name of Ann Darrow (played by Naomi Watts). Darrow is a performer in the midst of the Great Depression. She's down on her luck until she is approached by the quick witted, silver tongue movie producer, Carl Denham (played by Jack Black). He is in a hurry to get on a boat and start sailing across the Ocean to film a movie in exotic locations, and he needs a leading lady. So Denham, Darrow, and a boat full of other characters set sail. In the meantime, Denham has a map leading the boat towards a mysterious island he believes nobody has ever discovered before called Skull Island.

The boat is populated with both the crew of the movie and the crew of the ship. This includes Denham's assistant Preston (played by Colin Hanks), the Captain of the Ship, Englehorn (played by Thomas Kretschmann) the first mate Mr Hayes (played by Evan Parke) the cook (played by Andy Serkis), a young sailor named Jimmy (played by Jamie Bell), a self obsessed leading man actor (played by Kyle Chandler), and the writer of the script, Jack Driscoll (played by Adrien Brody).

The first act is mainly the crew coming together, setting sail, and finding the island while the audience gets to know these characters. But after that, they reach the fabled Skull Island.

There they find all sorts of dangers like giant bugs, cannibal natives, dinosaurs, and of course, the 25 foot tall gorilla, King Kong (motion captured by Andy Serkis).

In case you hadn't picked up, the second two hours of the movie, basically when they get onto the island and beyond, is where the movie really picks up and gets good.

They spend WAY too much time on the boat headed towards the island and WAY too much time focusing on characters that overall aren't that important.

The main characters you should really care about are Ann Darrow, Jack Driscoll, and Carl Denham. There are some good moments that come from the crew and the other cast members I mentioned before, but unfortunately in multiple cases, it really doesn't add up to much and it would have been more beneficial for the movie to develop the main characters more than focus on Jamie Bell and his relationship with the first mate. Again, not bad performances, but some of those story lines really don't go anywhere.

But what about Kong? How is he in this film?

Well, that's a loaded question. On one hand, the CGI and visual effects of the film were really great for 2005 and they had Jackson's fingerprints all over it, especially if you were a fan of his cinematography in Lord of the Rings. The guy really knows how to shoot large scale scenes and fill up a shot with a beautiful frame.

However, the CGI has not exactly aged well. Again, it's impressive considering where we were, but oddly enough, Kong didn't age as well as something else Jackson and Serkis did in the past, and that's Gollum. I feel kind of bad for Jackson because he really struck gold early on and everything is compared to that since, but Kong looks CGI now 13 years later. Still a beautiful film, but you can see it was made in 2005.

But the other aspect of the 25-foot tall gorilla is actually done really well, and this is something I don't think I noticed when I watched the film when it was first released.

There is a relationship between Ann Darrow and Kong. It is a confusing one, especially for younger viewers who might not understand it, but watching it now with a different lens from when I watched it at a young age, I can see a really touching relationship between two characters who never actually speak.

I mean I'll be totally honest, I got a little bit emotional towards the end having watched it in total completion. I don't know how Jackson managed to make me feel about a giant ape and his relationship with a woman, but he did it. Color me impressed.

While there are a couple of moments that make me scratch my head in this movie, multiple of them being moments between these two, when these two are on screen, I actually was pretty interested watching it a couple days ago as opposed to my teenage self who was more interested in everything that happened outside of these two bonding. That being said, the scenes with the rest of the crew trudging through the jungle of Skull Island is still pretty awesome.

Like I said, Peter Jackson knows scope. So when Adrian Brody, Jack Black, and the other crew members are facing down natives, running from a brontosaurus stampede, or fighting endless waves of giant bugs and slug monsters, it is pretty awesome to watch.

There are still some moments in this movie that were very suspenseful, there are still moments in this movie that are just down right disturbing, but they still maintain that sense of adventure and almost make the experience more worth while.

I've noticed this with Peter Jackson's adventure films like this and Lord of the Rings. I had moments in Lord of the Rings were I was terrified as a kid. The Orc spawning chamber scene is still really gross in my mind. The scene where crew members are being devoured slowly by slugs in this movie is still really disturbing, however, it makes for a really fun adventure film.

And then of course there is the awesome scene where King Kong takes on three T-Rex's. People rave about the scene in Jurassic World where the T-Rex takes on the Indominus Rex and it made one of the most bad ass monster fights scenes on film, but all those people forget about when Kong crushes the skull of a T-Rex with a rock. It's amazing.

Someone I actually came out of this movie really impressed with was Jack Black.

While the two roles couldn't be more different, Jack Black plays a very similar role that John Goodman was playing in Kong Skull Island. It's not very often you can say that Jack Black gave a better performance than John Goodman.

He has this intensity that both really fits with his off screen personality and the character. He's compelling and yet batshit insane as well. I remember not being very impressed with Black's performance and being a little distracted because this was also the same year I discovered Tenacious D. But 13 years later, I can't help but really be impressed with Black's performance and wish he had gotten a few more serious roles because of it.

And then there's Adrien Brody.

Let's just say Adrien Brody was a strange choice for this film. His character is a little bit odd and feels a bit out of place. He mainly feels like a love interest and yet trying to make the love interest a little more sensitive and not as gruff as the love interest had been in previous versions, including mainly the original 1933 King Kong.

But Brody is as boring as rocks in this movie. I think when I was a teenager I thought he was cool just being a guy going on an adventure like this and being the good guy, but now I see a character who really did not need to be in this movie at all.

So where does this movie stand now? Well it's kind of hard to say. There are little things that I noticed after watching this film that I think were a little bit sloppy and not done all that well overall. However, there were also a lot of really great moments that I really liked.

Something I really liked was just the way the movie was shot. Not only does it feel huge like a Lord of the Rings film or Titanic, but it also feels like it's paying homage to the movie it's remaking. It's a love letter to the cinema of the 1930s in a way I don't think a lot of people, including myself in 2005, understand.

The script for this film was masterfully done and it almost felt like a Shakespearean play instead of a big block buster movie.

But at the same time, when the blockbuster film qualities rear their head, they really do and it's a little bit distracting. There are a couple of slow motion shots that feel out of place and really only show up once or twice. You get great performances from Naomi Watts, Jack Black, and Andy Serkis, but then you get Adrien Brody? It's somewhat of a mixed bag.

Now the movie leans towards being really good more than uneven but it does have its uneven moments.

When I first saw the film, it didn't really resonate with me, and I think subconsciously, I was aware of the uneven moments. But years later, I can't help but really appreciate a lot of what this movie has to offer.

In my mind, this and Kong Skull Island can hardly be compared because this is just so much better executed. Yes it has it's uneven moments, but at least people give a damn, at least the good moments make me care about this film as opposed to just waiting to see how its going to connect with the Godzilla movie that came out in 2014.

The only thing I will say Skull Island has over this film is that, King Kong should always be as big as he can. It's interesting watching this movie in retrospect after Skull Island because he just looks small compared to the other.

The other downfall of this movie in comparison with Skull Island is that this movie needs to be watched in a theater or on the biggest TV you can find just because it is such a large scale movie and not watching it on a big screen, would be a crime. I watched Kong Skull Island on a small TV on the back of someones chair in a plane and I was fine. This movie needs to be experienced, and Skull Island can just be somewhat enjoyed with some popcorn and maybe a beer.

Overall, it's not even a competition. This movie is better and I think it has been a highly underrated film since. This movie is on Netflix so I do recommend you carve out 3 hours to check it out. I guess that is another downfall as the first hour of this film is quite long and drawn out. But I still recommend checking it out.

But what do you think of King Kong? Do you remember the first time you watched it? What did you think then and what do you think now? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. There are a couple of moments in this movie that are really fun to just watch individually and one of those is definitely the fight between Kong and the three T-Rexs. Enjoy!