King Kong (2005) REVIEWS

[Lafce]

King Kong opens here on wednesday. Gonna see it then.

[OscarWRG]

In the Teaser Trailer you can hear the very first KONG roar. This Roar was omitted in the theatrical run of the film

You can see that Carl Denham starts shooting his film as he arrive to the coast of the island, and when he tells Anne to scream, you’ll hear the KONG roar!!!!

[Maurice2029]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I have heard the water creature shown in the first trailer has beem omitted, and will return in the extended dvd version.

Very cool thing of Jackson to restore the spider-scene which was lost from the original movie.

[wirm]

I thought it was a great movie. Okay, the bug sequence was probably unecessary, but it certainly wasn't boring.

Anybody else think Naomi's eyes looked really cool in the movie? They seemed to glow at just the right times.

Well performed, I'd say.

[Kn'thrak]

Threads Merged

[carl]

I really don't want to be the one to disagree again but what the hell is with all the praise for these effects. People are claiming that it puts the effects in episode 3 to shame, and sure there are a number of reasons to dislike episode 3 as a film, but what the hell. Kong's effects were, I'm sorry to say, crap. Sure Kong looked very impressive when you first see him, but once he picks up Naomi Watts you realize that no effort has been placed to merge the live action with the CGI. They feature different lighting effects, no reactions to the each other (fur moving when touched, water objects actually hitting something rather than just disappearing when they reach them ect...) and as a result of this horrible rendering every single action scene looked fake and was devoid of any sense of danger. Seriously, try comparing the stampede.chase scene to the moment when Sam Neil saw his first dinosaur and realize that with all the budget they used up they still had effects that looked pitiful when compared to a nearly 20 year old summer blockbuster. Unforgivable!!!

As a film I liked it enough, but it wasn't great or anything. Naomi Watts performance was good, and there was quite a nice bit of comic relief. I felt Jack Black was passable, but Adrien Brody was very bland. What was the deal with him anyway, if they really wanted to develop the love triangle then surely his character should have been developed more too, rather than just standing around while the story spends an extra hour and a half telling us that a giant killer ape fell in love with a tiny woman because she looks funny when she falls.

The action scenes were OK, some were fun, others weren't. The brontosaur stampede was probably the worst, with the insect scene being best. It was the music that made that scene for me, very unnerving. Most though, including the T-rex fight, seemed to be fun from what you could make of them, but were so close in and featured such quick cutting, that being able to make out and be fully excited by what was happening was just impossible. I also felt they tended to get dragged on too much with the "I'm safe, oh no there's too more behind me" plot device purely so that the film could be 3 hours long.

Finally, am I seriously expected to believe that when a 12 year old girl skates on a frozen pond in central park then the ice breaks and she drowns, but when a 50 foot gorilla leaps through the air and slams down onto it then he just slides gracefully because the laws of physics have suddenly given a toss over how beautiful a shot is???

Like I said though, I did sort of like the film, I just felt there was so much room for improvement. The film could have easily been an hour shorter (at least) without effecting the story, but rather would have made for a tighter narrative structure. I'd say 3/5, but whereas that's normally a cinema recommendation I'd now recommend waiting for the DVD where the effects will look better and you'll be able to watch the 3 hours at your leisure.

[ZUBi]

I just felt there was so much room for improvement.

totally agree with that. PJ should work on CGI some more time. hopefully some of that shots will be better in EE DVD version. hope so...

[Lafce]

Too many brontos, too many T-rexes, too many insects, too many bats...
Other then that - a very good movie.

... but Adrien Brody was very bland. What was the deal with him anyway, if they really wanted to develop the love triangle then surely his character should have been developed more too, rather than just standing around while the story spends an extra hour and a half telling us that a giant killer ape fell in love with a tiny woman because she looks funny when she falls.

I agree...

The brontosaur stampede was probably the worst, with the insect scene being best. It was the music that made that scene for me, very unnerving.

... and I agree.

And where did all those natives go?

[Lestat]

I was going to give my review of this movie, Until I read Carl's post which I agree w/ completely save for one thing:

Finally, am I seriously expected to believe that when a 12 year old girl skates on a frozen pond in central park then the ice breaks and she drowns, but when a 50 foot gorilla leaps through the air and slams down onto it then he just slides gracefully because the laws of physics have suddenly given a toss over how beautiful a shot is???

No Your not, this is a fictional movie. Do You believe there is a 25ft. Gorilla running around on some island somewhere? Other than that observation, Your review captures EXACTLY how I felt about this movie.

[Vic Mackey]

your looking at kongs hair to see if it moves when he picks her up??? geez you guys have too much time on your hands to nitpick...

[j7wild]

I do have a question:

Wouldn't Naomi's Character has broken bones and bruises when she is in King Kong's fists (granted he is not holding her too tight) when it's fighting the Dinosaurs or just running and jumping and falling through the jungle?

I would compare it to a person sit belted inside a car and the vehicle is being slammed around in a multi car pile up accident; people still come out of those with injuries.

In this case, Naomi's Character's head and Legs are sticking out of King Kong's paws and they are bound to hit something with extreme force, even if it's inadvertendly.

[editman]

Not to repeat what everyone's already said,



Okay, seriously, so the movie does not suck.

It's great. But it's not GREAT great (as in 'Sin City' great, 'Batman Begins' great).

Yep it's a long film and you do feel the length. Some scenes should be shortened whilst others missing scenes needed (eg what happened to the Natives? How the bloody hell did they drag the ape to the ship if most of the crew had been killed off?) But most of the movie did not lose my attention and bored me to snore (as compared to Pearl Harbour).

Yes some of the CGI shots, particularly those with human characters, does need work.

Not very impressed with those slow-shutter shots before landing on Skull Island and before/during the Native's attack - too corny in today's standard and out of place. I'm sitting on the fence with the four (supposed-to-be romantic?) slo-mo dissolves of Naomi Watts when she was carried away.

Surely the giant bugs scene is for PJ's die-hard fans - I actually thought of HamishT during that. Seriously. Myself, don't like it at all. Haven't seen the original yet so maybe it's already there, but I don't think it's really needed other than showing some gruesome deaths of both humans and insects. And for a kid who hasn't got any training, who's using a firearm for the first time, shooting some roaches bull-eye on a moving human body without harming the person at all is rather more of a suspense of reality than accepting a 50-foot gorilla skating on ice (which, in its calm-before-the-storm context, works fine for me).

And Naomi Watts, never realised it before but she's beautiful even when she's in tears/trumatised (if not more so). Too bad that pictured scene in Trailer 1 isn't there. (Who knows? Maybe PJ did see my sig pic and cut it. )

"And that's all I have to say."

[carl]

Surely the giant bugs scene is for PJ's die-hard fans - I actually thought of HamishT during that. Seriously. Myself, don't like it at all. Haven't seen the original yet so maybe it's already there, but I don't think it's really needed other than showing some gruesome deaths of both humans and insects. And for a kid who hasn't got any training, who's using a firearm for the first time, shooting some roaches bull-eye on a moving human body without harming the person at all is rather more of a suspense of reality than accepting a 50-foot gorilla skating on ice (which, in its calm-before-the-storm context, works fine for me).

I heard that the bug scene was originally filmed for the original, but was censored due to being deemed to disturbing ast the time. Nowadays we just watch it and laugh, but PJ wanted to film the complete remake of the original.

I agree with the dumb kid with a gun part, that was the perfect example of a scene going on for too long and becoming dumb. See also a stampede of Brontos crashing and dying, leaving a 70 ton buffet for a group of carnivours to leap over while they chase a stringy old man up a mountain, and a 3 T-rex brawle amidst vines strong enough to support Kong and 3 T-trexes, but that swing violently under Naomi Watts weight.

[j7wild]

I like the Giant bug scenes; it was fun to hear all them ladies in the movie theater scream and groan!!



Anyone wants to take a shot at my question, please?

[Lafce]

I'm curious - what do you think about the 1976 version of King Kong (the one with Jessica Lange)? I don't think we've talked much about it... so how do you like it, compared to the 2005 version?
I've always liked it - although the effects are not that good obviously and there are some differences in the story, compared to the original. But because it's darker, more serious, more believable, I would rather watch that version again then P.J.'s... at least for some time.
There are no plot holes in it... the way they capture him is much more realistic, we see how Kong is transported from the island, we understand how he finds the energy to break the chains, why he chooses to climb on one of the WTC towers, etc... bottom line - if they had the effects, it would have been a perfect Kong.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074751/