King Kong

King Kong is in a word magnificent. This is the reason filmmakers make movies and it is the reason that the rest of us go see films. To be caught up in the spectacle of a world that is so different than our own, to be invested in the accomplishments and defeats of the characters and to quietly watch them as they wind there way to the last frame. King Kong just goes to prove that Peter Jackson is the preeminent storyteller of our time and he is able to marshal the considerable resources of modern filmmaking in a way that is beyond all other directors.





By now the story is probably well known. A desperate director and a starving actress venture to Skull Island with their film crew to make a movie. But they find much more than they expect when they discover an island filled with giant insects and dinosaurs and Kong, the giant gorilla. Kong is entranced by the blond beauty and takes her into the heart of the island where the ship’s crew and the film’s crew must venture to rescue her. The film is ruined but Kong is captured and brought back to New York where he rampages through the streets and meets his inevitable demise. It is a classic monster movie and a romance rolled into one. The film has it all and Jackson uses this extended narrative to develop the story in ways not available to the directors of a 90 minute B film in 1933.





In addition to having vastly superior technology to make the film, Jackson takes the time to develop the characters and the relationships and it is this that makes the movie magical. Naomi Watts plays Ann Darrow the desperate actress who undertakes the dangerous voyage on the word of the overzealous director. In Jackson’s vision Ann is not just a lady in distress with a good set of lungs. Ann is a vaudeville actress trying to make her way in the world. She is intelligent, and brave, and funny and she has an interest in reading good plays by a guy named Jack Driscoll. It is her star struck interest in meeting the writer that convinces her to go on the expedition, not the overblown promises of the director. Most importantly, Watts’ Ann forms a meaningful relationship with the giant ape elevating their interaction from mere chase scenes into endearing and complex activities. There is Ann entertaining Kong with her vaudeville act, sharing a beautiful moment watching a sunset, spinning happily on a frozen Central Park pond, and even telling him ‘no’ when play gets a little too rough. Ann fights Kong’s capture and seeks him out in New York because she knows how it is to be alone and she realizes that with the dependency that she has created with Kong comes a responsibility to protect him from exploitation and human dangers. Ann of course fails in these things much as her friends have failed her and left her alone to struggle in New York, but the relationship is there and it makes the fate of Kong that much more poignant.





Jack Black is pitch perfect as the unscrupulous director Carl Denham who puts these events into motion. He wheedle and bribes and then cuts and runs when things don’t go his way. He bribes the crew to head for the uncharted island, mourns the loss of members of his film crew by vowing to finish the film in their honor, and brings back Kong because he is a true democrat and statesman. Everyone deserves to see the wonders of the world for the price of one ticket. In the process Denham wreaks havoc and destroys the lives of everyone around him more effectively than the giant ape. Most of his crew are killed and he is solely responsible for the damage to a significant portion of the city of New York but there are only brief moments for reflection and penitence before jumping on to the next big adventure.





Adrien Brody plays Jack Driscoll and here the story deviates from the 1933 film a bit. Driscoll is no longer the captain of the boat he is now the screenwriter unwittingly kidnapped and brought along on Denham’s adventure. According to Jackson no other actors were considered for the role but in looking at the 1933 film it is difficult to see how Brody would have fit into role as it once existed. Not to worry. The changes to make Driscoll more of a man of education who is motivated by love into an action hero are perfect for Brody’s often understated demeanor. He smolders and his yearning for Ann is in the subtext not in the witty banter. That is reserved for a scene in the film within the film that Ann and her male lead play that mirrors the chat of the Ann and the captain from the 1933 film.





As with most good monster movies the film builds slowly with character introductions taking their time as the cast and crew travel by boat to Skull Island. The film is comedic in the first act focusing on Denham’s attempts to get his film production going and the blossoming love between Ann and Driscoll. When they voyagers arrive at Skull Island the fun begins as the film kicks into Jurassic Park gear with tiny little humans running from big dinosaurs. The action is sustained perhaps for longer periods than are comfortable but there are some more quiet moments between the battle sequences. This is the classic action/adventure part that, as with many films nowadays, seems like a nonstop amusement park ride or a perfect setup for a video game. The action sequences are intense and dizzying and amazing to watch. Then the survivors successfully escape the island. At this point most action/adventure films would end with the survivors setting up a whose-who for the sequel but that is not so with King Kong. There is still more story to be told. Denham delays the escape long enough for Kong to pursue so that they can capture Kong and take him back to New York. Thus the third act returns the characters to New York with the fruits of their labor. Some exploit King Kong for wealth and power; others want nothing to do with his imprisonment. Unlike most monster movies the least deserving aren’t necessarily the first to be eaten, some good guys don’t make it and some of the slime balls survive.





This film was made completely on the vision and the hard work and persistence of Jackson who saw the 1933 King Kong as a kid and desired to make movies ever since. Jackson and Universal had reached a tentative agreement to begin a remake of King Kong in 1996 after The Frighteners was released but the deal fell through. Jackson then went on to direct the wildly successful The Lord of the Rings trilogy using some of the technology he had been developing for King Kong. It was all for the best though since Rings’ success meant that Universal gave Jackson carte blanche for the current release. The initial budget was roughly 207 million dollars and the final budget closer to 230 million but Jackson is not one to waste money. The money is spent on the lavish effects which, as with Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, allow the creation of CGI characters that are human and endearing and locations that bring the imagination to life instead of overwhelming his characters with an explosion of computer cleverness. Andy Serkis, who performed the acting and extensive computer related contortions for CGI character creation, provides the human base for Kong. Serkis spent time studying gorillas in Africa as well as in local zoos and his performance is both recognizable as how a gorilla would be expected to act and it shows levels of human understanding and emotion from the nonverbal ape. He brings warmth and a certain fatalism to the last of the giant apes that is both appealing and pitiable.





King Kong is a long film clocking in at three hours and five minutes, more than double the length of the 1933 film that began the tale. In addition, Jackson, a long time Kong aficionado who owns a number of important memorabilia pieces from the 1933 film and even appeared at the premier carrying one of the posable models used in the original, peppers the film with references to the classic movie. It was rumored that Fay Wray was even going to make an appearance to utter that famous last line before her death. Instead the film is set in 1933 and Wray is mentioned as an actress up for the role in the film expedition, but she is busy working on something. The film camera lugged around by Denham and his crew is an actual hand crank antique and the same type used in the original King Kong. It is interesting to note that though the relative size between King Kong and Ann has not changed from the 1933 film to Jackson’s film the size of the great ape has. In the 1933 version Kong was referred to as being 50 feet tall, here he is only 25 feet tall. Maybe people have just gotten smaller. It is also an interesting, and probably conscious, choice that everything attacks in groups. Aside from being sensible it highlights one thing, there are numerous humans, there are many bats, there are even three Tyrannosaurus Rex, but there is only one Kong. The only other Kong relative to be seen is the bleached out bones of one of Kong’s ancestors. Kong is truly alone be it on the island of Manhattan or on Skull Island.





King Kong is a masterful addition to the Hollywood archives and it will probably make an appalling amount of money for its creators. The film is at times a comedy, and action/adventure, and a love story. The fact that the love triangle is between a man, a woman, and a 25 foot gorilla just goes to show the power of movie magic. Because the film is magical, it transcends the basic action/adventure genre to transport its characters and the audience to a strange island full of fantastical beasts. These creatures are rendered with such care and precision that it makes the ride all worth while. No monster in the history of filmdom has appeared as a more sympathetic monster than this ape who represents the last of his race and simply does not fit into the world. The film is at times intense and it does earn its PG-13 rating but it is an instant classic, the definitive telling of a now epic American tale, and a film that will be cherished by numerous generations for years to come.

Related posts:

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King