Since I signed up for netflix, I don't go out to the movie theater as much. Given my love of the original King Kong and the fact that I've been bogged down in the Civil War in my netflix queue, I had to get out and see Peter Jackson's "King Kong".
Do not drink a big gulp soda before you go to this movie. With a running time for just over three hours you'll never make it to the end. It's a really long movie.
The movie has a lot of action once you make it through the first hour. At times I thought it was too much action -- I got tired of one chase scene after another. The pre-historic creatures of Skull Island looked derivative of Jurassic Park. I suppose big dinosaurs just don't thrill me the way they would have ten years ago. Seen one dinosaur, you've seen them all, yawn. Speaking of derivative, the natives of Skull Island seemed a little too much like the orcs from "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
I'm normally predisposed to like any movie with a reference to the Joseph Conrad's book "Heart of Darkness" -- but in this case I thought the reference to the book was obtrusive and a little heavy handed. I don't like the narrator's voice to be quite so evident. At the same time, if Mr. Jackson filmed a version of Heart of Darkness, I would be thrilled.
What did I like? I liked the 1930's New York that was portrayed in the movie, complete with the gritty shanty town in Central Park. I liked the producer in the movie, played by Jack Black. He seemed a little like the Peter Jackson I've seen in interviews. I have to imagine that there were aspects to the movie that must have been a little autobiographical for Mr. Jackson.
The movie was pretty good entertainment, and cheap by the minute. It didn't displace the 1933 Fay Wray version, but it's better than the 1970's version. It's a fine action flick, but just don't expect too much.
