PG-13, 187m, 2005

Starring Naomi Watts (Ann Darrow), Jack Black (Carl Denham), Adrien Brody (Jack Driscoll), Thomas Kretschmann (Captain Englehorn), Colin Hanks (Preston), Jamie Bell (Jimmy) Fred Tatasciore (Kong Voice) and Andy Serkis (Kong and Lumpy). Directed by Peter Jackson. Produced by Jan Blenkin, Carolynne Cunningham, Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson. Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson. Music by James Newton Howard. Based on King Kong by James Creelman, Ruth Rose, Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper.

            One of the hardest things for an artist to ask themselves after creating something that received both critical and financial success is “Ok, now what?” Prior to the release of the enormously successful Lord of the Rings franchise, director Peter Jackson was largely unknown in the Hollywood scene, with only a few of his films receiving much attention. King Kong is the first film directed by Peter Jackson, following the completion of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This put a tremendous amount of pressure on Peter Jackson to create a film that could rival his most recent films as well as the original King Kong.

            The film follows the same basic story as the original King Kong. Following a chance meeting, aspiring actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) is hired by the financially struggling filmmaker Carl Denham (Jack Black), who plans on making an adventure film halfway across the world. Playwright Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) is convinced by Denham to be the screenwriter for the proposed film and the crew set sail aboard the SS Venture. The ship’s captain, Captain Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann), is initially led to believe that the ship is heading to Singapore, but Denham has ulterior motives. Denham secretly schemes to get the ship to head to Skull Island, which has an aura of mystique and danger surrounding it. The crew makes it to Skull Island, where Ann is soon captured by the locals, who try to sacrifice Ann to their god Kong. Instead of immediately devouring her, Kong takes an interest in Ann, and the two develop an unlikely kinship. Meanwhile, Carl, Jack, and the rest of the crew desperately scour the jungle trying to rescue Ann from Kong. After several mishaps, which results in the deaths of several crewmembers, they find Kong’s lair. While trying to escape with Ann, Jack accidentally wakes up Kong, who immediately gives chase. Kong is eventually captured and is shipped to New York City, where he becomes a massive attraction on Broadway. Kong escapes, and the rest of the film follows Kon’s rampage through New York City, culminating in the climactic battle atop the Empire State Building

            The original King Kong was released in the middle of the Great Depression, a time in which many people used cinema as a form of escapism in an effort to try and forget about their troubles, if only for a short amount of time. Peter Jackson’s King Kong is wisely set in the same year the original film was released. In the opening shots, the audience sees the glamor of show biz and the pageantry of the rich and famous, juxtaposed with the disparity of people experiencing the harsh reality of the Great Depression.

This film simultaneously fixes some problems that previous Kong iterations had, while making other problems more glaringly obvious. The first and most important problem this film fixes is the relationship between Kong and Ann. In previous iterations, the relationship between the two was a bit awkward and there was an obvious sexual undertone involved. This film fixes this by making their relationship more platonic, and by having Ann care about Kong. In the 1933 version of King Kong, Ann couldn’t be bothered by what happens to Kong, probably because she spends the entire film getting harassed by Kong. In this film, Kong and Ann have several scenes together where they just enjoy each other’s company. There’s a scene in Central Park during the winter, in which Kong and Ann just ice skate and frolic around in the wintery scenery. While this has no real bearing on the plot and contributes to the film’s Kong-sized run time, scenes like this add a more personalized touch. Another improvement to the film is the film’s world-building element. Jackson masterfully captures the drab feelings of the depression, mixed with American optimism. The place where Jackson’s worldbuilding truly shines is in the Skull Island sequences. While some of the effects look a bit dated by modern standards, many of these scenes showcase how truly terrifying the island can be. In one scene, one of the members of the rescue team, performed wonderfully by Andy Serkis, is grabbed by a giant worm creature and is hoisted in the air, where he’s slowly eaten by the creature. Scenes like this serve as a reminder of Jackson’s roots as a director of horror. Unfortunately, these action scenes can sometimes go on for too long and branch off into over-the-top and cartoonish territory.  The one area in which I’d say this film handled very poorly, that other iterations handled better would be with the natives. I felt that the film made the native characters look far more sinister and less human than it should have. Even in the 1933 film, I felt that the native characters were human, who cared about their children, despite having some misguided notions, such as human sacrifices. With Peter Jackson’s King Kong, I felt that the design of the natives looked closer to a humanoid alien, rather than an actual human being. I don’t think that there was any malicious intent on the filmmakers’ part, but I still see this as a glaring flaw that should have never existed in the first place.

            Utilizing CGI-created characters or effects is often a risky move. Sometimes the effects or character look good or even ground-breaking at the time of the film’s release, but as time goes on the aging of the film starts to show. This is most notable in the Brontosaurus and Venatosaurus chase scene. Even one of the visual centerpieces of the film, the fight between Kong and the three Vastatosauruses, looks a bit dated. This is partially the reason that I tend to favor seeing practical effects versus CGI effects. The image of King Kong is an iconic icon of cinema, and a badly rendered CGI Kong would have ruined this film. While the effects of this film are a hit or miss by today’s standards, it’s hard to be harsh to the visuals of this film. Andy Serkis’ motion capture and facial rendering for Kong is what gives the film a much-needed sense of pathos. Serkis’s performance as Kong makes it so that the audience has little trouble believing that Kong can reason like an intelligent being and possess feelings that are familiar to humans.

            Like most great filmmakers, Jackson and his team spent hours doing their research in order to prepare for the creation of King Kong. The filmmakers spent hours studying the different behaviors of gorillas, in order to best capture the true essence of a living breathing gorilla. Andy Serkis, who performed the motion capture actions for Kong, spent hours at the London Zoo, interacting with gorillas in an effort to try and capture the raw power and sensitivity of a gorilla. Their hard work and research paid off because the film succeeds at convincing its audience that King Kong looks and acts like a real gorilla. I’d even go as far to say that this film did a better job at portraying the sensitive part of Kong that the original film attempted to do using stop-motion puppetry and models.

            Ordinarily, I’m not too fond of remakes of popular films. I feel that if a film has a good story, interesting characters, and is generally well-received, I feel that a remake is unnecessary. I say this because oftentimes, films get remade, and the filmmakers fail to understand what made the original film so good in the first place. I was pleased to see that King Kong successfully captured the essence of the original film, but still retained its identity as its own thing. Peter Jackson has stated in multiple interviews, that one of his favorite films as a child was King Kong, and around the age of nine, he attempted to remake the film using his own stop-motion techniques. I can safely say that with this film, Peter Jackson has done justice to the legacy of King Kong.