Summary:
A movie director convinces his cast and crew to travel to a mysterious island where he plans to shoot his next film. The inhabitants of the island complicate the shoot.
My Thoughts:
When I first saw this movie, opening night as a fifteen year old, I thought it was absolutely incredible, and even now, that original opinion of this film makes sense to me. As far as the scope of this feature, it’s far more ambitious than I ever would’ve imagined a King Kong film would be, and sometimes that’s to the film’s benefit, and other times to its detriment. The length of this film is something that’s become more of an irritation as the visual effects start to look more dated, primarily because I’m not as spellbound as I used to be by CGI; if anything I’m disenfranchised by it now. This movie is good, but I say that with some reservations. It’s a good film in that the writing is well thought out, the characters are well developed, the world is amazingly designed, and the action is a ton of fun. It’s not a good film in that it takes more than three hours to deliver it’s point, and some of the scenes truly start to feel a bit arduous more than anything. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy this movie for what it was. My roommates and I watched this on what I imagine would be the last muggy 90 degree day of 2018, when there was nothing to do but sit inside with a cold beer and wait out the heat; that was a perfect day for this movie. This isn’t a film that I’ll watch often (probably not again for another few years), but when I do sit down to watch it, I know that I will sink into a fantastical world for a long period of time, and sometimes, that’s all you need from a movie.
“Monsters belong in B movies.”
In 1933 New York, right in the heart of the Great Depression, film director Carl Denham (Jack Black, “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”) convinces a ragtag crew to travel with him to a mysterious island where he plans to shoot his film. Among the members of his crew traveling with him are the writer Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody, ”The Village”), Preston (Colin Hanks, “Band Aid”), and the cast members; the self-obsessed Bruce Baxter (Kyle Chandler, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”) and nervous newcomer Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts, “The Painted Veil”). As the crew nears the island, some of the members of the ship grow wary of their destination. Some of the members of the crew include Captain Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann, “Dragged Across Concrete”), Lumpy the Cook (Andy Serkis- he also was the motion capture actor behind Kong, “Black Panther”), and Jimmy (Jamie Bell, “Billy Elliot”). When the crew finally arrives on the island, a series of unfortunate events separates the rest of the crew from Ann Darrow, and Ann must try to find her way back to the safety of the ship, while the rest of the crew searches for her.
As I mentioned above, the thing that I like most about this movie is its ambition, but sadly that’s also the thing that drags it down the most. I found the opening hour of this movie to be absolutely engaging and entertaining, but I know other people find it to be the most boring part of the movie, and I can understand why. The film is so long that our heroes don’t even set foot on Skull Island until about an hour into the film; for me, that was fine. This is a film that takes its time developing the important characters to this movie. We understand Carl’s character as the obsessive director before he even sets foot on the island, and in doing that, we understand why Carl insists on continuing to film even after some of his crewmembers have died. Ann Darrow’s character too is really flushed out; we see how kind she really is, but we also see her little quirks and eccentricities. Naomi Watts is absolutely delightful portraying Ann, and that’s important to the story because she takes up a good portion of the three hour runtime. Funny enough, I didn’t actually remember Kyle Chandler being in this movie (it had been a while since I’d seen it), but he ended up being one of my favorite parts this time through; he plays the self obsessed actor in a way that is both hilarious and endearing. Adrien Brody’s character is fine, but out of all of the characters in the story, his is the one I connect the least with. He’s a sort of self-involved writer that falls in love with an adoring fan (Ann Darrow); his reason for doing things is slightly tenuous, in my opinion.
The production design for this movie is absolutely astounding, and its one of the main reasons I’ve returned to this film a few times in the thirteen years its been out. The island’s native village and the walls, the design of Kong and some of the creatures on the island, the feel of New York in the thirties, all of it is well thought out and heavily detailed. Jackson’s team has created another world that we can escape to, and really that’s the best part of the film; feeling like you’ve slipped into another world for three hours. Some of my favorite parts are on the island when the crew is just exploring, and they accidentally happen upon creatures or strange locations. For probably 75% of the visual effects, the CGI holds up, the creatures look polished and the action is flawless. For the other 25% of the film, the CGI is starting to look a little dated. The worst bits are when we see Kong up close and personal; there’s something slightly off about his face. It’s like the uncanny valley effect, where it’s almost close enough to look real, but it’s just barely off, to the point that it is super distracting throughout the whole thing. Now, I do have to mention that we watched this on the 4K transfer of the film, and it looked as if some of the scenes had been polished for the new release. Those upgraded scenes looked phenomenal, but in comparison it made the other scenes look a little worse.
The last thing I really want to touch on for this film is the direction and tone that Jackson chose to go with. This movie is great in that it perfectly balances humor and terror, excitement and romance, and action and drama. Jackson knew how to craft a film that appeals, on at least some level, to everyone. It’s a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and there are times when it’s almost tongue in cheek with how it references that fact (“Monsters belong in B movies!”). This movie doesn’t take itself seriously; it aims to be fun, and fun it certainly is. There are some totally farfetched (if not impossible) sequences that last for long stretches of time, and if you the viewer don’t suspend your disbelief, you’re bound to have a miserable time. There are sequences where dinosaurs chase our heroes and literally tumble over them (but don’t squish them), another scene where Kong fights three T-rexes before falling over a cliff and continuing to fight them while suspended by vines. The sequences are impossible, true; but then again, you’re watching a movie about a giant ape that falls in love with an actress. Can you really fault this movie for having fun with the ideas it comes up with? I don’t think I can.
Verdict:
This isn’t Jackson’s best film, but it’s not his worst either- it’s certainly more entertaining than some of the Hobbit movies. I appreciate the ambition and scope of this film, but I feel like I rarely have the time to sit down for a movie that requires this much from the viewer. I’d recommend this movie, but maybe wait for a day with inclement weather; it is worth the exorbitant amount of time you put into watching it.
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