Ralph's Movie Reviews: KING KONG

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

KING KONG

Adventure

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Jack Black: movie director Carl Denham
Naomi Watts: Ann Darrow, vaudeville stage actress
Adrien Brody: Jack Driscoll, playwright
Thomas Kretschmann: Captain Englehorn, skipper of the tramp steamer the S.S. Venture
Colin Hanks: Carl’s production assistant, Preston
Evan Parke: Hayes, the Venture's first mate
Andy Serkis: Lumpy, the one-eyed cook
Jamie Bell: Jimmy, the youngest deckhand aboard the Venture
Andy Serkis: King Kong

REVIEW
A wonderful classic story with unbelievable special effects. The movie has a lot going for it but lacks sorely in editing and that takes away some of the pleasure of seeing it.

There is simply too much of everything. Just about every scene is drawn out and far too long. Instead of being a really entertaining movie, it becomes one of endurance.

CLASSIFICATION

for frightening adventure violence and some disturbing images (particularly for those who have Insectophobia)

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
 Looking at Times Square in the direction of Lower Manhattan, Madison Square Garden is on your right not towards the left as shown by the arrow on one of the billboards.
 After falling down while doing her act, there is some mud on Ann’s forehead which disappears in the following scene when she looks up for approval.
 There are 102 floors, not 101 as shown on the elevator indicator in the lobby of the Empire State Building.

P.S.
At three hours and seven minutes in length, this is one really long movie. And that’s not even counting the closing credits which go on for another twelve minutes.

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my ratings system

I've always thought that telling too much about a movie or warning someone about a "twist" at the end deprives the person the pleasure of seeing it as it unfolds, so I don’t do it. You may not always agree with my rating of course, but at least it is an unbiased opinion unlike some of the full time professional reviewers who are on the studio’s payroll.

A few movies you won’t see any review from me:

Scary movies: I’m the world’s biggest chicken and just hate getting the crap scared out of me. I can handle an unexpected door slam, that kind of thing, but a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat…not for me. Sorry.
Movies geared to the young teen and pre-teen crowd with dialog comprising mostly of crude remarks, awful jokes and lots of rude, socially unacceptable body noises. "The Spy that Shagged Me" comes to mind. (I wonder if the kids know what the British verb to shag someone really means? They probably do; I bet you it’s the parents who haven’t a clue).
Sometimes Hollywood gets on a roll and they produce a series of movies that are all very much alike. For example movies about the CIA were very popular and so we had The Bourne Identity and Bad Company and The Sum of All Fears. They all had the same basic theme and it becomes repetitive. I will see some, but not all of them.

FYI this is my rating system:

0 stars = Terrible: so bad it’s not worth talking about; in fact, I’d pay you not to go
= Lousy: I actually got up and walked out before the end it was just that bad (no kidding)
= Not so good: thought about walking out but hung in just in case it got better (but it didn’t)
= A so-so good movie: I enjoyed it somewhat but wasn’t all that crazy about it
= A really good movie: I recommend seeing it
= An excellent movie you just got to see! I suggest you put it on your "To Do List" it’s that good.

some favourite websites

For those into it, Nitpickers at

has more movie mistakes than you could ever imagine. My contributions can be seen if you check out the Nitpickers Registry and click on the link Nitpickers Listed by Nitpicker Number, select the group 45,401 - 45,500 and drill down to number 45411. Although I have 56 nitpicks to my credit, some have almost 2,000. You wonder sometimes where they find the time to do it.