King Kong

I saw King Kong today. It was a good movie (bordering on very good) and not having the starring ape show up for a while actually works quite well the way the film was done. The opening juxtaposing Vaudeville and New York City's poor was done extremely well and sets the tone of the 1930s very nicely (although Ann Darrow's later entertainment of Kong using part of her Vaudeville routine was very cheesy). Jack Black (whose real last name is Schwarz, which means black) played the male lead. His character was really slimy and one is left with the thought that we was more of a monster than Kong. The film brought this point home with a sledgehammer, and I think it could have used more subtelty here. I think I'd rather be left wondering which of the two is more of a monster rather than having the decision handed to me on a platter. A couple of his double entendres were amusing but gratuitous---there's one, for example, about his touching his twenty-eight foot ape. I don't think it's the fault of the actor, but his character annoyed me on several occasions.

Of course, in many respects, this movie was a love story. It's just that the guy involved was a giant ape. Kong's facial expressions were cool and there were a few times when he was yelling at Ann that he really seemed like the fat husband yelling at his wife to get him a beer. This was highly amusing. Also, he went to great lengths to protect his woman---fighting ravenous dinosaurs (the fight with Kong vs three dinos was especially cool) and climbing to the top of the Empire State building (and you can't have a Kong remake without that). I was waiting for him to start rolling barrels and for Jack Driscoll to jump over them as he climbed the building, but that part of the film was evidently cut. (Jack would have made it to the top earlier, but he was using his hammer for a while.)

Some minor gripes: The death scene at the end didn't really do it for me and the gratuitous funky eyes of the Skull Islanders could have been left out.

Anyway, it was a good film and is well worth seeing.

As a final note, let me mention that when King Kong faced off against Godzilla, I was rooting for the latter because I like dinosaurs (and creatures somewhat resembling them) more than I like apes. However, for the film remakes, the big ape wins far and away against the raptorized Godzilla.