King Kong

You know those classic authors who were paid by the word, so they would take otherwise great books and pad them out until they became a chore to read? That’s this.  Right out of the gate, this movie feels important. The early 1930’s showcase feels essential to a story so rooted in that time, and gives us a great introduction to Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow. In fact, the whole first hour is spectacular and, in my opinion, far superior to any Kong film so far. The scene in which they film on the ship, using the dialogue from the original movie highlights how far we’ve come.  Once we get to the island, around the second hour, the movie shifts dramatically in tone to suit the horror inherent in this setting. This is as terrifying as Skull Island has ever felt, relentlessly bombarding our characters with peril after peril until even I wanted to take a breather. It’s in this hour that the padding begins to become visible. Each scene feels about five minutes too long, and there are certain parts that feel as if they could be removed. Jimmy’s subplot comes to mind as an easy cut. He’s the Jar Jar Binks of this movie, instantly taking you out of every scene and ultimately doing nothing of value. I’m also still not into the bug attack scene. Coming on the heels of the native attack, the stampede, the raptors, Kong, and then falling down a trench, it just feels like overkill.  The last hour is mostly the New York segment, and the padding becomes even more apparent. Remember how THE HOBBIT: BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES took twenty pages of a book and made a three hour movie? Well Peter Jackson got his practice by taking a ten minute ending and stretching it to that full hour. What starts as exciting soon becomes superfluous. When the tragic finale finally arrives, it’s partially paired with a sense of relief. You did it. You made it to the end.  That makes it sound worse than it is, and I think may be the reason I didn’t like it as much on my first viewing. The characters are all engaging, and the Kong stuff is great! Child-like and sympathetic Kong is much better than Horny Kong. Watching the film, and knowing what to expect helped me realize that all of the scenes really are exceptional (except for the Jimmy ones). If it weren’t so unnecessarily long, this would be an essential masterpiece, but as such it amounts to something still really good. They were so close to making the definitive Kong film, they just overshot it.