ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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This was the 2nd remake of the famous 1933 film, this time by Peter Jackson, he of the Lord of the Rings franchise. The first remake was in 1976.

This is set during the same time frame of the original film — the thirties — a sign of Jackson's overarching reverence for the old film. But this does make sense, because it's hard to imagine the finding of some lost island in this day and age, so setting it in the 21st century probably wouldn't work, unless it involved some sort of dimensional travel or time travel (of course, tell that to the makers of Cast Away, the Tom Hanks film).

As it is, Jackson plunges us into the era of Depression-marked New York City and its various citizens, helped by extensive CGI to realize all the ambiance and architecture. It's a bright look at such an era; everything looks new and clean, and there's some over-emphasis on eye-popping moving visuals, such as the horde of 1930s automobiles moving up the bridge, like huge beetles in an urban jungle. Jackson was already showing off the skills of his tech guys at this early stage.




The casting seemed curious, as far as Jack Black and Adrien Brody, but it works — somehow, it works. Black, usually (or always) in clownish roles in broad comedies, gets the meaty role of Denham, the driven filmmaker who somehow gets his hands on a map which sort of points the way to an unknown island.

Black seems a bit overweight but he delivers an energetic performance and drives the plot, bringing a combo of humor and psychosis to the whole deal. Brody plays the writer Driscoll, plunged into the role of hero. He doesn't look the part at the start, but somehow grows into the role. Naomi Watts has the pivotal role of Ann Darrow, the out-of-work blonde actress who becomes the object of obsession for a huge ape.

Jackson probably overplays the sense of destiny and mysticism involved in this unfolding adventure, and he overdoes several scenes — the scenes of the primitive, gross natives and the dinosaur stampede could have used a lot of editing down. But, it still remains a very watchable fantasy / sci-fi thrill ride for most of the story.

It falls apart to some extent in the final act back in NYC — Jackson again overdoes everything, such as Ann's and Kong's reunion.

But the middle act on the island is still pretty good and memorable for the most part. The CGI is first rate — but that's to be expected with the money involved (the stampede is where it fails to a large degree). As with many things in the film, Jackson saw the opportunity to play out the action scenes as long as possible, because he had the money to do so.

The big one is Kong's battle with 3 T-Rexes. It goes on and on.

I liked Darrow's pluck during all these sequences. Watts is A-OK in this, not just a pretty face. But, for my own reasons, I'm not a fan of the visualization of Kong himself as a very accurately depicted gorilla. I always saw Kong as something more than just a big ape, but more as something halfway between man and ape, due to how Willis O'Brien ended up depicting him with the limitations of stop motion animation.



BoG's Score: 7 out of 10


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)