Kristen Bailey
Published: January 9, 2006
Director Peter Jackson successfully brought the “eighth wonder of the world” back to the big screen over the Christmas holidays. Having a more emotional slant than its 1933 predecessor and much better graphics, “King Kong” proves that beauty really does tame the beast.
In this recreation of the 1933 “King Kong”, an allstar cast demonstrates their versatility of acting. Funny man, Jack Black skillfully portrays a serious role as the overzealous Carl Denham. Along with Black, Adrian Brody plays the role of Jack Driscoll, the playwright who falls for the beautiful actress, Ann Darrow, played by Naomi Watts. Digging a little back into his “Lord of the Rings” past, Peter Jackson called upon actor Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the “Lord of the Rings” films, to act as the cook Lumpy, and as the stand-in for the computer graphics Kong.
Anyone familiar with Peter Jackson’s former films will undoubtedly see his handiwork throughout “King Kong.” The various emotional subplots, Jack’s tortured love for Ann Darrow, Ms. Darrow’s motherly attachment to the enormous yet frightened animal, are accentuated through Jackson’s movie. Peter Jackson brings a sense of breathtaking realism to his audience, in spite of the farfetched events of Kong’s fights with three tyrannosauruses, his dizzying fall from atop the Empire State building, and the various encounters with prehistoric wildlife.
Although the film is a more developed than the 1933 “King Kong”, the plot follows basically the same outline. Carl Denham, the cutthroat film produced drags a crew of actors and shipmen, along with cinematographers and the playwright Jack Driscoll, to a mysterious island to film a movie. The director and his crew encounter a massive gorilla. After it captures their actress, Ann Darrow, and grows attached to her, it is captured by Denham and the ship’s crew. Disaster follows Denham as he takes his “eighth wonder of the world” to New York City.
Undoubtedly, Peter Jackson’s, “King Kong” will thrill viewers to no end with its skillful combination of the old movie and the new twists Jackson brings into the story. Although the movie is an actionpacked three and a half hours long, fans of Jackson’s style will have no problem going along for the ride.