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Keywords: “King Kong”
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Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong was released in theatres this week to rave reviews. Here is a weblog search feed to hear what bloggers have to say about the movie.

Recent Comments in the Blogosphere

Matt Paprocki on Breaking Windows 2.0

Impossibly beating all odds, destroying every bad memory about the 1976 remake, and setting a new standard for creature features, King Kong is a remarkable film. It’s intense, brutal, and draining on every emotion. You’re actually tired after leaving the cinema. Peter Jackson’s remake is a $207 million gift for every Kong fan in the world, and except for a few ugly spots, it’s hard to imagine a better way to resurrect one of cinema’s all time greats.

Things move fast for a movie clocking in at over 180 minutes. There are numerous extended sequences on the boat as Carl Denham (Jack Black) takes a crew to Skull Island for his final shot at fame. The benefit to this is character development, establishing real relationships that play a huge role when the title character finally runs onto the screen. Time goes by quickly, and the countless little nods to the original (including an early RKO/Merian C. Cooper reference) will bring a smile to anyone who appreciates the 1933 version.

Jackson’s direction follows a straight path that doesn’t stray far in pacing. Once the initial set up is taken care of, there’s hardly a scene in the movie that doesn’t feature Kong or one of his island co-inhabitants, just like the ‘33 Kong. If you felt the opening exposition was dull, you’ll forget that those dialogue scenes were even included once the sure-to-be-nominated special effects from WETA take over.

Whiggles.com

I wonder if the fact that Peter Jackson released extended editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy has worked against King Kong at the box office. After all, why would people want to go to the cinema to see what is essentially a work in progress that will probably be superceded by the eventual extended DVD release? Personally I think that The Lord of the Rings has set a really bad precedent where the version released in cinema is essentially nothing more than an over-long trailer for a superior version.

Insanedeano on Dreaming the Nightmares Fade

Kong. Kong good. Kong too long. Kong well acted. Kong well scripted. Kong too long. Kong well CGed. Kong too long.

It about sums the film up, in a really damned cheesy manner. The film, while well captured felt like it was dragging. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind long films, unless they start to drag their feet as though “no, I don’t want to finish yet”. While I enjoy the idea of King Kong, the plot is not exactly complicated. Ape falls in love with human female. Ape chases human female. Ape has fights with various things, each getting more and more difficult and closer to killing him.

Why the hell did that take 3 hours to tell? While scenes were generally brilliant, it took far too long to reach them. Everything seemed far too drawn out for its own good. At least to me. It felt painful to sit and watch. I did not get this with Lord of the Rings. I get the impression that it was a case of “it’s Peter Jackson, we want him to make a long film again”.

Other Resources

Rotten Tomatoes - collection of critics’ reviews of the movie

The UnMuseum - The Making of the Original King Kong

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