King Kong

From the San Francisco "Chronicle":
In remaking "King Kong," Peter Jackson added 90 minutes to the running time and nothing to the experience. It doesn't matter that his new film can't take the place of the original -- no one should expect that, and that's not the problem. The problem is that, just on its own terms, the film is overlong, repetitive and lacks impact. Even if this were the first gorilla-in-love movie ever made, audiences would come away vaguely dissatisfied, suspecting there was an intriguing idea buried somewhere in here, but it didn't quite come off.

This was about on par with what I felt about this movie. The problems weren't that Jackson used special effects in creating the feel of a 1930s-ish film, the problems were the gross inaccuracies represented by trying to roll together an action movie, a romance story and a period film all at once. Examples:

-I was absolutely blown away that Naomi Watts was able to be flung about the jungle, tossed around by multiple tyrannosaurus', sprint about the jungle and never get any scratches on her hands, face or feet. She didn't have much more than a couple of jungle-dust smudges on her...I bet Britney, Christina, Jessica and the like would KILL for her secret. I mean, c'mon now. Also, that dress has to be made of the sturdiest material on the planet. Most quick-drying too. I wonder if Peter Jackson would tell me what they used to I can make my next pair of weatherproof pants from it.

-The story didn't QUITE get there. I mean, I haven't seen the original, so maybe that's unfair, but the whole love story between Ann and Kong didn't QUITE make it. And she tried really hard, too, and the production crew went nuts trying to make him appear sad, bummed, humiliated, tormented, etc. And they did a tremendous job. It might be just a little far on the the side of ridiculous psychology for me.

-Jack Black's Carl Denham didn't drop the camera on the tripod while being chased by a stampede of brontosaurus'. Nonsense. Poppycock. I don't care who you are or how into your craft you may be, you will always--ALWAYS--save your life before any and everything else. I also thought it was pretty lucky that he wasn't trampled.

-The gunfights were absurd. 'Nuff said.

-Adrien Brody is an amazing actor; he even did well as an "action hero". They could have used him to flesh out the movie a bit more & make it more interesting as well as believable. A bit of dialogue between he and Ann could've done this; it wouldn't take much. A bit more utilizing his skills period would've been nice.

But I must say this as well: for as insane an actor as Jack Black is, for as much as I adore him as the lunatic music geek in High Fidelity and as much as I love his crazy antics in School of Rock, I thought he showcased very, very well in his role as Carl Denham. He managed to skirt the edge of genius, doofus and madness with exceptional skill and charisma. I look forward to seeing him in more roles that get him out of the typecasted goofy-comedy-actor bit more.