King Kong

Plot synopsis:
In 1933, during the Great Depression, vaudeville actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) is unemployed and hungry in New York City. When she steals an apple, filmmaker Carl Denham (Jack Black) comes to her aid, producing a nickel that she "dropped" so she can pay the vendor. Carl is about to leave on a tramp steamer to finish his latest movie in Singapore, and he has been looking for an actress to replace the leading lady who has dropped out. He convinces Darrow to take the part; she's persuaded when she learns that the script is being written by her favorite playwright, Jack Driscoll. As the ship prepares to sail -- a departure Carl has hurried along because his backers have already pulled the plug on his funding -- Driscoll (Adrien Brody) stops by to drop off the script, however he hasn't finished it yet. Carl distracts Jack by writing him a check. The delay is just long enough for the ship to cast off, trapping Jack on board and assuring Carl that the now captive scriptwriter will complete his task.Denham has a map of the mysterious Skull Island, and he pays the steamer captain, Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann), to sail to the island before going to Singapore. En route, Jack Driscoll falls in love with Darrow. Jimmy (Jamie Bell), the youngest member of the crew, is reading Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. He discusses the book with Mr. Hayes (Evan Parke), the first mate, observing at one point that "it's not an adventure story."The ship, arriving in a dense fog, actually collides with the island. Carl takes a party ashore, where they discover the ruins of an old civilization and encounter the unsettling natives. At first all they see are old women and children, so they believe themselves to be relatively safe. However, their seeming good fortune doesn't last long; one of the film crew is run through with a spear and dies on the spot. The natives grab the others and just as one of them is preparing to crush Denham's skull, Captain Englehorn and his crew show up and start shooting at the natives. The filmmakers and crew manage to escape back to the steamer, but it's still aground. While they work to free the ship, a native sneaks aboard and kidnaps Ann. Driscoll goes looking for Darrow after finding a skull charm on the deck, only to realize she had been taken. He alerts the others and they prepare to go after her.Darrow is dragged, struggling, through the water and up the rocky shore. She is carried to the top of a huge, elaborately carved rock wall at the edge of the village, adorned with a necklace made of bones and claws, and tied to a wooden framework that tilts out from the wall, carrying her across a gorge to small platform on the other side. Out of the jungle comes Kong, an enormous ape. He pulls Darrow loose and carries her away.The film crew and some of the ship's crew, led by first mate Hayes, go into the jungle to rescue Darrow. The captain gives them 24 hours. The jungle is a dangerous place and several of the rescue party die when they are attacked by dinosaurs, then by giant insects. Darrow's attempts to escape from Kong are futile, so she entertains him with dancing and gymnastics. He enjoys it so much that he won't let her stop, pushing and poking her when she tries to rest. She gets angry and Kong goes away, chastened (in part, it must be said, by a boulder that fortuitously falls on his head). Darrow, losing no time, runs in the other direction.She quickly draws the attention of a carnivorous dinosaur, which gives chase, starting a long and heart-stopping fight sequence in which every escape takes her out of the frying pan into the fire. Kong arrives as the dinosaur corners Darrow; the ape picks her up to take her out of harm's way, only to be faced with a second dinosaur. Displaying tremendous strength and determination, he fends them both off for a while one-handed; when she's knocked out of his hand, he catches her with his foot. The fight carries the four of them to the brink of a vine-festooned gorge, where Kong (never letting go of Darrow) forces first one and then the other dinosaur over the edge. But the second one clamps its jaws on his wrist as it falls, pulling Kong down with it. He finally drops Darrow, who becomes entangled in the convenient vines on way down. So, unfortunately, does one of the dinosaurs, and the pendulum motion brings it dangerously close to her every few seconds. Meanwhile Kong struggles with the other dinosaur, also tangled in the vines some distance below. Darrow eventually falls to the bottom of the gorge, landing in shallow water bordered by grassland, but one of the dinos lands nearby and comes right after her. Kong, however, catches up with it and fends it off again. As the adversaries face off after a brief tangle, Darrow stands between them and backs, reluctantly, to shelter between Kong's feet where the dinosaur can't get to her. Kong kills the dinosaur by prying open its jaws. When he departs, Darrow runs after him; he tosses her up to ride on his shoulder.Later, Kong and Darrow watch the sun set from the top of a mountain and she tells him it is beautiful as she taps her chest to convey how the beauty of it has touched her. Eventually she falls asleep in his hand as he yawns from exhaustion. When the ape falls asleep, Driscoll finds them and, after a battle with huge bats, they escape back to the ruins where the rest of the party have gathered to try to capture Kong.Upset that the woman escaped, a furious Kong pursues them back to the ruins to try to get her back. Darrow begs them to stop and to let the great ape be. When Kong gets near she pleads with him to 'just go back' but he doesn't. He continues to try to get her back. The film crew uses chloroform (supplied by the captain) to subdue him and, after a lengthy struggle, Kong is captured and taken back to New York.In New York, Kong is billed as "KING KONG: The Eighth Wonder of the World" at the Alhambra Theater, where Denham and his producers show the big ape for money. They have hired another woman to play the part of Ann Darrow in a re-enactment of the sacrifice. They reportedly had offered the real Ann lots of money to play the part but she refused. Driscoll comes to the Alhambra looking for Darrow, only to find that she isn't there. As he and Carl's assistant Preston (Colin Hanks) look on, Preston tells him that Denham was right -- there is some mystery left in the world, and everyone can have a piece of it for the price of an admission ticket. Driscoll comments that Denham can't help destroying the things he loves. When the curtain goes up, it reveals (to the gasps of the audience) a Kong who seems depressed and lethargic. He perks up a little when they bring out the woman pretending to be Ann Darrow, but he becomes agitated when he realizes she is not the real Ann. Although secured with chains, Kong is lonely for Ann and in a strange and foreign place. Confused and frightened by the crowd and the flashes of the press cameras, he easily breaks free. The audience panics and runs and Kong, who sees and remembers Driscoll, chases him from the theater and gets out into the wintry streets of New York. As passersby scream and run for cover around him, Kong picks up and discards several young blonde women, apparently looking for Ann Darrow. Working at the the De Luxe Theater, Darrow hears the police sirens and people screaming as the ape creates havoc on the streets.When Kong finally finds Darrow -- led to her by Driscoll -- he picks her up and they end up in Central Park where they have a few peaceful, blissful minutes to themselves playing on a frozen lake. Their quiet time ends when the army comes after Kong with artillery shells. Kong takes Darrow and flees to high ground, which in Manhattan means skyscrapers. He climbs to the top of the Empire State Building with her. When the air force attacks, Darrow screams to them to stop but finally the big ape -- having put Darrow safely down -- falls to his death. Around the body of Kong a large crowd has gathered when Carl Denham shows up. "The airplanes got him," says a man. "It wasn't the airplanes," replies Denham. "It was beauty killed the beast."

Tags: boring, depressing, murder, stupid, melodrama, romantic, sentimental

Review:
I even closed my eyes for a second before I realized, 'hey...you can't just rewind this when you wake up!'Sure, many scenes in "King Kong" were thrilling (e.g., LOVED the T-Rex sequence) and, yes, I even teared up a little a couple of times.
You have to ask yourself if that resonance wasn't at least in Jackson's mind when he wrote the theatre scene.On the plus side, all the themes of the original are here and amplified, from the "we are the real monsters" (with added "Heart of Darkness" reference), through strong hints of ecological parable, to the genuinely tragic love of Kong for Darrow which leads directly to his capture and eventual downfall.
I could not think of a better director for this type of film than Peter Jackson.King Kong stays pretty true to the original.
No wonder plucky but vulnerable actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts is at her most beautiful and winsome as a more proactive version of Fay Wray's star-making role) is willing to take a chance with fast-talking movie producer/director Carl Denham (Jack Black, a rascally delight) on his latest project, involving leaving for the South Seas that very night.The characters are no mere genre archetypes; before their adventure begins, Jackson and his talented cast let us get to know and care about every one of them.
A real Orson Welles type, the guy just loves making movies -- and money -- so much he'll go to insane lengths to make his project a reality, whether it involves outrunning his creditors, shanghaiing Driscoll on the Venture, or tricking his cast and crew onto uncharted Skull Island.Most importantly, King Kong himself captivates us, thanks to a combination of WETA's amazing special effects and the range of emotion provided by a motion-captured Andy Serkis.
:-) Kong has never been just another scary big ape in any of the previous film versions of his story, but Jackson and Serkis make him particularly engaging, not just because he looks so convincingly weatherbeaten, but he moves like an ape (on all fours, thank you) and has the facial expressions of a human.
Jackson & Company give the big guy plenty of dizzying set pieces to show his stuff, involving everything from dinosaurs, toothy insects as long as your arm, and speeding taxicabs in New York City traffic (the scene where Brody did his own stunt driving; all those years of drag-racing on the streets of Woodhaven, Queens really paid off!
While a different director likely would have sped up the story to the crew's arrival on Skull Island, Jackson takes his time with a nice, leisurely build up to their arrival, giving us lots of time to really get to know these characters, and also providing time for a slow and genuine romance building between the characters of Anne and Jack.
This could have been have super - a fabulous and memorable re-make - but director Peter Jackson went the way of most filmmakers and media people of today........meaning OVERKILL a story.Instead of King Kong fighting one dinosaur, he fights about a half dozen, sometimes while hanging on to cliffs with one hand and squeezing the heroine in the other!!
That's two films in a row for him in which the violence goes on so long and is so cartoon-like, it has no credibility and turns off most of the audience long before the movie ends.Not only is the audience insulted and dumbed-and-numbed down with the ridiculous action scenes in here, we are supposed to believe that young-and-pretty "Anne Darrow" (Naomi Watts) quickly gets over any fear of this giant ape (which should have scared the crap out of her the entire way).
Well in King Kong it was ALL "Look at that special effect".Having said that, this film was WAY too long.
I've seen the original film before this one, and while it lacks the sophistication of Jackson's remake (remember, it was done during the Great Depression, so probably the budget was limited), at least the plot was a bit more believable, and straight to the point.
I read elsewhere that Watts and Jackson went to visit Fay Wray before she died, and Wray's opinion was that, "Ann Darrow is in good hands." I've also heard it said that the 1933 movie was Denham's story, the 1976 remake was the ape's, and Peter Jackson's homage is Ann Darrow's.
I agree with these assessments completely.Watts is radiant, luminous, too beautiful to bear as Ann. I think her best scene occurs near the end of the movie when she realizes that Kong has escaped, and that she has to meet him.
Not one scene after the opening 20 minutes (the only good part of the film, if a bit too long) was convincing as a dramatic storyline.The good: Peter Jackson's wonderful craftsmanship, the special effects, the set producers were phenomenal, Andy Serkis was excellent, I liked Naomi Watts and even Jack Black was better than expected.
If the original has endured for over 70 years, what could have been so terrible that it had to be changed?Now, for all you folks who disagree or think I'm foolish, ask yourself this question: If you didn't know the story of King Kong, having seen the 1933 or even 1976 version, or heard about either from a friend, after sitting in the theatre for over an hour, could you tell me what the film was about?I rest my case..
Or that he happens to be an ape...He likes sunsets so he can't be all bad...Kinda takes the Stockholm Syndrome thing a little far for me...Especially when she's got the much more appealing Brodie trying to save her...We are also lead to believe that Kong regularly eats or kills his women.
I wrote this opening day, and now would like to include it here at IMDb..King Kong: a remake, action, drama, thriller, comedy, epic 3 hour film.
There are some emotional moments for Ann here as she is in love with both guys who saved her life.Rampaging around New York lifting cars, buses, and women who look like Naomi Watts but never finding her, pure movie magic.
"Bye, Bye Blackbird" ***** King Kong (12/5/05) Peter Jackson ~ Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis.
100 % Sure, there's tons of CGI, but that's the age we live in - almost all movies are CGI-laden monsters, but that doesn't stop them from being successful.Please don't be put off by comments you hear or read on this film, it is worth the money.And the scenes at the end of the film with Kong on the Empire State Building ( I watched this on my home-theater-screen, 10 feet across ) with the city far, far below are simply dizzying.
The unforgivable thing about this is when the remake goes its own way such as the scene at the bottom of the ravine where the landing party are attacked by giant insects the film becomes tense , frightening and reminds the audience why they pay money to watch movies at the cinema .
The characters of Ann Darrow and Carl Denham (played by Naomi Watts and Jack Black) were nearly a complete 180 from the original film, a poor change in my opinion.
It certainly helps that Cooper's King Kong was the inspiration for Jackson to enter the art/business of film-making and give us some great films like Heavenly Creatures, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and now his vision of the eighth wonder of the world.The film tells a carefully constructed tale.
This film looks gorgeous.There are a thousand good things that were filmed in this King Kong remake and Peter Jackson makes sure you see everyone of them right now.
Remake of the 1933 classic about a giant ape in love with a woman.I want to start of by saying I like ALL of director Peter Jackson's films--until this one.
Plain and simple.Bad acting, some shoddy special effects and the film is easily an hour too long.KING KONG had the potential of being something special but instead Peter Jackson delivers a pretentious and arrogant remake - or shall I say - re-imagining.At a $207 million budget, I really don't know why the film cost that much.Fortunately, I am quite pleased that the film has massively underperformed at the B.O. because this film is just a money making ploy and has nothing else to offer.
I do not like Peter Jackson one bit after watching his rubbish Lord of the Rings trilogy it also does not have any story-line all they do is run after a ring for 9 total hours (3 in each) King Kong is just the same Kong is after a girl.
The 1933 King Kong was one of the greatest movies ever made and I had hoped the Peter Jackson remake would be faithful to the original.
The special effects were outstanding and after reading complaints on how long the movie was I thought it went by at a good pace.There were some scenes that should have been left out or modified such as the brontosaurus stampede, where if real, everyone would be killed and King Kong playing on ice as he was being chased.As for the actors, Naomi Watts was great, Jack Black was OK but whoever cast Adrian Brody as a screenwriter ???
Many of the sequences go on a bit too long, and Jackson could definitely have benefited from some tighter editing; but in general, the additional running time isn't a problem at all, as a lot of the time is spent on building characters and setting up the central locations, which pays dividends once we get down to the final act.The film is divided into three clear sections; the first of which is set in New York, and sees the characters getting themselves into the situation that will eventually lead them to Skull Island and the monster that inhabits it.
When watching King Kong 1933, you really feel like you're seeing something audiences would have stared at in wonder at the time; but while the effects here are good, by now; we've seen it all before.
CGI looks too effortless to be impressive in the same way that effects were back in 1933.Remaking King Kong was a dream for Peter Jackson (I wish someone would give me excess of 200 million dollars to realise my dream!) and it's obvious that it's the central romance that interests him the most.
This isn't a terribly bad thing; but if a little more was left to the imagination, the relationship between woman and monkey would have come off as being much more believable.King Kong 2005 was unlikely to ever gain as much praise as the original monster movie did; but this is still well worth seeing, and the fact that the director obviously cares about the original movie ensures that this film stands out among remakes.
Peter Jackson's obsession with dinosaurs, special effects, and drawn out action scenes leaves him little time (despite 3 hours) to develop the characters, create real emotional bonds where we care about them (did anyone care whether Adrien Brody or "Jimmy" got killed?).
In this new version, director Peter Jackson combines the talents of Jack Black as Carl Denham, Naomi Watts, as Ann Darrow and Adrian Brody as the hero against the Eight Wonder of the World.
Naomi Watts gives one of her best performances, and other characters like Jack and Jimmy are so well played and structured that you grow to care for more than just one main character, including King Kong itself in this version; I felt compassion when he fell from the Empire building, because the movie takes so much time setting up all these different aspects and creating a true to heart and sincere atmosphere to where you will be shocked, riveted and blown away by it's surprising brilliance and succumb to a beautiful, awe inspiring story that deserves two big thumbs up for the vividness and intensity it portrays.I loved this King Kong, and thought it to be tantalizing to every sense, leaving me feeling like I had spent my time and money on an actual and worthy movie, and not just some long, droning mess.
And what they are hidden in is as big a mess as I've ever seen.Many of my biggest complaints are covered by other reviewers - too long; pointless characters and subplots that conveniently disappear; bad CGI scenes; lousy dialog; utterly inappropriate attempts at comedy relief; stupidly contrived situations where people absorb physical punishment that would cripple or kill a trained stuntman, but they just jump up and carry on as if nothing happened; inane inconsistencies (Watts in winter with no coat doesn't shiver on Empire State, ape that pulls down theater balcony can skate on thin ice, etc); the abominable performance by Jack (I can't act to save my life) Black; and, worst of all, the mind-bogglingly idiotic concept of having her love the ape more than she loves the guy.
He did the movements of King Kong terrifically, and his character was amazing, the only good actor in the film.I'm sorry if my thoughts aren't organized, I'm just baffled that so many people like this movie, and am venting..
Vaudeville was a variety show, a string of acts put together to form a complete bill of entertainment Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) was one of vaudeville good-looking actress who loses her job due to the lack of money Skull Island was another very important location for Jackson The amount of imagination and creativity that went into the ideas behind it is quite amazing The zoology, the flora and fauna, the cultural history of that impossible island is thrilling It was, indeed, a huge work to rebuild a hellish place of inexhaustible mysteries We are talking about small group of desperate souls eking out the barest existence possible Natives who have come to worship a giant gorillanamed "Kong" by them as some sort of god, practicing human sacrifice to appease his anger We are also talking about a lush jungle and tropical rain forest with giant reptiles with very large feet to cope with the uneven and broken terrain of the island We are talking not only about dinosaurs but also beasts just as terrible, or even worse We're talking about a natural predator trap full of rotting carcasses and scavenger creatures We are also talking about giant, parasitic, warm-like creatures which are much more than active predators and scavengers We are talking about perils resided not only in the depths of the island but in the skies as well, where terrifying flying creatures ruled"King Kong" delivers a fantasy-adventure piece, with its balance of peril and romance in much the same way "Titanic" did The romance part is not where one would expect it, but involves a beast with a beautiful and fragile creature who experience a tender if unexplained bond And this union is the finest moment of the film Ann looks into the ape's eyes and sees something impressionable there And the audience notices it too Jackson has done something emotional here In addition to the ape's beastly character, Kong gazes at Ann and shows true, endearing traits We are struck by his protective nature as we can understand the desires of each to protect the other Ann can't escape this fateful meeting that changes everything It's as if her whole life has been a prelude to this momentJackson's "King Kong" is a grandiose thrilling adventure, sufficiently magical and colorful whether it's reverently watching a sunset, or doing some ice-skating.
Peter Jackson is,supposedly,a massive fan of the original,but you'd never guess it from this mess.Now it's obvious he wasn't going to remake it verbatim,but i didn't think he'd jettison everything that made the original 1933 version a masterpiece.To think that a film made 72 years ago blows this embarrassment away in every department,well,it's amazing.Many will rave about the effects being superior,but i don't think so.CGI is a nasty cop-out,and although the original is far from realistic,there is something better about it than this.Everything is ridiculously overblown that it becomes an incoherent mess,and in my opinion the motions created with CGI are completely unconvincing.But this isn't the films biggest problem.The original had the most wonderful sense of adventure,and moved along at a lightning pace.This film has lost it's sense of adventure in all the CGI and pointless character 'moments',and it's pace is lacklustre.Also,this version wants to be taken seriously,so we have moralistic overtones everywhere,meaningful glances in slow motion,rousing music cues reminiscent of LOTRS.All this just bogs it all down.The Carl Denham character here is portrayed as very unpleasant,without any obvious redeeming features,yet in the original he was portrayed with a lighter touch,and the film never pointed it's finger at him,or moralised about his actions.And now we come to Ann Darrow,who's character has been re-defined into something Hollywood & modern audiences can accept.She's tough and won't be pushed around by a 25 foot gorilla,and she tells it so by shouting "NO" at it,yet shortly before she was terrified.In the original Ann Darrow is always terrified,and never,not once has any 'emotional' moments or thoughts for her captor.But Peter Jackson goes all mushy,especially at the final,where he takes forever to kill his beast just so Ann can keep chasing after it and staring longingly into it's eyes,again and again.It's also worth noting that a film made in 1933 has more balls than this and the 76' version put together.Remember,the original is overloaded with misogynistic & racist overtones,and it's damn proud of it,never trying to make excuses for what it is.It's also more violent and disturbing,yet political correctness has stripped all of these elements away.You may or may not like material of this nature,but it is an unmistakable part of what made the original a classic.For modern audiences weened on CGI i imagine this will excite them,and from other peoples reviews it seems this is indeed the case.The original was daring,humorous,twisted,lively and one hell of a ride.KONG 2005 is bloated,safe,caring popcorn..
I needed *something* to remind me that Peter Jackson is a great film-maker.Because looking at "King Kong", you'd never guess it.