King Kong

My thoughts on PJ's King Kong: I think there's a pretty good 2 hour film within this overly long 187 minute valentine to PJ's cinematic youth.

The running time is too long because what we get doesn't really build enough emotional ties to the characters, thus, they sort of just fill up screen time and undercut the momentum of the film. There are scenes on Skull Island that are excessive and don't really impact the overall story that much.

The film is too indulgent in depicting the perilous arrival to Skull Island, while it might have been an interesting exercise to film, there's little dramatic payoff for such an extended scene.

The special effects of King Kong were well executed (but in some scenes he still moves too fast, lacking inertial impact of the movements), sadly, I can't say the same about the dinosaurs (this mainly due to improper lighting of the dinos in fast-action sequences).

I did not like Jack Black's performance in this film at all. It seemed like every close-up he had, he seemed so concerned about not blinking his eyes, which made it appear that he was trying to burn a hole in whomever he was speaking to or looking at. Naomi Watts turns in a good performance, but I still get tired of seeing her never closing her mouth fully in her close-up scenes (I am not sure she's capable of it for an extended amount of screen time). Adrien Brody has a throwaway part, with little background to get too invested in his survival on Skull Island.

I thought most of the musical score while on Skull Island went overboard, being too bombastic in spots where it didn't need to be.

I thought the ESB scene in the end went on and on and on and on. PJ was driven to show every single plane's fly-by over the course of that pivotal sequence.

Whatever Ann Darrow was afraid of, she sure as hell wasn't afraid of heights. No siree, no acrophobia for Ann.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.