What In Tarnation?!?!? In the Classroom

Yeah I watched King Kong. Artistically, especially when discussing the CGI ape, the movie is probably pretty good. I do have a few issues with the movie.

• Casting - Jack Black was a joke and I have never understood the appeal of Adrian Brody.
• Editing and camera movements - All the quick cuts and the camera movements as if you are in the ape’s paw, annoying and headache inducing.
• Length - 3 hours! Really! I would classify it as overindulgent. The first hour could be cut in half, the ape/dino battles in the second hour become a bit repetitious and could be trimmed, and in the third hour, the first 20 minutes with the corny narration should have been cut.

There are several things I like about the movie, Naomi Watts for one, did an excellent job acting against very little. The CGI effects that I mentioned before are unlike anything I have ever seen. The whole movie works on an emotional level that I didn’t anticipate. If I were to rate it from an artistic and technical standpoint I would probably give the movie a B+.

When I grade a movie, I also consider more subjective criteria, however. Did I enjoy the movie? Do I want to see the movie again? Did it feel like the movie was overtly trying to manipulate my emotions? Does movie give me feelings that I have to deal with in my career that I don’t want to feel while being entertained? My grade for the Luigi-less Kong? F.

King Kong falls into that rare category of movies that make me feel icky. Another movie that falls into this same category is Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: Two Towers. Initially, however, I couldn’t figure out why the ape made me feel horrible like Gollum from the Two Towers. Kong wasn’t following his wicked desire like Gollum, the two really had very few things in common. Like many things, the answer came to me in the middle of the night (I hate when they wake me up). In the movie, Kong is really an innocent in the action of the movie. He reacts to what is going on. Eventually, society takes advantage and abuses the innocent, something that I see more often than I would care to in my job. So will I be going to see Kong again, even on video? No way. (I haven’t watched LOTR:TT a second time either.)

King Kong: F.

Class dismissed!