thehefner | monkey monkey monkey APE! (Reply)

Ok, so now there's some question as to whether or not my fellow co-worker will actually be able to come into the store and take the shift so I can leave early for the open-mic night. So we'll see. Maybe the Hefner Monologues won't be happening after all.

KING KONG was... well, I feel kinda bad saying this after seeing the handful of my friends' passionate reviews, but I found it perfectly... good. Eh, pretty damn good. But really not what I hoped/expected from Jackson and co, nor the astounding trailer.

Y'know, it sorta reminded me of what bothers me with early Stephen King. They're both so good at depicting the down-to-earth human drama and relationships amid all the darkness and big stuff, but then the "big stuff" comes into full blast and totally overwhelms drama in favor of spectacle. And I know I shouldn't compare, but as it's unavoidable, it stands to reason to point out that, the thing is, even the "big stuff" in the original didn't overwhelm the story.

Compare the T-Rex fights. I may be in the minority here, but upgrading the fight from one T-Rex to three totally distracted from the point of the fight in favor of "let's see just how totally ridiculous we can make this." I mean, the vines? WTF? I just know the T-Rex was looking at Ann and saying, "Ok, girl, I'm just gonna swing here and open and shut my mouth, so if you get eaten, it's your own fault!" *chomp chomp chomp!*

I think

holli and I spent the majority of the film cracking jokes and laughing at the absurdity of the whole affair, perhaps more than Jackson may have intended. The Brontosaurus/Brachiosaurus pile-up and repeated raptor-punching? Come on, that's comedy gold.

And once again... Jack Black? He clearly wandered into the wrong set and just started acting. Some people have their own theme music that follows them? Jack has his own tract lighting.

Then there's Jimmy. For one thing, ok, his name's Jimmy and he's the kid. You know everything you need to know about him right there. I'm still very disappointed he didn't die some gloriously stupid death, as all Jimmys do (we didn't see him back in NYC, did we? He might have drowned). Holli and I repeatedly cried out to ourselves, "JIMMY! NOOOOOOO! Oh, wait, he's fine. Damn!"

But ok, enough bitching. I really did like it and I very much want to see it again when it's not 12-3 AM, as at that time it really felt like it could have lost a good half hour on the editing room floor. Ok, a couple more bitchings- it looks like Ann has replaced Frodo as having what seems like a huge chunk of the movie dedicated to them looking forlorn.

My favorite moment was easily the ice pond. THAT was what I was expecting from this, more stuff like that. More than Kong's death (if you bitch about a spoiler warning, I will smack you with pity), more than anything else, that was the scene that hit me.

All in all, I would liken it to SPAMALOT- it's an excellent tribute to a brilliant original product. And I would sincerely, wholeheartedly, absolutely insist that anyone who considers seeing this watch/re-watch the original. I did, and I thank god I did. This isn't so much a remake of the original as it is a love letter, and I dare say Jackson himself would similarly insist on you seeing the original first.

(also, The Sumatran Rat Monkey? Remind me, is that a BRAINDEAD/DEAD-ALIVE reference? Regardless, I giggled)