My Movie Review on King Kong (2005) · 3:58pm May 7th, 2019
Greetings, my loyal followers and readers.
This is your loyal-in-return film reporter here to make another review:
And today, I will be doing an analysis of Peter Jackson’s “King Kong (2005)”.
Here is the rundown of it:
Taking place in 1933 during the Great Depression, overly ambitious film director, Carl Denham (played by Jack Black), coerces his film team and hired ship crew to travel to the mysterious Skull Island, desperately hoping to find it in order to pay some debts.
Among Denham’s film team is Ann Darrow (played by Naomi Watts), an out-of-work and struggling Vaudeville actress whom Denham hires to be the leading lady of his film; and Jack Driscoll (played by Adrien Brody), the screenwriter of Denham’s film who unwittingly becomes part of the voyage before he can exit the ship.
And, among the crew of the ship is Captain Englehorn (played by Thomas Kretschmann), first mate Benjamin “Ben” Hayes (played by Evan Parke), and the latter’s student, Jimmy (played by Jamie Bell).
However, after the ship crashes into some rocks and Skull Island is discovered, Ann is kidnapped by the island’s native people. They take her to offer her as a sacrifice to their idol and the island’s resident giant ape, King Kong (motion-capture portrayed by Andy Serkis, who also plays Lumpy, the ship’s cook, barber, and surgeon).
With Ann taken into the jungle by the enormous ape, a rescue party treks through the forest to save the girl, among them being Driscoll, Denham, and Jimmy.
Before I get fully into what I think of this film, I’d like to say that my review here is on the theatrical cut of the film. I will admit that there were some things that I wished could’ve been put into it. Such as, more time on the rescue team in that swamp and how they got past it. As well as, more time in the bug pit scene and what happened after all of the bugs were killed. The endings of those scenes felt too abrupt and there wasn’t much explanation after them. But, I will say that it’s perfectly alright, because everything still worked well.
Filmmaker Peter Jackson certainly did put great commitment into this project. His direction with this film was stupendous! I love how he managed to give such noticeable intrigue, even through the cinematography and camera shots. The screenplay written by Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens does, of course, highly put it under the horror and monster genre. But, the story is not without heart and emotion, both of which are so powerful. It also has some perfectly executed drama, unexpected comedic moments, rip-roaring adventure, and a beautiful romance between Darrow and Driscoll.
The characters, character development, acting, and casting were all pretty awesome elements that the film had.
I will admit that the casting of Jack Black as Carl Denham was definitely a strange one, particularly considering his comedic reputation. However, his portrayal of the character was total awesomeness, and he made it work to where he was absolutely perfect for the role. Black was truly able to show his ability to diversify himself as an actor in this film, and his talents, sprinkled with a hint of his comedic side, shined brightly here. Denham himself had some good development throughout, in which his ambitions and greed cause him to go into deeper darkness.
Jamie Bell and his character of Jimmy were likewise elements of the film that I highly commend among others. Bell was literally able to make something so special and noticeable out of his character, despite Jimmy himself seeming like someone who came in at the last minute. His development throughout the film was amazing, and it made me wish he had been able to stick around on the screen more.
Adrien Brody, in addition, was astounding as Jack Driscoll. He gave his character such excellent personality and a committed performance, making his character so noticeable and memorable among others. Jack’s development of character, as well as his bravery and unrequited love for Ann, were each part of what made Jack so special.
But, perhaps the best member of the cast and human character out of all of them…was Naomi Watts and her character of Ann Darrow. Watts put her heart and soul into portraying her character, and I loved how she and the filmmakers were able to help Darrow be far from that of a mere damsel in distress. Darrow is a strong and brave girl who can definitely stand up for herself if needed, and her development and personality in the film was so pure.
The growing bond between Ann & King Kong is what I consider to be one of the best parts of the film. It has an emotional connection that’s extremely powerful and heartfelt. It’s likely not something one would expect, that's for sure.
Additionally, I deeply admired how Andy Serkis, the filmmakers, and the people behind the special effects used with him, made King Kong himself far from a mindless beast. Each and every one of the people involved brought Kong to life by making him like an actual gorilla, not just by look and sound, but by feel, emotion, expression, and behavior. Much of the things I mentioned are so powerful, they can resonate onto the audience.
The special effects used with the rest of Skull Island’s creatures were pretty well-done too. They all seemed so realistic, and the scene with the bugs in the pit was something that gave some definite heebie-jeebies. In a good way, of course.
The music orchestrated by James Newton Howard, as my final positive noting here, was groundbreaking! It has a certain emotional presence to it. I can honestly say that people who listen closely to his music in this movie will immediately find how much commitment and effort Howard put into his scoring, because this is one of the best he’s done by far.
I’m not gonna lie, however, that similar to the two Mummy films I previously reviewed, there were a couple of things about it that I didn’t like.
The film did have some slight cussing, some of which crossed a certain line. Some of the worst was the particular use of the Lord’s name in vain. The good thing is that at least the language wasn’t too recurring.
The biggest negative, though, was Skull Island’s native people. I mean, I get it, they were supposed to be intimidating and completely different from the rest of the human characters. But, their characterizations and the performances by the extras were so terrifying and convincing that people will likely not want to be sitting through the scenes with them.
In conclusion, however, despite the setbacks I mentioned just now, the film is one of the very best by far, thanks to its ensemble casting and performances (outside of the natives), Howard’s music score, and the incredible commitment and effort Peter Jackson and his film crew put into the movie to make it terrific.
So, I rate “King Kong (2005)” four out of five stars.
Yeah, I haven't really seen this one, not from start to finish anyway. I kept getting bored for some reason. Maybe I'm just not a fan of this genre.
I didn’t really know about this specific movie, but I have heard of this franchise in general, especially the fact that there are a lot of reboots and such for it, and it definitely sounds interesting. This particular movie sounds really good, especially since Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis are involved in it! I’ll watch it eventually.
I will say that even compared to the original 1930s movie, despite it being a classic, this to me is 'my' King Kong movie. Now I've seen the original and while I was impressed with the stop motion, there are some things about the movie I wasn't into. The whole time, Ann Darrow just screamed at every scene in that movie and 'I' admit while realistically any woman would be scared in the presence of a vicious looking monster at least this Darrow had 'heart' to understand this creature (Especially since Kong risked his own life to save hers). And let's face it, comparing the crews in both movies, the remake's crew are so diverse and each have their own character that I remember them more than I do in the original movie (The one crew member I remember in the original is the Chinese guy with the monkey). And even though I think Denham's character was slightly better in the original, I liked that Jack did add his own take into it and I could forgive some moments that fans may not have been fond of.
Overall, even though both features end the same way and even though there'll be this constant split as to which was the better 'Kong' movie... For me, this movie will always be my favorite in the franchise.
Never seen it, so i can't comment.
Never saw it. I can't say much about it.
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Oh.
I like this movie, but I love Kong: Skull Island better than the Peter Jackson version.
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Why? Because Kong gets to live? I also liked that too.
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Peter Jackson, he's also a big player for his adaptions of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium of Middle-Earth.
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Yes I'm aware of what Peter Jackson is most notable for. 'Lord of the Rings', 'The Hobbit Trilogy' yes he's done those movies.
Y'know, I get why people might like the 1933 version better. It was the original, and it changed movies forever. And as a film-geek and giant monster fanatic, I respect that.
But out of all the Kong movies to come out, this one is by far my favorite. Yeah, Kong: Skull Island factors into the MonsterVerse, which also includes Godzilla (2014) and the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters–which I am super hyped for–but I've always liked this version of Kong the best.
I actually have a book that was released around the time of this movie called The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island. Basically, it's a bestiary of all the creatures we see in the movie, and a great deal that we don't see. So it's got all sorts of facts on the dinosaurs and giant bugs and flying rats, and then it's got a whole bunch of other weird creatures too. By now, the binding is all but gone, but I still like to take it out and take another trek through the beautifully insane world of Skull Island.
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I felt bad when Peter Jackson's Kong gets killed when I notice he isn't really evil (just like when Zilla gets killed off despite that she isn't evil, but the animated version got it right). Kong from the 2017 version? I'm not disappointed that he lives even though he isn't evil. Also, Kong: Skull Island is actually a prequel to 2014 Godzilla, in case if you didn't realize.
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It's an MCU-esque universe called the Monsterverse created by Legendary Pictures, featuring a lot of characters and monsters in one shared universe, and a Godzilla vs. Kong movie is underway.
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I know.
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Might as well let you in on this:
My Re-Analyzing of King Kong (2005)/Analysis of the Extended Edition