On impulse and without much thought, I entered a movie theater this afternoon showing King Kong. In case you don't know, one of the few things I enjoy doing is watching a movie alone. Anyway, with Doritos and a diet Coke in hand, I braced myself for the 3-hour long movie.

Ang it was a long 3 hours.

You go through the first hour of the movie without seeing the big dude anywhere, instead choosing to go through character development while painting a vivid picture of Depression-ravaged New York in 50's style cinematography. I liked the blurry retro effect used in the sweeping shots of New York, pretty impressive.

There was this scene early in the movie where Jack Black's character was trying to sell his movie idea to movie executives. One of those execs asks a question for the ages -- "Will there be boobies?" Hysterical. 1950's movie ticket - 25 cents. Seeing boobies on a 50-foot screen - priceless. Hollywood gets away with everything. Even the little kids sitting next to me were giggling.

I guess you can say that this movie has a little bit of everything. I enjoyed it and was caught in the thrill ride a few times over. King Kong is just one cute, lonely giant monkey, basically what the whole movie is about. He found himself a plaything in Naomi Watts. Who. Is. So. BEAUTIFUL. Peter Jackson's close-up shots were perfect for her, and I just almost couldn't get enough of her. I am now officially a fan. Hey if I were a 50-foot monkey, I'd die for her too.

Adrian Brody, who beats out Pinocchio for the longest nose in showbizness, makes out with Naomi Watts (the lucky bastard), unfortunately he didn't fit in the movie. He felt more like a third wheel between the ape's love story with the pretty human lady.

Gross-out scene: The giant bugs and slugs. Brrrr. That was a nightmare come to life. And God is so wise to make these creatures small, coz you can only imagine what a 6-foot cockroach is gonna do when you try to squash it with a slipper.

Throughout the movie, King Kong battles loneliness, misunderstanding, and racial prejudice (he was the only giant mammal left on an island infested with dinosaurs and every other cold-blooded thing there is. So everybody kept picking on him, or trying to kill him for that matter). Then he falls in love with A Girl, they fool around and have fun, he acts all cute, and he's fiercely protective and loyal that he'd actually die for her. In the end, they murdered an ape because he was clumsy and had big hands and jealous that he could get a girl like Naomi Watts and they couldn't. It was sad. Why is it that our solution to things that we don't understand is to destroy them? The monkey didn't mean any harm. And it's nobody's fault he's bigger than a tank.

All in all, I'd give the movie an 8 out of 10. I'd have given it a 9, but due to the movie's length, I had to hold back peeing for about an hour longer than usual and has probably damaged my bladder permanently.

Oh, and by the way, if you haven't seen the movie, there might be spoilers in here. (Hint: King Kong dies in the end.)

This entry was posted 12/17/2005 12:16:00 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.