Trumpy Productions Critical Nonsense

I have followed the progress of 'King Kong' for over a year now, watching
every single video blog posted at kongisking.net. So I felt a special connection walking into the theater last night. I was concerned because it was just going to be a 3 hour movie I've seen before, but I had faith in Peter Jackson's elf magic.

My faith was well-founded. I was hooked from the opening credits. The tone of the film was very important, they nailed it. There's a classic film feel to it, without the cheesiness that comes with older films. I thought the pacing might be rough at 3 hours, but even seeing the 11pm show, I didn't doze off once. This film had me by the nuts.

There were many scenes that had me gasping at the screen because they were so intense. The dinosaur scenes are long but done so well that I was tensed up the whole time. Jackson knows how to wow a crowd. There's a scene with T-Rex's and hanging vines where I could feel myself waving my hands around like Parker, worried for the characters' lives. It amazes me how well so much green screen cuts together. It looks like an editors nightmare. I have a discerning eye and was impressed. Over half this film is green screen but it's awesome. George Lucas just puts stupid things in. Peter Jackson creates a believable reality through special effects. WETA is proving themselves as a contender for ILM. WETA also uses miniatures mixed in with their digital effects, so that sells it a lot more too.

There were only a handful of moments when I saw digital people moving awkwardly, but that was usually in a wide shot where you're not supposed to be focused on one person. And the Kong model is top notch. I felt him as a character from the get go. Way better looking than the latest Yoda, whose face looks like a video game cutscreen.

Besides the special effects, this film also brings so much character to the classic story. You were left assuming a lot in the original and everyone felt hollow. This update gives everybody something to work with. And the acting made me hapy too. I'm sure I wasn't the only one concerned with Jack Black taking a serious role. He rocks the part though, proving himself. And Naomi Watts seems to have mastered the wide-eyed empathy look, beautiful and sad every time she does it. I hated her in the web logs but couldn't help loving her in the film.

All the money and hard work shows up on screen. Jackson lost 70 pounds shooting this film. In each web log you can see his face getting thinner and thinner as he wears himself down. Jackson, you're hardcore man. Rock and roll.