King Kong
1933. Directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. Screenplay by James Creelman and Ruth Rose. Starring Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, and Bruce Cabot.
2005. Directed by Peter Jackson. Written by Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis.
"No, it wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast."
There are effects in King Kong that still kick ass seventy-three years later. Of course, many of the effects are obvious today, as we know more about the tricks that are used and have seen more films using them, but it was groundbreaking in its day. Unfortunately, the film as a whole hasn't aged all that well. You watch more with appreciation than with enjoyment. The dialogue is flat, a fact that is magnified by it not being delivered well. Fay Wray is decent enough, though her main job is to scream, but Robert Armstrong is over-the-top while Bruce Cabot is a piece of cardboard that speaks.
So, it would seem that there are plenty of areas to improve if one was to tackle a sequel. Peter Jackson, as brilliant as his Lord of the Rings films were, failed to accomplish this, however. He added eighty-seven minutes without making any substantial improvements to plot, character, or dialogue (and improving the dialogue should have been easy). There are some impressive effects in the remake, but there are also moments that are obvious green screen. And it just drags at times. It can be quite boring in places. Perhaps the most frustrating thing is that it just goes overboard too many times. Instead of one or two dinosaurs (the original did have dinosaurs, though one at a time), we are flooded with dinosaurs. The characters run between their feet and it feels impossible that anyone would survive. A similar scene involves these wild, giant bugs and it would have been a good scene if there were only a few of them, but they are so numerous that it spoils the effect and takes us out of the scene with the complete doubt that there would be survivors. Naomi Watts is certainly equal to Fay Wray and Adrien Brody is a huge improvement over Cabot, but both are capable of better work - while Jack Black is simply bad. He has a great comic charm when he is cast in the right role (see High Fidelity: go now), but is completely miscast here.
The original is a work, though flawed, that is not to be missed. Feel free to take a pass on the remake.
My grade for the 1933 film: B+.
My grade for the 2005 film: C+.
2005. Directed by Peter Jackson. Written by Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis.
"No, it wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast."
There are effects in King Kong that still kick ass seventy-three years later. Of course, many of the effects are obvious today, as we know more about the tricks that are used and have seen more films using them, but it was groundbreaking in its day. Unfortunately, the film as a whole hasn't aged all that well. You watch more with appreciation than with enjoyment. The dialogue is flat, a fact that is magnified by it not being delivered well. Fay Wray is decent enough, though her main job is to scream, but Robert Armstrong is over-the-top while Bruce Cabot is a piece of cardboard that speaks.
So, it would seem that there are plenty of areas to improve if one was to tackle a sequel. Peter Jackson, as brilliant as his Lord of the Rings films were, failed to accomplish this, however. He added eighty-seven minutes without making any substantial improvements to plot, character, or dialogue (and improving the dialogue should have been easy). There are some impressive effects in the remake, but there are also moments that are obvious green screen. And it just drags at times. It can be quite boring in places. Perhaps the most frustrating thing is that it just goes overboard too many times. Instead of one or two dinosaurs (the original did have dinosaurs, though one at a time), we are flooded with dinosaurs. The characters run between their feet and it feels impossible that anyone would survive. A similar scene involves these wild, giant bugs and it would have been a good scene if there were only a few of them, but they are so numerous that it spoils the effect and takes us out of the scene with the complete doubt that there would be survivors. Naomi Watts is certainly equal to Fay Wray and Adrien Brody is a huge improvement over Cabot, but both are capable of better work - while Jack Black is simply bad. He has a great comic charm when he is cast in the right role (see High Fidelity: go now), but is completely miscast here.
The original is a work, though flawed, that is not to be missed. Feel free to take a pass on the remake.
My grade for the 1933 film: B+.
My grade for the 2005 film: C+.
posted by Keith Allison at 11:51 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home