King Kong
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Movie Reviews of King Kong
Movie Review: No matter what you hear....
Summary: 4 Stars
It's good. The movie is excellent. The only thing I would improve is the cover artwork (looks kind of cheesy) and in terms of the actual movie, maybe add the extended scenes that once aired on TV I think.
The SFX may not look awesome now that we've seen Mr Jackson's masterpiece, but it is still a great movie.
Movie Review: Enjoyible
Summary: 4 Stars
Like the first time I saw it.
He saves her, big monkey wants her back.
Movie Review: Decent Movie, But Lacks Wonder.
Summary: 3 Stars
In this version of KING KONG, an oil expedition of the fictional Petrox company seeks a forgotten island which they believe contains more oil than anything they can find in the Middle East. Along for the ride is an Ivy-League, idealist anthropologist named Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) who stows away on the ship because he wants to visit the lost island. Halfway through their voyage the oil liner finds a beautiful woman named Dwan (Jessica Lange) floating adrift by a buoy. Dwan (she changed her name from Dawn to Dwan because she didn't felt her old name was too traditional) apparently is an "actress" who was starring in a new picture (probably an adult picture). Her ship was destroyed on the way to Hong Kong and she apparently is the only survivor. With no other woman on board, the crew is happy to have the beauty around. Meanwhile, Dwan and Jack begin a relationship, one begun in the realms of the Platonic, but quickly progresses to the physical. Upon arriving at the mysterious island, the crew discovers there isn't any oil there, but there is a native tribe who seem to worship an ape. Dwan is kidnapped by the tribespeople and offered as a sacrifice to the creature they worship, the great Kong. Kong become infatuated with Dwan's beauty and takes her to his home as a plaything. Jack becomes despondent and sets out to rescue Dwan. While Jack is gone, the oil crew comes up with a plan to capture the giant ape; there might not be any oil on the island but Kong would make the biggest promotional campaign in history. Jack succeeds as do the oil crew and the giant ape is brought to New York.
Dwan chooses a career as an actress with the Petrox people, while Jack goes about living his idealistic life. At a revealing ceremony Kong is presented to the public in a cage the shape of a giant Petrox petroleum pump. Of course, Kong escapes and heads towards New York City proper. He finds Dwan and takes her with him to the top of the Twin Towers where he eventually meets his demise.
The 1976 KING KONG isn't as bad as the reputation behind it. The film is very much a product of its time and incorporates many of the themes that were familiar in both action and drama movies of the 1970s. The film contained a huge amount of special effects, but when watched appears kind of gritty. Underlying the entire movie is a message about the exploitation of common people, the rape of the environment, and the greed of international corporations. The filmmakers needed a villain and in the 1970s when the nation was facing the beginnings of oil shortages even though the world was producing more than it ever had been before, a giant oil company made for a perfect villain (they still are one of the perfect villains). There's also some waning sexual tension throughout the movie, mirroring the mood and shift in the country after the turbulent 1960s and the anything-goes attitude of the early part of the 1970s. Finally, the film seeks to deal with an example of the conflict within people seeking both fame and love.
Jessica Lange is a liberated female and unlike Fay Wray's original Ann Darrow, Dwan accomplishes more than just screaming at the giant ape who kidnaps her. Lange's career was pushed back three years because of the negativity that surrounded KING KONG after its theatrical release, but watching the film today it's hard to imagine another actress who would have fit in the role. Lange is a beauty with brains and that's exactly what Dwan was supposed to be. In opposition to Dwan is the character of Jack Prescott, portrayed wonderfully by Jeff Bridges. Bridges is always a joy to watch on film and he seems to embody the ideals that Prescott is supposed to be living for. Bridges portrayal makes us believe in Jack and therefore feel the turbulence of emotions he feels throughout the movie.
KING KONG was not a smashing success at the box office. It had one of the biggest marketing campaigns of any movie in the 1970s and was a remake of one of the most popular and influential films of all time. The buzz around the movie was huge, but quickly died out after the first weekend. Purists hated it because the film changed so much of the original story (know Jack Driscoll, no Carl Denham, no Empire States-like building, etc.). Most audience members just felt left down after seeing the picture; they were looking for escapism, but instead fond a fantasy tale seeped in the very reality they were trying to escape. Over thirty years later the movie comes out a little better. There are some really cheesy effects that pale in comparison not just to Peter Jackson's remake, but to the original 1933 King Kong, too. The film isn't as bad as it has been made out to be, but it lacks the fantasy and wonder of the other KING KONG movies. Apparently the filmmaker forgot that the audience has to actually like Kong for the movie to work.
Movie Review: It's both a five-star and a one-star film.
Summary: 3 Stars
This "Kong" is a cross between a five-star, gloriously bad B-movie, and an unbelievably, unenjoyably bad D-movie.
If you know that some films are "so bad they're good", then this might be one.
There is so much here that is so awful, it's almost funny.
First, you have the strikingly gorgeous Jessica Lange, who in this film makes Britney Spears look like a master thespian. WOW is she bad.
However, I'm a guy, and I have to admit I didn't care a bit, because she's dressed in hardly anything for most of the movie and she looks flat-out awesome.
Then there Charles Grodin, who's so over the top, he makes Bobcat Goldthwait seem demure. He's all about teeth-gnashing. The only thing missing is if he twiddled the ends of his mustache while snickering.
The leonine Jeff Bridges gives the only performance with any sort of decency, and boy does he have to work at it.
King Kong is so clearly a guy in an ape suit, that the guy in the ape suit doesn't even try. He knows everybody will know he's a guy in a suit, so he walks around like a guy in a suit. He strolls into and out of scenes. Saunters, even. Seriously, he's just walking. It's dumb.
The question...was it intentionally dumb, or did it just end up that way? That may be the difference between the five stars and the lonely one star.
There are certain directorial decisions that baffle me. What was the point of having Jessica Lange writhe about orgiastically whilst Kong blow-dryed her? That was just weird. And not even interesting-weird. Just weird.
There are lots of those "wha...?" moments sprinkled throughout this movie.
The original Kong film, much to my recent surprise, had all sorts of dinosaurs in it. I had forgotten about all those different animal attacks. This Kong has only one...and it's just a big snake. There's not a lot of action in this film, surprisingly.
The transfer's nice; John Barry's score has a lush, overdone 70's feel to it that I liked. The supporting cast do their best, including people like Rene Auberjonois and Ed Lauter.
The World Trade Center ending completely pulled me out of the movie, and that's not the film's fault. I just spent all my time looking at the buildings, their facades, the courtyard in front where Kong lands. I got angry at the terrorists all over again...I wonder if all of us who lived through 9/11 will experience some sort of dissociation whenever those towers show up in older films.
I did think it was kinda cool when he jumped from one tower to the other, though.
I'm conflicted: I winced while watching so much of this film, yet I totally was able to regress into that grade-school kid who saw it back on it's original release, and still be bummed while we heard his huge heart thump it's last beat.
Movie Review: Not great, but it has its place
Summary: 3 Stars
The 1976 remake of the original 1933 isn't a great movie, but it has it's place in movie history. If this movie wouldn't have been made would there have been so many other monster movies? Would Godzilla have been born? Would Peter Jackson's amazing 2005 King Kong movie had been made?
Okay, the special effects, by current standards, are most often horrible. From Jessica Lang in the clearly artificial gorilla's hand on, you can say the special effects of this film are cheesy and ridiculously fake. This in contrast to those of the 1933 original King King which I found amazing. Despite it all, the film does succeed in generating lots of sympathy for the ape and thus pulling off the ending as a great tragedy. This is in large part due to the close-up shots of Kong's dramatic performance.
Unlike the 1933 version and the 2005 version, the prospect of huge oil reserves is what first draws outsiders to the island - a team of Petrox oil company people led by Fred Wilson (Charles Groden). Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges), a scientist, stows away onboard because he wants to study the animal life on the island. As for the blonde bombshell that will be the Beauty for Kong's Beast, Dwan (Jessica Lange) is found floating aboard an empty raft in the middle of the ocean.
On arrival, everyone is surprised to find a group of natives living on the island. The the plot gets kind of iffy, becasues Jack figures out much too easily that the natives worship a gigantic living ape god and sacrifice maidens to it for their own protection. The natives kidnap Dwan from the ship, hand her over to Kong, and that's how Kong and Dwan meet the first time. Everything move rapid pace to the climax from there.
What's striking about the story of Kong is that it's not what it seems at first. Kong is not a monster, he's a victim, a victim of other's greed and exploitation. Although not in the same league as the 1933 original, this is a film worth seeing.