Digital Fortress

This movie is a great “quarterm-ender”. After those projects and exams, I finally got my prize. Director Peter Jackson, once again, gave us a movie that we can now consider an epic. After Lord of the Rings trilogy, he brought us King Kong. We all know the story. It’s about a giant ape that falls in love with a girl, was brought to New York City and climbed the Empire State Building and after being attacked by biplanes, he eventually fell and died. Spoiler pa ba yun?

I was surprised that no other movie trailers were attached to this movie (at least in the cinema that we got). I was expecting to see Da Vinci Code trailer but I end up downloading it from the Net.

The movie is a bit long. 3 hours! It could have been shorter. But when the action starts to kick in, it become more and more exciting. I’m not saying that the first 45 minutes without Kong is boring. It’s not. This part is essential to the story, of course. There are funny moments in here, by the way. This movie was supposed to be made in 1997, before LOTR. Luckily, it was done after LOTR. I heard that the 1997 script was awful.

When the Venture crew arrives at Skull Island, the movie intensifies. Strange and HUGE creatures are here and there. The characters always get themselves in the most unlikely places. But sometimes, the way they escape the brontosaurus stampede is unbelievable. It’s almost impossible to believe that they actually get out of that alive, Nevermind. Naniwala nga ako sa isang giant ape e. Dun pa kaya? The native people were very creepy.

As for the effects, they’re not perfect of course. But they were superb. Kong looks photorealistic during close ups and is able to convey the right emotions thanks to Andy Serkis (who plays Gollum and Lumpy the Cook in this movie). The furs on Kong’s arm are perfect. The recreation of 1933 New York is truly accurate despite the fact that this movie was shot entirely in New Zealand. However, there are some CG’s that are not as good as the others and that distracts me from the movie sometimes. Some green screen work seems like unfinished. I know it could have been better if they had more time during post-production. I hope they tune it up for the DVD. Overall, it’s a special effects extravaganza. The T-Rex scene is arguably the best action sequence of the year. Definitley a must-see. 100% “repeatability” factor. The Skull Island part alone is worth the ticket price.

One of the best aspects of the movie is the relationship between Ann and Kong. Just seeing Kong watching the sunset is heartbreaking. This ape is not just a wild animal. Naomi Watts nailed her role. She gave an amazing performance of a black-and-white movie actress. I actually take Jack Black seriously now. Adrien Brody’s nose is more distracting than some bad CGIs. Of all these actors, Andy Serkis and the people from WETA Digital has the best performance for creating King Kong. As for the cameos, I didnt notice Peter Jackson as one of the pilots in the plane. But Howard Shore was there. He was the original music composer of the film but later replaced by James Newton Howard. Too bad, Shore abandoned the project. I really adore his work in Lord of the Rings. Speaking of music, I actually love the score. I actually remember one particular cue as I left the theater. I should have the soundtrack soon. In fact, the score was nominated for a Golden Globe (as well as Best Director for PJ).

The movie was well-received by the audience. Everytime audiences reacts to what they see on screen (perhaps over the creatures), I felt being proud for this movie as if I’m the one who made it. I don’t know why. Maybe I’m just proud for PJ because he successfully make that kind of reaction from the audience.

To sum it up, the movie lives up to its hype. Just don’t expect too much and you’re in for the adventure. There’s a lesson that I learned this time and that is never watch a preview or download a clip from the movie that shows a major action sequence…This is exactly what happened to me. I can’t relate to audience because I’ve already seen parts of it in TV and the Net. It’s like, I’m just there to see how all those scenes connect and how it all ends because they obviously don’t show the whole scene in TV or the internet.

Peter Jackson and his crew, the same people (and country) behind Lord of the Rings has captivated me once again. I’ll definitely see their next movie. It’s a drama with no more grand special effects. It’s called The Lovely Bones (based from the novel from Alice Sebold). I’m gonna support PJ’s future works! But right now, let’s give PJ and crew a rest. They really deserve it,

RATING: 9/10

Next stop: Narnia

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 15th, 2005 at 10:59 am and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.