Kong!

My wife and I finally watched Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong on Sunday. The experience highlighted an interesting trend in our lives. We rarely go out to the movies anymore. We have become the people Hollywood fears most: the people who would rather stay at home and watch DVDs than pay extraordinary amounts of money to sit with a bunch of goobers who talk on their cell phones. If we go to a movie, we make it an event worth our while by going to an Alamo Drafthouse. Otherwise, we just wait for the film to make it to the top of our Netflix queue.

Anyway, the movie. It was very hit-and-miss for me. The first hour or so dragged. Most characterization (with the possible exception of Carl Denham - played by Jack Black) was done by telling rather than showing. The writer character - played by Adrian Brody - was not developed, despite the screen time devoted to him. The film spent a lot of time developing minor characters with little pay-off. If I were to judge the movie on the first half, I would be very disappointed.

It takes off on Skull Island. Every scene on the island is exciting and dramatic. Dudes die in horrible ways. Kong lays some ape-fu on T-Rexes. Giant bugs. Insane, malnurished natives speaking in tongues. Pulpy goodness, friends and neighbors.

King Kong himself was an amazing piece of work. I was very convinced that a giant ape was rampaging across the screen. And the pathos that follows him everywhere was very affecting. I am a sucker for movies where (SPOILER!) the animal dies and this one got me right where it wanted me.

If Mr. Jackson and company had figured out a way to fix the first half of the film, then this would have been a great movie.