dykstraNet

What is it that makes a modern movie special? These days, it’s got to be more than extraordinary special effects. We’ve become anesthetized to all the explosions and monsters and when we pay ten bucks to see a film, we want to be moved by the interpersonal interactions we see on screen. Filmmakers have the tough job of creating, in the audience, a sense of empathy for the characters. Even with $200 million to spend and over 3 hours of the audience’s attention, it’s still a tall order.

Peter Jackson delivers.

And on a story we already know. How exceptional.

This movie is so good, one could argue that the story has not been truly delivered until now. There are great moments that make this movie so much more than it has been in other incarnations. (Perhaps that is why it is so much longer than previous efforts.) I know that this is Peter Jackson’s professed favorite movie and he has said that he cried at the end of the original. Well, the story Jackson has put on screen perhaps allows one to share the emotions that he felt all those years ago.

One could say that this is a story of the beauty and the beast. But what does that mean? Kong subtly explains not only the male appreciation of the beauty but the female appreciation of the braun. We see it in the expressiveness of Kong’s (although one forgets) animated visage over and over again throughout the film. One can see Kong’s appreciation for Ann Darrow’s brand of beauty. And it is expressed in the story line when Kong eschews a look alike blond during the theatre scene in New York. (Again all communicated through facial expressions.) But the real feat is portraying Ann Darrow’s building appreciation for the brute. At the end of the day, in a dangerous environment, a woman is attracted by those that can provide and protect… no matter their appearance. This is communicated on film so subtly yet makes the point so clearly.

I would give this movie 5 stars but for the slow-ish beginning and moments of mellow-drama. I’m not sure if Jackson was re-producing those cheesy lines as a nod to the original, but they distracted me. There were certain brief moments when I was aware of the acting taking place. In particular, the scene that depicts the crew talking about skull island. When acting ruins the fantasy… even for a moment… it can take away from the overall experience.