Yeah, I'd give Kong maybe 6 out of 10 stars.
You know something's wrong with the film when - during the climax - you're
watching the background (and trying to figure out how they CGI'd 1930's New
York) and not watching the action...
The first thing I said when I walked out of the movie was: "Give me an AVID
and a month - and I'll have a 2 hour version of that film, without losing
anything important, that is MUCH, MUCH better than that..." You make some
of those action sequences 20 seconds (instead of 3 minutes) and it would be
sooooo much better.
That's the problem when director's get too big. They make overwrought
movies that could really use someone to stand back and say whoa! I hate it
when studio's start screwing with their movies, but this one could really
have used it.
Cheers,
Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Taylor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2005 5:37 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] King Kong the 3rd
I love this thread because I've loved KK since the first time I saw the
original. I've wanted someone to "redo" the original for a long time and
am
happy it finally happened.
I agree with Craig here. In my mind, the action scenes all ran too long.
The "thundering herd" was especially offensive in this respect. If the
action scenes were cut down and the running time closer to 140 minutes, I
believe the film would have been tighter and would ultimately make more
money because 1) it's better, 2) more showings per day would be available
to
theaters, 3) the shorter/tighter version would be more appealing and less
exhausting to the repeat viewers.
Finally, although I appreciated the "ice" scene as a new and creative
addition to the story, I had problems with his weight not cracking the ice
and I felt the scene somehow didn't fit. It just seemed to come out of
left
field.
All in all, I still love beauty and the beast and give it a solid 8-8.5.
DBT
-----Original Message-----
From: MoPo List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Craig
Miller
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2005 1:14 AM
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: Re: [MOPO] King Kong the 3rd
At 03:31 AM 12/27/05 -0500, JR wrote:
And the whole impossible sequence just went on for way too long, after it
had lost all emotional impact, with ever-more absurd details being thrown
in.
I think in that sentence you capture the bigget problem with
Jackson's King Kong. Most everything goes on too long.
I like the movie better than you -- I'd give it an 8 or 8.5 -- but
it definitely could be trimmed. I like the opening hour; he
brings a lot more depth of character to the story, makes the
players human.
And I think much of the last hour is fine, though I agree with
you that Kong needed to respond with wonder to the cold
weather and the snow and ice. (Though there is a problem
with Kong's weight in this sequence. SPOILER WARNING!
He shouldn't be so heavy that his climbing up into the empty
theater balcony causes it to collapse -- considering how
many people would normally fill that space -- yet he does.
But that massive monkey doesn't crack the ice on Central
Park Lake? Must have been one hell of a long cold winter
for the lake to be frozen that thick.)
But the worst offender is the middle hour or so on Skull
Island. How much land the natives lived on didn't bother me.
But that every action sequence went on twice as long as it
should have did. And there were too many of everything.
We didn't need an entire herd of giant dinos. A couple
running from the raptors would have been fine. (I also
thought the effects in the stampede sequence were among
the weakest in the film.)
A bit more restraint on the volume of action and some
judicious editing, to bring the film down to 2:30 hours or so
from its current 3:07 would have gone a long way to bring
King Kong much closer to a 10.
Craig.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Miller Wolfmill Entertainment [EMAIL PROTECTED]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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