Kong afficiondos.
Readers who either saw or discussed Peter Jackson's new King Kong remake with me (or with other people for that matter) might be interested in reading PZ Myers' review of the movie. I enjoyed the action sequences more than he did, but then maybe that's just because I never watch action films so am easily blown away. Otherwise, he's got things about right, particularly about the slight tastelessness in portraying the zombie-ish tribe that lives on the edge of the island. Either more needed to be done with them to explain their existence or (preferably) they needed to be left out completely (and the same goes for that ole skool chestnut of killing off all the black and Asian characters on the ship one by one. Fifteen minutes into the film, I could already tell who'd live and who'd die simply by the age, weight and skin color of the actors. Not all 30s cinematic traditions need reviving.) And of course there's no way Anne Darrow survives being carried through the jungle by Kong. But man, are the sea voyage to skull island and the denouement in New York ever great.
1 Comments:
Jackson has only sort of learned one of the lessons of great filmmaking. Action sequences don't get better when they get bigger, they get better when moments of quiet are interspersed with moments of action. The best example is the training scene in the first Matrix, when Morpheus kicks Neo's butt and then tells him how he did it. There weren't great character moments in the stampede scene in Kong. But this is also why the scene with Anne Darrow entertaining Kong was so good. Loved that scene.
Post a Comment
<< Home